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Port Moody, British columbia
Canada
276 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2011 : 8:39 PM
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Not sure if anyone really cares to hear about it, but see if that'll stop me!
When: July 3rd,
where: Tangled summit/ mount beautiful (seems to me that these peaks swap names and locations depending on which maps your looking at) on the Swan falls loop by Buntzen lake.
Since the weather was forecast for partly cloudy in the morning, turning to sunny what better a day to go for a hike? Started out at 8am, expecting to do the trip in 10 hours. Last year when i was up in this area it was early June and the snowline was up past Lindsay lake. this time around there were patches of snow starting from 850m on, We took the ridge route from el paso junction, and found there was no snow along the whole ridge route (which was nice) It was exceptionally misty and windy up until near the end of Ridge route. Which made for some nice Misty ray pictures.
    
   
took some photos at the viewpoints of course:
     
just before arriving at Lindsay lake the snow was back, and the lake was still almost solidly frozen over:
i found that between just before Lindsay lake and the first summit, (before hemlock pass) the trail makers were really terrible, we'd often have to go for quite some time before getting any hint that we were going the right way, (i did have topo maps, and GPS with topo, so i wasn't overly concerned,) but it was in stark contrast to the way down after Tangled peak, which was markers a-plenty. ) It is possible that the high snow level just has the majority of them buried.
Got to the top around 4pm, took some pictures, munched some food, watched the Ravens, Bald eagle, and a pair of gigantic Golden eagles soaring around us curiously. (i actually think the golden eagles were eyeing up my not-so-small dog!) While we were at the top heard a very loud rock fall not to far away, somewhere on the Coquitlam lake side it seemed.
Views from the top 8 hours in already...:
        
way down was much more pleasant then the way up, (isn't it often that way though?) Were worried about the gate closing time as we reached car park by 9, but it was wide open. (the signs say 8, but there were plenty of people still there when we left at 9:30...)
  
Good trip, but the amount of snow up there sure surprised me. (even though I expected it'd be high still, just not That high!) turns out my other half, was very uncomfortable going up/down/traversing the snowy slopes , (see: complete hysteria) I had to talk her/help her through a good chunk of the trail. Which is why this took us 13.5 hours. However i'm sure most would get it done in far less even with the snow. and which is also why i now need a New hiking partner it turns out! (not a new girlfriend luckily)
GPS Altimeter gave me a total accent of 1560 m, which i find hard to believe, considering the trail description says 1160. another odd thing was how it said we were stopped for exactly half the time of the trip. I'm guessing the switch backs were messing with it. |
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 Terminator shade wearing, summit questing, double Grinding, Gordo voting self annointed 'dumb ass' and Aconcagua Bagga who dreams of Robson, Teton, The Judge, and.....and....
Port Moody, B.C
Canada
2210 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2011 : 8:47 PM
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| I had a now ex girl friend blow up on me for taking her up there as well. No sense of humour? |
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Intermediate Member
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coquitlam, B.C.
Canada
791 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2011 : 9:10 PM
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| Love the pictures of the mist. I'll wait till August when most of the snow is gone for my annual loop up there |
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Port Moody, BC
169 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2011 : 9:56 PM
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| I've done this hike going the other way round and up the Swan Falls. It was a hard hike even without the snow, so it must've been very hard. I also went down past Lindsay and the other lakes since it's mostly downhill. It's a nice hike but it can be a slog at times. |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13465 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2011 : 10:09 PM
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Great read.. and like those tree mist photos. Sure is still a lot of snow up there.
K |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
606 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2011 : 12:38 AM
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This year is something else. I did whole loop (Beautiful -- Dilly/Dally) last year about this time and there was hardly any snow.
Great mist shots! |
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1355 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2011 : 10:08 PM
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Amount of snow is unbelievable this year. Where is the global warming?
Well done. |
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Squamish, British Columbia
Canada
1008 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2011 : 5:38 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Alsidprime
Not sure if anyone really cares to hear about it, but see if that'll stop me!
Heh, just seen someone link to this report on the Wanderung Facebook group because someone wanted to know the current snow conditions on this hike. Always post up a report, somebody out there will be thankful you did.
Love the Crepuscular rays in the trees. They never fail in making the forest seem even more ancient for some reason when I'm amongst them. |
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Tangled summit/Swan falls loop (July 3 2011)
