Paul Ridge to Mount Garibaldi

Back in 2002 we made a semi-attempt to climb Mount Garibaldi in March from the Elfin Lakes Hut. I say a "semi-attempt" as it snowed on both of the two days we could climb the peak, so we never got further than getting up at 5 am each day and heading off towards the often nasty Ring Creek approach.

First view of the Garibaldi massif

Fast forward 17 years, yes, 17 years, and with good weather forecast it seemed like a good time to try Mount Garibaldi again. Most parties these days appear to approach via Brohm Ridge which entails skinning up the Brohm Ridge Road from where ever the snow starts right through the heart of sled-neck terrain. Apparently this is an expedient if not aesthetic approach to the standard northeast face.

Paul Ridge

Over the years we have spent enough time skiing up rutted sled tracks while breathing in two stroke exhaust so we opted to approach the northeast face from the Elfin Lakes Hut again, a more pleasing route that offers freedom from infernal combustion engines and, should we not make the summit, we would at least have had a fine ski tour over the Garibaldi Neve surrounded by the magnificent peaks of the Coast Range.

The magnificent Coast Mountains

The route to Elfin Lakes Hut is standard fare. Beyond the Red Heather Hut which is accessed via an old logging road, the winter route is marked by BC Park rangers with big orange poles. This is to keep the hordes with little to no avalanche knowledge or equipment off some minor avalanche slopes on the north side of Paul Ridge where the summer route runs. Personally, I prefer the summer route as it is more scenic with expansive views over the Tantalus Range, but, on the way up, we simply plodded dutifully up the winter route.

Back door to Elfin Lakes hut

Skiers were again outnumbered by a snowshoers who were out in droves. We must have passed at least 30 people walking out from overnighting at the hut. Apparently, given the state of the hut when we arrived, all 30 plus live with their mothers.

In any event, it was an uneventful journey to the hut which was basking in spring sunshine. Although the back door could only be accessed via a tunnel of snow, there was actually much less snow than in 2002 when the cabin was buried to the upper windows by a 4 metre snowpack.

Near Columnar Peak

We had some tea and then went out for the what remained of the afternoon. Doug headed north to scope out the route into Ring Creek for the next day. The last time we dropped into Ring Creek was on the McBride traverse and we remembered a short, steep and somewhat nasty slope that came after skiing across the run-out zones of several large avalanche paths.

While Doug did the hard work, I skinned up under the bluffs of Columnar Peak in search of corn snow. I found thin breakable wind crust up high but managed a half dozen turns on the lower slopes which had corned nicely. Definitely not worth doing again, so I tried a run off Paul Ridge itself which was short, gentle and had moderately good snow.

Corn snow near Ring Creek

We met back at the hut for tea and dinner. It was a quiet night, only 5 other people. Two were avid 'grammers who spent all afternoon building a snow seat with a view over the Tantalus Range and then sat in their snow chairs flicking their hair - is it mandatory to have blonde hair if you are a young female 'grammer? - whilst getting their bums soaked. Eventually, after a long photo shoot they came in shivering.

Doug along the neve traverse

It did not occur to us to rise at an inordinately early time the next day. Spring days are long, not getting dark until 8.00 pm so, although we had 22 to 24 kilometres to travel and 1600 metres of elevation gain ahead of us, we left at the gentlemanly hour of 7 am.

Skiing up Ring Creek

Doug had found the summer trail into Ring Creek which made all but the last steep slope down the moraine much easier than on previous occasions. There was a decent ski bench most of the way and the piles of avalanche debris in the gullies was even relatively flattened down. The final pitch into Ring Creek, however, was nasty as I remembered it. We had to walk down a broken down cornice and then angle down a steep slope. Doug managed fine, but I got my skis, which I attached to my pack, hung up in deep boot holes and found myself quite stuck.

Pyramid and Spire from the neve

I thought we would remember the route up to the Tent from our 2006 trip over the Garibaldi Neve but we had both quite forgotten that you need to be on the east side of Ring Creek traversing under the west side of Opal Cone. We found an easy crossing of Ring Creek and then simply skied uphill for a while. A fairly long while as it turns out.

Mamquam, Pyramid and Spire

But the views are marvelous and it was like revisiting old friends seeing the improbable route of the McBride traverse on the horizon and Mamquam Mountain, which seems to loom over everything with its vast spilling icefield.

Near the NE face of Garibaldi

Eventually, after many hours, we skied around the shoulder of The Tent and got our first view of the northeast face. Three skiers were just coming off the summit, and we hoped they had kicked good steps and/or set a good skin track. After a quick lunch, we skinned up onto the northeast face. The bergshrund was well filled in and we managed to ski right across it before taking our skis off and kicking steps up the rest of the route.

Doug on the summit of Mount Garibaldi

Dalton Dome, although lower than Garidaldi, is a beautiful snow-fluted peak in winter and spring. We spent a bit of time on the summit trying to identify nearby peaks and the route of the McBride traverse. But, as is the way with mountaineering, we still had a long way to go.

Atwell, beautiful with a coat of snow

It was not until we were skiing down the chopped up snow on the northeast face that I realized how tired my legs were. While Doug carved swooping turns, my snowplow turns were definitely much less stylish. The descent from The Tent down to Ring Creek was pure delight. Perfect corn snow that even my tired legs enjoyed skiing.

On the neve

Just before we dropped into Ring Creek, we had a last break sitting on our packs in the sun under Opal Cone. Luckily, the steps up the moraine were still hard enough for us to climb back up without serious wallowing, and then we skinned back along the track to the hut, tired but extremely happy.

Heading back to Elfin Lake hut

Before skiing out the next day, we skinned up to ridge between Columnar Peak and The Gargoyles. I had been thinking we would climb both but we had left our ice axes behind at the hut and the snow was too frozen to attempt the steeper Columnar Peak with just poles so we contented ourselves with kicking steps up the west face of The Gargoyles and enjoying a long stay on the diminutive summit.

Below the Gargoyles

When it was time to go down, the snow had corned perfectly and we swished back to the hut, had lunch and tea, swept the hut and packed out the left behind garbage. On the way out we moseyed along the summer route soaking in the sun and the views before skiing out down the logging road.

Sky Pilot Group from Paul Ridge