Hat Mountain Photo Essay
Hat Mountain is a small peak in the North Shore Mountains near Vancouver that is not as popular due to being dwarfed by it’s neighbour summits of Brunswick Mountain and Mount Hanover but also because it is not heavily featured in hiking guidebooks for the area. I’ve found that mountains that are well documented and detailed in guidebooks will almost always grow in popularity. The description for Hat Mountain on the popular mountain database bivouac.com reads: “A minor bump located on the NW shoulder of Mt. Brunswick.”. Wow, I wonder why hardly anyone goes there! These lesser mountains have always interested me, I guess because I like a good underdog story and none of the “minor” or “insignificant” summits I’ve visited have disappointed me yet. They’ve always been highly enjoyable to climb and offered amazing views out towards the other summits nearby that would be considered “significant”. Check out my photo essay below to see what you can expect to encounter if you climb Hat Mountain. Directions: If you’d like to visit this mountain for yourself you can find instructions at this link: Clubtread: Hat Mountain We followed the 3rd option, ascending the mountain via the Hat Pass Trail. We highly recommend it....
Arc’teryx Women’s Ski Camp Review
I have owned skis for a few seasons now but with only a handful of days spent inbounds at resorts and an equal amount trying to backcountry ski, I have to admit that there has been more frustration with the sport than there has been love for it. So the decision to sign up for a ski camp was easy, but which one would I choose? A few months ago I discovered the 2 day Arc’teryx Women’s Ski Camp being held at Whistler Blackcomb. I will confess though that the thought of participating in an all women’s camp wasn’t appealing to me and all women events are typically something I try to avoid for fear that they may be too “pink”. Would the atmosphere be overly girly - an estrogen charged atmosphere of emotion and snack breaks filled with chocolate and group hugs? But they did advertise that you would leave with “more confidence guaranteed”. I had nothing to lose, so I signed up. The weeks went by and when the camp weekend finally rolled in I was excited to see what it offered. I arrived at the meetup point, Merlin’s at the base of Blackcomb which would also serve as our Après ski location, and found the room packed. I was amazed at how many women showed up, clearly not everyone is as apprehensive as I am about all women’s environments. That first morning we were given the opportunity to meet each other, provided with coffee, tea and a healthy breakfast spread that included yogurt, granola, seeds & berries (a very nice touch) and we separated into groups based on our self-designated ability levels. Despite the large turnout, each group maxed out with a 6 to 1 ratio of clients to guides and some even as low as 2 to 1. Our first day was spent on Blackcomb mountain and our group coach, Connie Baker, immediately sent us down a slope to assess our abilities. Right away Connie was able to critique my technique and provide me with advice and tips on how to improve. Within a few hours, I was already starting to feel more confident and feeling a vast improvement from all of my other previous days on the hill. Connie was there watching each of us individually as we skied each run and provided feedback. I was so impressed with how much individual instruction we received. We spent hours sessioning specific moves until they felt natural. Connie was patient, funny and very dedicated in her teaching and by the end of the second day on Whistler mountain our group of 5 women were all skiing more confidently. Not...
Sky Pilot Race Recap
From reading some of our past posts you may have realized that the Sky Pilot is one of our favorite mountains around Squamish. It’s a spectacular alpine area where backcountry adventure is around every corner. So when we heard that the Coast Mountain Trail Series was bringing a trail race to this area, we knew we had to run it! The inaugural race was scheduled for September 21, which could mean beautiful fall weather or torrential rain; it could go either way here on the west coast. With the race being set in such a rugged area there was a lot of trail building happening weeks before the race. Everyone involved in creating this race wanted to make it a unique mountain running experience. The excitement was building when there was talk of roped sections, boulder fields and ridge running. However,days before the race, the endless summer sunshine we had been experiencing changed to the autumnal rains, which meant all of the fresh new trail became streams of mud. The steep trails were now too wet to run and it would be too risky to send all of the runners out onto this terrain. But if I have learnt anything about the Coast Mountain Trail Series races, it’s that they do not disappoint, and with literally hours before the start of the race, a change of route was put in place. They were going to make sure everyone got the mountain running experience they promised! This was some of the rugged mountain trail. Mt. Habrich from the summit point of the race. Checking out the view from the summit. We showed up to the starting line, on a sunny blue bird day at the top of the Sea to Sky Gondola, not totally sure of the new route and curious where exactly it was going to take us. Leigh and I were running this one together and decided to run it as a fun run. No need to race, just enjoy the new course, take a few photos along the way and revel in the scenery. As usual the starting area was buzzing with the energy of runners antsy to start, one of my favorite parts of racing. Just feeding off of that energy can carry you for miles! And we needed that energy to carry us. This course was unforgiving in its ascent. Starting on the tame and gentle uphill Sky Pilot ridge trail, we would eventually be taken straight up to a ridge that connected to Mt. Habrich. Running or rather power hiking up steep, loose, duff covered forest trail, straight onto a boulder field. Crossing the...
Scrambling Blackcomb Peak
This season myself and Spring decided to bite the bullet and buy Ski Season passes for Whistler/Blackcomb. Last Winter we simply didn’t get to ski near as much as we wanted. Very little of the fluffy white stuff fell early in the season and then a few weak layers appeared in the snowpack creating persistant avalanche concerns. A lot of our free time was spent waiting out bad weather, waiting for more snow or waiting for the avalanche risk to drop. We’re total ski novices, so we didn’t want to push our abilities under those conditions. This season, even if the weather is bad, we can ski at Whistler inbounds at the resort. We only really visited Whistler for the first time last Spring and we were amazed by the amount of terrain it gives access to. We expect to use it for ski practice under bad conditions and access to backcountry terrain under good conditions. A benefit to buying the Ski passes was that we got free Summer passes for hiking from the Gondola tops. Initially we imagined we’d be using these a lot this season but things didn’t work out that way. We didn’t use them at all. We’re still bitten with that West Coast ideal that mountains have to be earned and that requires hiking them from the bottom up and not using gondolas to bypass the slog to get above the treeline. However, with the hiking season coming to a close, and the mountains beginning to feel like the snow is about to fly any day now I wanted to use my free Summer pass at least once. Similar to my Mount Cook report, I had a free day when Spring was working so I decided to visit the summit of Blackcomb Peak solo. I actually imagined I’d be accompanied by other scramblers but that wasn’t to be the case. I arrived in Whistler late in the morning, joined the throng of tourists heading up Whistler Mountain, then took the Peak2Peak gondola across to Blackcomb. The place was buzzing with tourists. It’s not usual that my days in the mountains begin at 6200ft, surrounded by people in cotton and denim and the buildings and machines of modern society. I’m glad that this experience is still novel and not the norm. Fine day for a gondola ride A hungry snafflehound I headed out quickly on the trails. I knew that my time was limited. I had been tardy and it was already close to noon and the last gondola down the mountain was at 5pm, and I wanted to be on it. I could of course...
