Northover Ridge

Taking it all in from Northover Ridge

Distance: 33km

Elevation: ~1400m

Time: 14hrs (over 3 days)

Peter, Kristina, Kyle and I hiked Northover Ridge as a 3 day backpacking trip this past weekend. We completed the 33km loop in the counter-clockwise direction, camping at Three Isle Lake and Aster Lake. It was a beautiful fall weekend in the Rockies, complete with yellow larches, blue skies and a skiff of snow on the peaks. We were pretty lucky to be able to do this trail so late in the season and were rewarded with endless mountain views, surprising warm weather and very few people on the trail. As a result, we took LOTS of pictures.

Whistler's Four Corners

If you search for the Four Corners of Whistler on Trailforks, you will find a 100km, 5000m elevation ride that hits the "four corners" of Whistler (north, south, east and west). The route includes a sample of the many amazing black and double black trails in the Whistler valley network; Lord of the Squirrels, Zanarchy/Gargamel, Dark Crystal and Ride Don't Slide. To do it properly, you need to pedal it all in a day, which would take some serious fitness! Good timing is also important as Lord of the Squirrels is only open for a short window every year based on snow and the trail builders ask that you do not ride Dark Crystal when it is wet.

Pedaling up Blackcomb to ride our 4th corner - Dark Crystal

Return to Waterton Part 2: Carthew-Alderson Hike

Distance: 20km

Elevation: 997m

One way hike 

(requires shuttle or car drop at Cameron Lake)

Morning coffee on the Cameron Lake dock

The Carthew-Alderson trail is a one-way hike from Cameron Lake back to the Waterton Townsite. This is probably my favourite day hike because of the constantly changing vistas, multiple alpine lakes and opportunities for small detours to summit Mt. Carthew or its small subpeak. I also love that you get all of your elevation out of the way at the beginning of the day, and spend the majority of the hike in the alpine with a long descent to Waterton. You do need to arrange transportation to the trailhead at Cameron Lake. Since we only had one vehicle, we booked a shuttle with Tamarack the night before. Sunday morning we hopped on the bus then hiked back to our car.

Return to Waterton Part 1: Crypt Lake Hike

Distance: 20.5km 

(with ferry to and from Trailhead)

Elevation: 935m

The classic cave section of Crypt Lake Hike

The main tourist season in Waterton ends after Labour Day. If the weather holds, you can access the stunning park without the crowds for a narrow time window before the seasonal employees return home for the winter. The camping reservation system also ends the week after Labour Day so we showed up Thursday night and found a perfect campsite next to the river and a cook-shelter. Waterton is notoriously windy and a sheltered site is a must. Even early in September it gets cold at night so having access to the cook shelter's wood stove (bring your own wood) was a bonus and a great place to meet other campers who joined us around the stove to cook and swap stories.

Revel-Smoke

Smokiest place on earth? Mid-afternoon in Revelstoke feels like perma-twilight

We made our annual August pilgrimage to Revelstoke and met up with Chad, Grace and Woody for a weekend of camping by the lake. We rolled in after dark and were treated to an amazing view of the perseids meteor shower as we sat around an illuminated water bottle due to the fire ban.

Disneyland Heli-Bike

The stats

1500m descent

11.6 km

3h30mins elapsed (2h20 moving)

Choose your own adventure in this adult playground

About 10 years ago, I heard rumors of the Disneyland bike trail high above Britannia Beach, but had assumed that the trail and its access had faded into oblivion and never pursued it. My curiosity was renewed this winter when I picked up the new Sea to Sky backcountry map and saw the trail marked on Goat Ridge. 

Heart Line Rock Climb (17 pitches, 5.9, 1100m)

Heartline

17 Pitches (sport)

5.9 A0

1061 m

Hunting for the start

The Heart Line is a full day "sportaineering" route from Heart Creek to the summit of Heart Mountain. We were able to climb it in ~7 hours with a single rope and a rack of 12 alpine draws (although one went missing along the way). We linked a few pitches for efficiency, but ended up with a fair amount of rope drag thanks to the rambling nature of the route that follows the obvious ridge all the way to the top. As with any rockies alpine route, there was some route-finding and loose rock but the climbing was varied and interesting without being too difficult. The rock sections are broken up by a few 3rd and 4th class scrambles and there was even an aid ladder pitch to add some variety.