Snow to Surf: Rugged Mountain Attempt

I am suprised to hear myself say it, but last weekend's trip to the mountains was foiled because the weather was TOO NICE! Springtime in February. El Nino? Climate Change? In any event, we enjoyed double digit temperatures as we slogged our way up into the Haihte Range.

The trip came together fairly randomly. There was a bit of chatter about folks been keen on climbing Rugged Mountain, so I thought I would pitch the idea and see if anyone wanted to come along. The response was suprising, and in the end 6 of us took of for a three day adventure on the North Island.

An early start on Friday found us at the trailhead in late-morning. We did a last minute gear sort and divi, and everyone shouldered their heavy packs. A few km up an old logging road, then dove into an old clearcut to work our way onto a ridge. By late-afternoon we were still several hours away from Nathan col, our planned destination for the day. We were approaching up the south side of the mountain, and with all the sun the snow was melting and the mountains were shedding plenty of snow and rock. We made a call not to dive into the big avi gully leading up to the col, and instead pitched camp on a nice knoll with amazing views across the Haihte Range: Merlon, Rugged and the Southern Blades.

With hopes of a cool night and hard morning snow we got up at 4am and after a breakfast and pack-up, we were off. Route descriptions we had for this section were vague at best, and at least in winter, the terrain between us and the gully we wanted to be in wasn't that straightforward. As well, the snow had hardened as much as we hoped. As one fellow on the trip noted "I knew it was not good news when I needed to put the snowshoes on first thing in the morning!". We slogged our way through breakable crust, and spent some time trying to find a way across to the gully. After faffing around for some time, it became apparent that it was getting touch-and-go whether we could safely get up and out of the gully before the sun and warmth hit the slope and turned it into a sketchy affair. So despite the fantastic weather, we decided that it wasn't in the cards for today.

Camp with Merlon Peak


Rugged Mountain from camp.

The Southern Blades

We headed our way back down, taking a different (proper?) route back down to the logging roads and back to the car. Having one more day still left in the weekend and being up Island we decided to take the extra day and head out to San Josef beach out at Cape Scott Provincial Park on the north west tip of the Island. You've got to love Vancouver Island. One minute you are front-pointing up a snow gully on the side of a beautiful mountain and the same day your on the beach listening to crashing waves by a campfire. Great weekend.


San Josef Beach