Spring Mushrooms (and Alpine Flowers)

Found my first morel! Unfortunately only one. But I dressed for the occasion; the print on the T-shirt reads: I hunt mushrooms because I have no morels!

While the driving/mushroom ratio was rather dismal for the morel (well, we have to add a beautiful hike and alpine meadows full of western pasque flowers and glacier lilies to this equation); there was no driving involved to find the other 'new to me' mushrooms. Cutting back some of the ever-growing ivy in our garden I discovered two beautiful Prince (Agaricus Augustus). Very tasty!

Powder Time!

Its been a long wait for back country snow this year (or maybe we are just not that keen anymore in our old age?) but its finally here. And in rather unexpected places: we get the best turns of the season on Paul Ridge... our go-to place for OK early season turns.

Pete enjoying the pow on Paul Ridge

Spot Ben photo. He took us around Thar on the Coquihalla. The exit gully is for good stability days only.

Fall hikes and colors

Despite the dry summer there was an amazing display of great fall colors this year. Nice weather lasted throughout October and gave opportunity to many hikes. On the trail to Blanca Lake in the Elaho valley we discovered some huge King Boletes. We finally scrambled up Mt Jim Kelly on a lot of rubble and loose shale (not the greatest hiking). My favorite was the area around Mt Bake with easy access and well groomed hiking trails (Chain Lakes, Lake Ann, Yellow Aster Bute, Skyline divide and Railroad grade). Blueberries were fantastic too!

Blueberries and colors were better closer to Heather Meadows parking lot

Coquihalla Visit - March 4

We had surprisingly few backcountry ski days this year for several reasons... the Colombia trip, poor snow conditions, nasty weather, sketchy avalanche situation (and general laziness?). But finally a day on the Coquihalla. We stayed in the trees since lots of snow had fallen and despite a 'considerable' destination from AvCanada we wanted to play it extra safe. Turns out it was a good idea as a couple of other groups in the area triggered all kind of slides on more open slopes (on Nak and the steeper west side of Needle ridge) and there were two accidents on the North shore and near Whistler.

Glorious Fall Colors at Illal - September 13

 Wonderful fall colors at Illal Meadows this weekend. The meadows had been on my list of places to explore and a couple of weeks ago a paragliding friend confirmed that it was well worth a visit. Its a relatively quick hike in so carrying over-night gear was not much of a pain. The trail is about 4 or 5 km long and elevation gain around 500 m. There are very nice camp spots in the meadows, but care should be taken to pick a sheltered spot as it gets windy here - a look at the trees tells the story ... they have no branches on the windward side.

We wandered up some ridges to Illal Peak and enjoyed views of Needle, Yak and other peaks in the Coquihalla area (even saw Robbie Reid and the Judge on the horizon). On the second day we circumnavigated Jim Kelly. Although the scramble to the top is reportedly not too bad we skipped the summit as winds were still very strong and we didn't want to get blown off the ridge.

Glorious yellow mountain ash and red blueberries leaves but the berries were almost done; the ones left had started to dry out and ferment. I had much better luck with berries at Elfin Lakes 3 weeks ago. We didn't see any wildlife such as goats or grizzlies, but some disturbed spots could have been grizz digs. Up on windy (white-capping) Illal Lake we met hunters who said they were looking for deer - not exactly deer country ?

Some more notes: Trailhead is off a branch road of Tulameen FSR (from Coquihalla highway, around 19km mark), the last 3km on the branch requiring 4WD and reasonably high clearance (the Tracker had no problem).

Glorious colors with the Old Settler, Robbie Reid and the Judge

Pete hiking on Illal Peak, Coquihalla Mt in the back

Looks like a painter had an accident and spilled his/her colors

The Milky Way from the sleeping bag. Without realizing I also captured 2 shooting stars in this exposure. Quite different from the outing on Mt Seymour to watch the Perseids when we spotted only a few meteorites and I captured just a single one.

March Powder Fest

This season snow coverage was sub-standard for a long time but in March the white stuff finally started flying. Pete and I took a day off to visit the Needle Trees on the Coquihalla. We started breaking trail in 50cm fresh snow, getting deeper as we got closer to the skiing meadows at 1400 meter. Because it was so good I went again with a friend two days later. In two days it had snowed enough to cover our tracks completely. Skiing was even better so I went for a third trip with yet another friend. Only one or two other parties had been at Needle during the week and there were still plenty fresh tracks left for us. Yea to the weekday warriors (and sorry to everybody on a fixed work schedule).

Baker Pow Day - Feb 19

After a very slow start to the ski season now comes the snow! Two friends and I head to Mt Baker for an exceptional day of powder, as good as it gets for a busy ski resort. 270 cm fresh snow in 9 days. The North Shore mountains in Vancouver get their share with well over one meter fresh fluffy pow. On the weekend we visit the big trees on Hollyburn mountain. Although the snowpack is still on the shallow side the quality of the 40-50 cm fresh powder was excellent. The last weeks of February feel like ski vacation skiing on 10 out of 12 days. But its even better than vacation; with my season pass at Cypress I don't feel that I have to put in a full day to make it worth the expense of a ticket, I can leave when I'm tired or don't like the snow anymore.

We got so much snow that some highway passes had to be closed due to avalanche danger, including the nearby Coquihalla highway. The area received over 3 meters of snow in 9 days. The highway department set of huge controlled avalanches and there were a few surprises with natural ones too (including one class 4), luckily nobody got hurt.

This is reminding of the weather four years ago when the Olympics were in town. For the first week there was only little coverage and snow was trucked to Vancouver. In the second week it started snowing and some events like xc skiing struggled with too much of the white stuff.

Four years ago the avalanche conditions were so touchy that we even considered cancelling our ski trip to Fairy Meadows. Strange enough like a small island of safety the immediate area turned out to be rather stable. The high hazard made us stay on conservative terrain but not a group of young skiers on the trip who decided to ski a bunch of steep couloirs and triggered a sizeable slide. All they got was a big scare but it could have ended much worse.

All Pow(d)er to March

So this Pineapple express finally cooled down enough to turn the wetness into snow. Up to 80 cm of it dropped on the Coquihalla (Whistler only received a meager 10 cm). After much studying of snow/weather/temperature reports I (reluctantly) joined friends for a day at Needle Peak. My resistance against inertia was rewarded! It wasn't quite effortless hero powder and skiing required a bit of work but there were deep turns and plenty of face shots and lots of smiles. Welcome back, winter!

Yours truly stirring up some pow (BW picture)

January Powder Time

Finally some snow! It took until mid January this year but now the white stuff is coming down in full force. Last week the snow combined with strong outflow winds caused white-out, road-covering snow drifts and blizzard conditions in the Fraser Valley resulting in a shut-down of traffic for almost a full day. A screen shot from the Eagle Ranch webcam shows the conditions (not the best flying conditions - and no more driving up to Woodside launch until the snow melts!)

Blizzard at the FlyBC Eagle Ranch

We made good use of the snow and got out for the last two weekends on the Coquihalla. A paragliding friend showed us a new spot on Iago. It takes some route finding skills and about twice as long to get there compared to our favorite short-mid-winter day runs on Needle, but so far the longer approach paid off with very pleasant conditions.

Coquihalla - Guanaco Hike, Aug 13

Time to go for a hike and do some more exploring in the Coquihalla ... On our scramble up Lama/Alpaca last year two granite spires just around the corner caught our interest: Vicuna and Guanaco. Especially since we watched three paragliders take off from the shoulder of Guanaco. Although we were not keen to carry our wings up for a short sled ride (in uncertain valley winds) it seemed like a neat place to check out.


Thar, Nak, Yak, Zopkios and Jim Kelly and Coquihalla in the back row


The trail was better then the one to Lama/Alpaca and the views did not disappoint. I'm always amazed about these spectacular places just a little off the beaten track. And always thinking: if this would be in Europe, it would be a major tourist attraction. Maybe better the way it is. Great destination for a medium length day trip from Vancouver. Due to the late start we only bagged Guanaco. Have to come back for Vicuna another time (with some climbing gear?).


Indian Paintbrush and Bog Orchids

Lots of snow still lingering in the niches and crannies for this time of year. Nice wildflowers and a black bear on the drive back to the highway. Exploring some more we drove up one of the logging roads close to Hope and ended up camping on a ridge way above the highway.

Coquihalla Skiing, Dec 19

We have been up the Coquihalla a few times now but snow coverage is still a bit on the thin side, much less than we had last year around this time. What's going on with La Nina?

But good fun to get out anyway. And the not quite epic conditions give me a chance to get my skiing legs back at a leisurely pace.

Light was wonderful, almost eerie. So as usual, I had a hard time putting my camera back in its case.

SNOvember 2009

Another November trip up the Coquihalla for turns on Needle Peak on November 22nd. A bit more filled in, but snow was not quite as nice as last weekend. Good fun anyway!



This month has been called 'SNO-vember' with its record-braking snowfall. Mt Baker opened November 12 with the deepest opening base in their history (64 inch or 163 cm). Whistler recorded 418 cm from November 1 - 19 and opened November 14.

First Turns of the Season, November 14

There has been enough snow to ski for a week now and we got out just in time before the Pineapple Express hit. Sweet turns on the Coquihalla. Last time I was on skis was May 28 - less than 6 months ago. Last time we skied the Coquihalla was 7 months ago.

Some of the little Christmas trees are still sticking out - bit more coverage will improve things. But, yeah, the pow is back!

Sunday was Paddle-Day. How 'Westcoast' is this... ski one day, kayak the next? For the first time in two years I managed to get a run in on the Chilliwack Canyon (a dislocated shoulder in November 07 put me off paddling for a while). Was surprised how smooth it went. But the water level was pretty low.

Coquihalla Granite Towers - September 13

Another trip ticked off on my list ... and several more added.

Whenever we hiked or skied Needle Peak I thought we should go and explore the granite spires one sees in the distance between Fraser Canyon and Coquihalla Highway - the peaks behind Yak, Nak and Thor. Recently there was a new report on Clubtread about a trip up Llama-Alpaca Ridge with good info on logging roads and trail. So off we went. With the description we found the trail head and trail easily (although it was more of a ‘route’, not your weekend warrior hiking trail). Along a seriously de-activated logging road, up through steep forest, onto granite slaps up to a pleasant walk along the broad ridge between Alpaca and Llama peak. Not another human being in sight – but wait! Pete spotted a wing in the air! What a coincidence – we watched three paraglider launch from Guanaco and land close to our parked car. On the way down we sampled many delicious blueberries and picked up a couple of King Boletes. Since I found the granite slabs in a couple of places a bit too exciting, so we took a detour through very steep forest. At least something to hold on to…

Great views of the Anderson Group (Chamois, Ibex, Gemse).

What an amazing place to visit. This is another of these spots that would be a great tourist attraction, would it be anywhere in Europe. But just like Jones Lake or the Sumallo Valley few people come to enjoy the spectacular vistas.

Just saw a trip report on scrambling up Vicuna…

Vicuna

Ridgewalk

Fallcolors

Red Blueberries

Kings

May 23/24, Wild Water and Wild Air

This weekends program: flying at Bridal in rather bumpy air and a fast ride down the Coquihalla, at medium/high levels much of the bumps smoothened out on the river.

Bridal Falls May 09 from Claudia Schwab on Vimeo.

Late February Pow, Feb 28

Who would have thought! February ends with a big dump of snow (weekly total at Seymour almost 90 cm). Dawn patrol at Hollyburn to find 40 cm of well-bonded pow. The girl team out for a Thursday night snowshoe hike to Dog Mt through winterwonderland (sorry – battery dead – no pictures) followed by birthday celebration at the Raven. Yeha - girls rock!

And just in time before all the beauty gets washed away we sample the pow on the Coquihalla. After some exploring we head to the Needle Trees. Knee-deep, faceshots, and lots of smiles. Even the snow in the lower tress was quite acceptable. Unfortunately freezing levels are forecast to climb to 1700 m today (Sunday) - why do the fronts never wait till Monday?

Possibly more snow next week - March roars in like a lion!














Going under Coquihalla Highway


Ben's Tunnel

Needle Peak in Summer - August 24

Due to lots of paragliding (and parawaiting), we haven't done much hiking all summer. Finally the forecast was so bad for the valley that I could convince Pete to leave the wing in the car for one day.


Needle is the highest point to the right



Sampling berries on the way up.


Pete scrambling up the summit block. Flatiron Mt in the back.


On Needle summit. Yak Peak right above my head




You can see the front of dark clouds approaching but we were lucky and got off the granit slaps before it started raining.

February avalanche conditions vary widely

What happened to all the nice snow?

Coquihalla and Mt Baker highways closed due to avy danger. During last week the Coquihalla got 50 cm in 6 hrs with 100 km/h winds. Avy forecast EXTREME. FL going up over 1000 meter. What to do? An urban paddle.

The Coquihalla actually stayed closed for 10 days. For a day or two, Highway 1 was closed also, leaving the route through Manning Park the only option to travel to the Interior.

Such a wide range of avy conditions during February, with both the triple 'Extreme' and triple 'Low' is something we don't get to see very often on the coast.

Powder Season Starts - January 27

Yeah, back in business! First ski weekend of the year for me. We paid a visit to Needle Peak on the Coquihalla and found hero conditions in the back bowl. Fifteen to twenty centimeters soft fluffy pow on a solid base – lots of fun and good turns.


Looking across Coquihalla Highway


Pete leaving a trail of cold smoke


On the way home after a good days work

I snuck (sneaked?) in a short trip up to Heather Meadows in November the day before I hurt my shoulder. May 28 to November 24 that's less than 6 months without skiing over the summer. Unfortunately I missed the first 2 months of this season - but the snow wasn't that great anyway... or was it?