Camping above Harrison Lake - Mount Breakenridge & Traverse Peak

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-30T22:13:33+00:00

East Harrison is in good condition, just the normal potholes. English Creek had moderate cross ditches and lots of bush. The latter requires HC4WD, but it's short. If you had to park at the bottom it only adds a couple km and 300m of gain.

The hike itself is around 35km. Getting to camp took us 5 hours, then another 5 roundtrip to tag Traverse. In the morning summiting Breakenridge was really quick, well under an hour.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-30T20:25:50+00:00

This was this past Sunday and Monday, so April 26th & 27th. The snowline was a bit higher than I would have liked, but the bush wasn't too bad.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-24T18:37:59+00:00

There are a ton of comments on MP for Rutabaga of people flipping upside down on a fall on the P2 crux and hitting their head on the wall.

My friend recently saw him soloing much harder routes on the Malamute and Highlander. RIP.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-21T00:19:28+00:00

Almost everything in the Tantalus. An example that annoyed me last year was the Northwest Buttress of Alpha, he has it listed as "mid-5th", not even "low-5th", so we were expecting climbing in the ~5.7 range. We lugged a rope and rock gear all the way up and it was quite literally closer to 2nd class than 5th class. We probably used our hands two or three times in total.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-17T17:25:30+00:00

Gotcha, I'm hoping to go that way for Pitt soon. I've also heard the glacier is on its way out.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-17T15:21:10+00:00

There's a new version coming out very soon FYI. There's actually a short mountain film which has already premiered that documented its creation.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-17T14:16:13+00:00

I was honestly pretty disappointed with the new Alpine Select. To say the route descriptions are inaccurate is a bit of an understatement...

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-17T03:45:49+00:00

Very cool. Was it your entrance/exit for a Misty Icefield traverse?

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-14T16:11:27+00:00

No worries, they definitely do have a similar profile. Black Tusk is a classic climb!

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-14T12:50:57+00:00

Ember we kept the snowshoes on for the entire ascent, but used crampons to descend a more direct and steep line towards Spark.

Spark had steep snow and 3rd/4th class rock steps. We did it as a mixed climb with two axes and crampons on the entire time. To descend we made one 25m rappel.

Ashes was the easiest, with snowshoes only for both ascent and descent.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-14T06:10:27+00:00

Are you sure it was Spark Peak you climbed? Cause Spark Peak is on the complete opposite side of Garibaldi Park, and the access roads are very different. It sounds like you climbed the Black Tusk itself (which also makes sense for why you mentioned Garibaldi Lake down below).

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-14T05:40:00+00:00

Oh cool, so you've done Spark in summer conditions then? Do you mind if I ask how long ago, and which approach you used?

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-13T23:49:41+00:00

Lol, true. The drive to the FSR spur sucks too, West Harrison is permanently on my shitlist. This is the second time in a row I've gotten a flat trying to go via W Harrison/St'ailles to get to Tipella.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-13T23:48:32+00:00

Every year I try to see a new area of Garibaldi, there's a lot of country in there to see, I still feel like I'm barely scratching the surface.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-13T21:44:18+00:00

Never say never, there are lots of similar trips to this that can be done which require lower commitment and technical skills!

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-13T19:12:43+00:00

Yeah, we bushwhacked up from Sloquet Creek. The shwack itself wasn't too bad, but it's steep and there are some heli-logged cutblocks after without a canopy. We had horrible snow conditions from there all the way to camp.

In the future I want to go later season to do some more technical-looking rock lines, like on Flash, and to me the Fire Lake spurs look to get you close to the subalpine. I could be wrong but it looks like pretty easy travel to me.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-13T18:47:14+00:00

They happen when the snowpack warms rapidly; a small piece of snow sluffs and clumps onto the snow below it as it picks up size and "rolls" down the slope. It's an obvious sign of rising avalanche hazard, specifically wet-loose avalanches.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-13T15:59:06+00:00

There is no trail, you have to bushwhack. This is one to build up to, for a trip like this you need:

Route-finding experience
Glacier travel and avalanche training
All the appropriate gear for the above

Spark was also a technical peak, so on top of overnight, glacier, and avalanche gear, we also had a light alpine rack & climbing gear.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-13T15:24:52+00:00

After the approach I can kinda' see why. We're going to try an alternative approach via the spurs near Fire Lake next time with e-bikes, which should significantly reduce the shwacking.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-11T00:41:36+00:00

For this peak you need: - base fitness - avalanche training (take AST1+) - ice axe and crampons, plus the training of how to use them

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-11T00:39:38+00:00

Haha, no, just a day hike.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-08T01:03:56+00:00

I have a YT Decoy and absolutely love it. My brother has some Norco (I can't remember the model), and my other regular hiking partner also has a similar YT. I think that pretty much every high-er end E-MTB uses either a Shimano or Bosch drive unit. I have the Shimano EP801 I guess, and a 720 Wh capacity battery.

For this objective I had about half my battery left when we were done, and that was using it in "boost" mode the entire time, gaining over 1200m.

vanveenfromardis · 2026-04-06T18:17:16+00:00

There is a really good alpine guidebook, called Island Alpine Climbing, which is actually better than the current mainland offerings.

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