Summer 2007 - The Alpine Club of Canada

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Glaciers, girls and granite: A three-week long self-propelled kayaking, mountaineering and cycling adventure BY KRYSTIL KOETHLER Time and again the debate regarding what ‘truly’ qualifi es as a self-propelled wilderness adventure will pop up. For our team, it meant going on a trip where we used our own power to go door-to-door. No motorized vehicles were used to gain any distance, and we traveled from Vancouver to the northwest region of BC’s Tantalus Range (near Squamish), and back to Vancouver. Along the way we gained the summits of Mount Jimmy Jimmy and Mount Ossa. We traveled with sea kayaks, our feet, sometimes our hands and feet, and bikes. How do these things start is a question that often comes up on trips during times of uncertainty. Ellen Morgan and I applied to the Alpine Club of Canada’s Jen Higgins Fund in January 2005. Excited and honoured barely begin to describe the feelings that washed over us when we found out we had been awarded the grant. Greta and Alex were keen to jump on board when presented with the opportunity, and we had our dream team of choice, brought together through our University of British Columbia Varsity Outdoors Club. Over the next several months we began to implement our plans, and for every one chore we accomplished, two more would be added to the list, creating an exponential amount of preparation for our multi-dimensional undertaking. Nevertheless, August 14, 2006 arrived and we found ourselves carrying kayaks and gear down to Vancouver’s Kitsilano Beach from Ellen’s house two blocks away. Our fi rst two days were incredibly productive and we made it all the way across Burrard Inlet, along the Straight of Georgia to the town of 14 Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● SUMMER 2007 Sechelt, through Sechelt, and to Porpoise Bay Campground on the Sechelt Inlet. Our success was attributed to amazing weather and Greta’s ingenious idea of using shopping carts to help with the portage through town. Our presence did not go unnoticed and the great townsfolk of Sechelt encouraged us, off ered us help (which of course we politely declined), and told us to get boyfriends; errrr, right. Our hard work was rewarded with a paddle through phosphorescence, and four casual days of paddling thereafter because we found ourselves ahead of schedule. Our hiking began on day six from the north end of Narrows Inlet when we bid adieu to our seafaring vessels, thanks very much to Porpoise Bay Charters who helpfully picked up and returned our kayaks to Vancouver for us. Our fi rst attempt at gaining the alpine cost us two and a half days when we tried to travel southeast up a tributary at the end of the Tzoonie River logging road. Both nights were spent without tents due to the steep terrain, and the second was spent tied into trees just in case we thought of rolling during the night! Defeated, we returned down to the valley hoping that we could get to Mount Jimmy Jimmy via a pass further up the valley leading to Tatlow Creek beside our destination. Our hopes were met, and we camped beside Mount Jimmy Jimmy on day 11 of our trip. Finally, we gained the glacier near the summit of Mount Jimmy Jimmy by scrambling along its southwest ridge and making one 25-metre rappel just before its false summit. From there it was an easy, short and pleasant scramble to the true summit. Perhaps it was the eff ort it took us to get there; the summit of Mount Jimmy Jimmy felt like the most astounding mountain I’ve ever stood on top of, and our entire group savoured a feeling of accomplishment with highfi ves all around. Feeling pressed for time and uncertain of our planned route, we decided to re-route ourselves along the Ashlu River Road towards Sigurd Creek to get into Mount Ossa. We descended by following Mount Jimmy Jimmy’s glacier north, and after completing a solid nine-day program of bushwhacking we reached the Sigurd Creek Trail Head for Mount Ossa. Up the trail we hiked once again (we had gone in there before our trip to make a food drop). Camping on the moraine at the base of Mount Ossa on day 16, we Left: Krystil and Ellen kayaking on the Sechelt Inlet Top: Alex crossing a creek on her way to the Ashlu River Road Above: The girls' favourite group shot with Mount Jimmy Jimmy in the background Far right: Ellen, Greta and Krystil during the bike ride back along the Squamish River Road with Mount Tantalus in the background PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY THE TEAM
took our fi rst true rest day due to poor weather the following day. On day 17 we woke up to patchy skies, but we thought we’d give Mount Ossa a try in case it cleared up. We made it quite far up the ridge before turning back because the weather did not clear. Th e following day our weather luck returned; under blue skies we made our way to the top of Mount Ossa. On day 19, feeling accomplished and a bit tired we made it back down to the road. Happy that everything had gone well, and with many uncertainties out of the way, we were like kids the night before Christmas waiting for our friends to bring us our bikes, fresh food – and best of all, some new company. After a night of socializing and feasting we pedaled off for our homeward journey, happy to be rolling along. Joking around that “the re-integration process to society is often a slow and painful one,” we traveled through Squamish and Vancouver reminding ourselves that the habits we are comfortable with in mountains are not necessarily acceptable social behavior. So we made an eff ort to keep our clothes on, pee in toilets, and most of all we tried to stay out of everybody’s way in an eff ort not to get hit by any cars. Since the end of the expedition we have presented our slide show to 17 high school classes throughout the Lower Mainland. In doing so we hope that some of the students have been inspired to explore the amazing mountains surrounding their home. Trip Participants: Krystil Koethler, Ellen Morgan, Greta Raymant and Alex Wross. Many thanks to all who supported us on our journey, especially the Alpine Club of Canada, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Earth Sea Sky Clothing Ltd., Nature’s Path, Pedals ’n’ Paddles, Porpoise Bay Charters, Harvest Foodworks, and fi nally, Ms. Laura Flynn. MEC is a proud partner of The Alpine Club of Canada freeze-dried food | first aid kits | flashlights | mec.ca Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● SUMMER 2007 15
Page 1 and 2: PUBLICATION # 40009034 Vol. 22, No.
Page 3 and 4: The Alpine Club of Canada Publicati
Page 5 and 6: New ACC Executive Director “exact
Page 7 and 8: Th e course ended with the instruct
Page 9 and 10: Munday biography brings history ali
Page 11 and 12: DRAGONFLY 8.2 | FUSE 9.4 | NOMAD 9.
Page 13: particularly helpful in providing i
Page 17 and 18: ience n Rombach, Kaeli Benoit, Jenn
Page 19 and 20: Whistler hosts fi rst Canadian Ski
Page 21 and 22: world for ice climbing,” Isaac sa
Page 23 and 24: Discover Places of Silence PACKAGE
Page 25 and 26: ACC salutes the BCMC’s centennial
Page 27 and 28: International Space Station. Weight
Page 29 and 30: West Coast members christen Centenn
Page 31: John Lauchlan Award and ACC team up

Summer 2007 - The Alpine Club of Canada

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