A few weeks ago, my friend Pascale asked me if we wanted to join their first backcountry adventure with their kids to Cheakamus Lake. They have 15 month old twins, so I was of course stoked that they wanted to bring them into the backcountry, but I must say that I was a little hesitant about the location. We have never been to Cheakamus Lake, but it also wasn't on my list. It is not in the alpine and there is nothing to do there, I thought. No peaks to bag. Therefore I convinced Christian that we should carry a canoe into the lake. I am sure the trip would have been just as wonderful without the canoe, but it just added a bit more adventure and it was absolutely gorgeous to be on the lake in the canoe. We ended up being three families: Pascale, Ignacio and their twins, Michelle with her friend, Monica, and almost 3 year old son, and us. We started of on the trail around noon. There was no doubt that we were the most ridiculous group there. Pascale with the twins, Ignacio with his enormous backpack, Christian and I with the canoe, Michelle and Monica running after the toddlers on the balance bikes. Pascale and Ignacio quickly left us behind; you need to hike fast as long as the kids are happy or sleeping in the carrier. The toddlers biked about half way to the lake then were carried the rest of the way. At the lake we put the boat in the water and installed all the gear and the toddlers inside. Michelle and Christian paddled everything to the singing creek campsite, while Monica and I got to do the hike. At the campsite I found Pascale and Ignacio getting the twins ready for a swim. Apparently the canoe had pasted by a few minutes before they arrived. I ran further along the now more rugged trail to look for Christian and co. I found them at a lovely spot just 5 min. ahead. He had deemed the campsite full and instead found us a small private beach. Christian paddled back to let Pascale and Ignacio paddle their twins the rest of the way. We set up our tents on the moss covered forest floor before starting dinner. All the kids enjoyed playing on the beach and in the forest. In the evening we took turns paddling the canoe around on calm lake, while enjoying the view of Mt. Davidson and the McBride range. It was cool to see the majestic mountains that seem so close, knowing that they are pretty hard to get to. The evening went very smooth, I heard the twins a few times, but there were no major crisis. On Sunday we spend hours throwing rocks and sticks in the water, playing in the tree stumps and transferring water from the lake to other locations. Around noon Christian and Ignacio paddled back together with one of the twins, while Pascale hiked back with the other. After an hour and a half Christian came back for us. He decided that he had time for a swim before leaving and F wanted to join him. She quickly regretted this after discovering how cold the water was. In the afternoon our little camp also seem to get swarmed by butterflies - way better than the mosquitoes I had been expecting. We only really had any mosquitoes around dusk. We had a hard time leaving the beach because the kids has enjoying themselves so much, but eventually Christian and I paddled back with F while everyone else hiked. F fell asleep in the front of the canoe right away. Back on the trail the toddlers got on their balance bikes and had a blast. The trail from the lake to the Helm campground turnoff is ideal for toddler-biking. Lots of fun little hills, but nothing too big. Eventually we had to convince them to get off the bikes and into the backpacks as it was getting late and they were getting tired. By the time we left the parking lot it was just before dark. I wasn't sure if this trip was a going to be a disaster, but it was just awesome. I highly recommend Cheakamus Lake. It is so easy to get to, and that really opens up opportunities.
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We arrived at the hut almost 5 hours after starting the hike. The meadows and the hut was engulfed in a classic Brew whiteout, but Christian and Lea still decided that it worth a couple of runs. A group of 10 VOCers and two others had already gone up to the hut the previous night, so it was a full hut. Fortunately a few of them moved downstairs, so we could have a couple of spots on the loft. The evening was spend singing songs and reading old VOC journals. F was mostly observing, I think she was pretty tired. The night worked out great, the hut was super (too?) warm and F was quiet all night long. Monday morning I skied up Malt Peak with Scott while Christian and F played outside the cabin. She spend a lot of time circumnavigating the cabin and sliding down a little snow bank. I think they also got a few ski runs in. Back at the cabin I packed up and we skied out.
We arrived at the beginning of the road at a reasonable time, but then spend half the day clearing the road of rocks and logs, so we could drive the car up the road. This was important because Devlin (age 6) was coming as well and we wanted to minimize the distance that he needed to ski. That meant that it was almost 2pm by the time we started skiing. Christian and F took off and I stayed in the back with Devlin and Jeff. It was tough skiing, but Devlin did really well. Jeff tried to tow him, but that did not work very well after the logging road, so Devlin skied by himself. Around 6pm Christian and Lena came back to help encourage Devlin and I skied to the hut, where Nick and a group of snowshoers were looking after F. Devlin made it to the hut a little after 8pm with a little help from Christian towards the end... a lot faster than last time he was there. We ate and went to bed. F actually slept for a change. The next morning we learn that a group of snowshoers had left at a similar time to us, but from the bottom of the road, and only made it to the other side of the lake around midnight. This made us feel pretty good about our 8pm arrival. The next morning I went skiing on Cabin Hill together with Nick and Lena. Skiing was great. In the afternoon Christian went for a ski by the upper lake. Devlin and Jeff had a relaxing day in the hut. On the third day I got to go skiing again and it was even better. We skied the bowl by the upper lake and ended with Return of King. Snow was great and it was awesome to get some turns in. While we were skiing F hung out in the cabin or played in the snow. She specially liked shovelling snow into the cabin with the dustpan. In the afternoon we skied down to the car and drove home. On the way down I had to take some of the weight from Christian's pack, so he could safely ski with F. I had a bit of trouble with the heavy pack and the tree skiing, but luckily Lena helped me out and took a few thing. Our first snow camping experience with F was back in April last year, when she was 1.5 years old. It was to Taylor Meadows in Garibaldi Park. Here is the trip report from back then. We ended up choosing Taylor Meadows as our destination for several reasons. It has a nice shelter to hang out in during the day, F denies to wear sunglasses, so she needs to be in the shade or inside during the day when there is snow. It has lot of trees around camp - great for the same reason. It is a short (3 hour incl. break) hike in, and it has several potential objectives. We left at a pretty reasonable time Saturday and hiked up the switchbacks at a leisurely pace and also enjoyed a nice break on the way. After arriving at the shelter, we had a quick lunch and then Christian, Philip and Kasia took of towards the Black Tusk. While they skied up the ridge and back, F and I hung out in the meadows and took a nap. I have already forgotten how the night went. It was probably challenging. The next morning Phillip, Kasia and I skied to the top of Panorama ridge. I had forgotten how beautiful the view are from up there. I was really happy to be out in the mountains again - for real! While I was off climbing mountains, Christian and Fenya had some good times back at camp.
Last year around this time we just started planning a trip to the Yukon. I really wanted to go canoeing up there, so we figured that we needed to try it out close to home first. It turns out though that there is not many place ideal for canoeing in the lower mainland, but one place that kept coming up was Widgeon Creek just south of Pitt Lake. We went together with Jon, Jen and Lauren. The canoe in is only about 5 km, so we took it easy. It didn't take long before F was comfortable standing in the front of the canoe looking ahead or into the water. She was pretty excited about the whole thing. We had a nice lunch in the canoe and the two toddlers got to hang out in the same canoe for a little while. Shortly after lunch we arrived at the campsite. We set up the tents and the little once played for a bit before we went for a hike to Widgeon Falls. F enjoyed a few salmon berries along the way and then fell asleep in the carrier. After ~5 km we arrived and enjoyed the views, while F and Lauren had a little free time on the rocks. Back at the campsite we had dinner and played before bed. For once F slept most of the night, even when a Barred Owl tried to wake up the rest of us with his loud hoots. The next day we paddled up one of the creek branches. Lauren slept most of the time in the canoe, but F denied to sleep - it was just too exciting. After an hour or two on the creek we paddled back to the cars. It was a success. Since the canoe weekend F gets really excited when she sees pictures of canoes - or nues as she calls them.
In the city it has felt like summer for a while now, but there is still snow in the mountains. We decided to take advantage of the quickly diminishing snowpack and go on an overnight tenting trip to Brandywine Meadows. The hike in is short and there is a great objected should you feel inspired to get on top of something. We drove up the 4WD road and was stopped by a snow patch at the last switchback. From here it was just a 3.4km and 260m of elevation hike to the meadows, where we put up our tent. Christian went of to climb Brandywine Mountain, while Anne, F and I relaxed in the sun. F ran around, dug in the snow, and made snow cakes. She also had a ski shuffle around the meadows. After a couple of hours Christian came back and we had dinner. At dinner time the clouds started looking darker and I decided to gather up our things. The rain started just as we got the last things into the tent. It only lasted for 5-10 min, but we stayed in the tent. F jumped around on the therm-a-rests for awhile before we got ready for bed. F woke up crying around midnight and it took around 1.5 h before she calmed down again. We think she might have had a nightmare. On Sunday we slept in until the sun warmed up the tent too much. After breakfast Christian and I took a short ski up to a local maximum. A nice little date. Back at camp I packed up, while Fenya got to go for a ski with daddy. We quickly skied back to the car and drove home, while Fenya took a long nap. This is a trip report back from September 2014 when we hiked the Juan de Fuca trail. We were inspired to do the hike after a breakfast at Nick and Lena's house, where we met two other families who had just done the trail that summer. One family with a ~3 month old and one family with a 1 and 4 year old. We figured that it was the thing to do after you have a kid. I do highly recommend the area. There are several escape routes, so it is easy to make the trip fit your needs. A number of easy overnight trips are possible as well as multi-day hikes. Here is the trip report from back then. Striking and hikingI was suppose to start working in the beginning of September, while Christian stayed at home with Fenya for a month, but since the teacher strike was still on work was delayed by 3 weeks. We really enjoyed being home all three, enjoying lots of family time, but after two weeks we decided to take a chance and go on a hike. We decided to hike the juan de fuca trail on Vancouver island. 47 km, ~2000 m elevation gain/loss, and 5 days. We left Saturday, and just as we had paid for the ferry, when Christian realized he had forgotten his hiking shoes at home. He debated shortly whether he should attempt to hike the trail in crogs, but decided on buying a new pair in Victoria. So after a quick stop at MEC we were on our way. We arrived at the China Beach trail head around noon, and managed to leave not that much later. We made good time on the first day and set up camp at Bear beach the first evening. Fenya really enjoyed playing on the beach, while I cooked dinner. On day two we hiked to chin beach. This was the longest and most difficult section of the trail, and I definitely felt it. There is a lot of up and down. Our day ended up being around 6 hours of hiking plus a long break of cause, which is a bit longer than I like to have Fenya in the backpack (try to keep it a max. of four hours), but she still did great. On the third day we hiked to Sombrio beach, this was by far the best beach. We arrived early, so we had a chance to dry the diapers we had washed the night before. We also had time for swimming and relaxing in the sun. It was awesome. In the evening we went for a little walk to find the hidden water fall. It was very cool, the photos does not really do it justice. This evening, I also got a text from Frances on the inReach saying that there would be a vote to end the strike Thursday and school would then start Monday... perfect timing. On the fouth day we hiked to Payzant campground. This was the first camp that was not at the beach and we definitely missed it, but we had had a long day, so we didn't really have time for lounging anyway. Wednesday we hiked out to the trailhead and Christian was lucky to get a ride back to China beach right away. Fenya and I played in the grass while waiting for him to pick us up. We did this trip back in 2014, when F was almost 10 month old. It was our second overnight backcountry hiking trip with a tent since F was born. The first one was a weekend trip to Tricouni Meadows. Below are a short trip report on our thoughts just after the trip. It was an 8 day (unsupported; no food pickups) backpacking trip. We hiked from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite Valley by (mostly) the Pacific Crest / John Muir trails, about 50 miles / 80 km. We usually hiked 4-5 hours a day - basically during naps with a bit of awake-in-the-carrier time before and after - and took a huge lunch break so the little one could roam around, splash in water, try and eat pinecones, etc. We was really happy with how the trip went - I think the little one had a fantastic time. Probably she won't remember it, but hopefully it will help form her personality somehow. I will certainly remember it, in any case, and it was great to spend so much one-on-one time with her. The only thing I would do differently was food packing - we did a lot of freeze-dried (rather than dehydrated), which means more bulk, which means more (heavy) bear canisters - we had 4! Also, we brought too much food in general - we did our standard 1 kg per person per day... this has worked great on long expeditions in the past where you're working hard 12 hours a day... but with the little one there was way less metabolism. We forced it down, and still had at least 1/3 of our lunch food left over. I don't regret the decision not to do a food cache in Tuolumne meadows, as most would do along this route, as I think it was a good one based on what we knew at the time and allowed us extra flexibility in case the trip turned out differently... but, if doing the trip again now that I have more baby-hiking experience, I would totally do it - it would have dropped 25 lbs of food and fuel from my pack. Kids grow up fast, though, so I guess very few have the opportunity to get really good at baby-hiking. This past weekend we decided to explore the Cheam range near Chilliwack. We managed to convince a friend, Lea, to come along. Due to a late night and a few morning errands, we did not manage to leave town until almost 10.30am. And although the drive is fairly short, the logging road does include close to 100 water-bars. It was therefor around 2pm before we had parked the car by the first snow patch and started hiking. We didn't hike far before there was continues snow and we could put on our skis. After about 1 hour we arrived at the summer parking lot and decided to put up the tent here. Christian and Lea went off to ski the ridge of Lady Peak while F and I played in the snow and the tent. When we noticed that they were on their way down, we started making dinner while enjoying the view of Lady. The following day Lea and I skied Mt. Cheam, while Christian and F played in the snow and skied the hill behind the tent. F spend a long time 'cooking dinner' and digging in the snow. It is great to see how she becomes more and more confident walking on the slippery snow. Lea and I summited Cheam around noon and had a great ski down in the slightly mushy snow. Back at camp we packed up the last of the things and headed back to the car. F had a well-deserved nap in the car until slightly past Chilliwack, where we had to take a break for a snack and a pee. Normally, when trying to do a new (to me) ski traverse as a day-trip I end up spending far more time researching/planning the trip than I do on the trip itself (I think, for Tantalus it might have been something like a factor of 3). I get a good alpine start (ie – start hiking/skiing in the dark) and am constantly watching the clock / my altimeter to make sure my pace is just right. This trip was a bit of an exception, but a great and different experience overall.
A variety of life-commitments (ie – work and toddler) had kept my planning time down, but the weather has certainly began to take a turn for the awesome if what you really like to do it travel long distances in the mountains – warm days and cold nights making for stable snow and fast travel (at least, in the morning). I’d done a bit of planning for the Wedge-Currie traverse for a trip that never happened some time ago. Since then a new trail had been constructed on the West side of Mt. Currie, making the exit seem substantially easier than before. After a look at the avalanche forecast, terrain, and a careful study of the crevasse situation on the glaciers (god bless Google-maps satellite imagery) I decided that it would be appropriate to do the trip solo. Line suggested at the last minute that I should go from Whistler village to make the trip more sporting (I think she actually said that it would make retrieving the car easier – I could just hitchhike back to Whistler – but there may have been ulterior motives to have me check out the route for her own female-only traverse planned for the following weekend. (They are out there as I write this). I also liked the idea because it meant I had a good bailout option (Wedge) if things didn’t seem to be working out. It would be a good chance just to get out and also to try my newish (lighter, floppier, and unfortunately discontinued) BCX3 boots and DYI-prototype NNN-BC free-pivot adapters on a longer trip. After a somewhat late start I’d managed to find a washroom and started skinning up the side of the runs on Blackcomb at around 7:30 am. There seemed to be some kind of downhill-oriented race going on, as there was a lot of people wearing speed-suits carrying heavy skis milling about. After a bit of a navigational error into the tube park (somehow I still don’t know my way around W-B) and some icy mogul runs I could finally begin skating the long green run around the S side of Blackcomb (Sunset Blvd?) and felt like I was getting somewhere. Adding to the general take-it-as-it-comes feel of the trip I’d intentionally left my watch/altimeter behind – it’s really quite heavy, and had been acting up lately anyway. Besides, between my GPS and InReach I already had 2 things that could tell me exactly where I was (although I guess I’d be back to map-and-compass only in a Kessler scenario). So, with no clock to watch, I just skated along at my own pace. I only ran into a single person – a ski patroller who seemed fairly amazed that I was heading for Mt. Currie… little did either of us know that Eric Carter and Nick Elson had already left Whistler village and skinned up Blackcomb hours earlier, in the dark, and were now well on their way to setting a truly amazing 15.5h new FKT for the McBride traverse. After clearing the resort and climbing over the Blackcomb-Decker col I briefly encountered people again as I crossed through the throngs of people off to do the Spearhead. While descending the Decker Glacier towards Wedge-Pass I bailed, hard, when the icy-crust I was cruising along on suddenly made the transition from supportive to breakable… a short time later I noticed that I was actually bleeding from a multitude of very tiny cuts on my face/lips/nose from face-planting into said crust. Oops. I guess maybe that helmet came in useful after all. You can actually see my wide traverse-the-entire-bowl survival-skiing turns in the GPS track lower down after this point. Lightweight skis, and fabric boots with laces rather than buckles or straps, do have their disadvantages… After filling up on water (which would be my last fill-up of the day) in Wedge Pass I began the long skin up to the Weart Glacier. At the top I sat down in the mostly-melted remains of an old snow kitchen to eat some lunch, check on my progress, and figure out if I was going to exit to Wedge or finish the traverse… It was almost quarter to 2 – time flies when you’re having fun! Counting the distance / elevation gain remaining, though, it seemed I was (mostly) finished. Onwards to Currie! Although clouds rolled in and prevented a total slush-fest they didn’t save the crust, but I still made good time and (after a bit more slogging and some steep-for-XC-boots skiing) found myself at the base of Mt. Currie roughly 3 hours later. With 2.75 hours before dark, legs still feeling great, I made the tough call not to climb Currie. I still had the uncertainty of connecting with the trail down – I’d heard it was difficult to find/follow as it is intended for summer use (although I’d hiked the lower portions with my family in the summer, and had a GPS track from Bivouac). Any regrets about not trying for the summit vanished as I attempted to make a gradual downwards traverse from the alpine over to the trail… one definite shortcoming of 20m contour lines is that you can’t tell the difference between a slope and benches interspersed with short cliffs. I found plenty of the latter. Standing at the top of yet another precipice, and wondering if I was going to manage to connect with the trail before dark, I eventually gave up, put on my climbing skins, and climbed back up a ways before heading over to the trail. Even once I found it it wasn’t exactly easy-going… but I did make it all the way down to the Mt. Currie trailhead just before dark, 12h58m after I started skinning up from the village. It took me almost as long to ski down from Currie as it did to ski over from Wedge. After hiking the logging road back to the Sea-to-Sky the lateness of the hour made hitchhiking rather difficult – although it was a good spot with nice line-of-sight and a pullout all the ski-tourers had long since driven home and the few remaining motorists weren’t really interested in picking me up. I had given up on the idea and was in the middle of texting Line to call a cab for me with my InReach when a police pickup pulled over and offered me a a much-appreciated ride (and it turns out he was a ski-tourer too). GPS reported the total elevation gain as a little over 3900m, but I think ~3600m is probably more realistic – that’s what I get if I pin the elevation to the map and fly over the route with Google Earth… GPS elevations can be noisy, and that adds up to phantom elevation gain over a long day. |
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