James Peak - September 3 2022
North Vancouver Area, Lion's Bay, BC
1440m
This is the seventh summit of my modified Howe Sound Crest Trail (HSCT) attempt, and this report picks up after East Lion. After my descent from East Lion and regaining the HSCT a bit past Thomas Peak, I took a short rest, and ended up seeing the group of 4 I met camping at Unnecessary Mountain. Since I was feeling pretty tired, and was going through water fast, I figured it'd be a good idea to join them, as it'd keep me in check and stop me from sweating too much. So, after a short rest, we continued heading down around 11:45am.
Sadly, the descent down to "Enchantment Pass", or the bottom of the col between Thomas and James is around 250m of loss, down to just below 1300m. The first half is just normal trail, and the second half is a bit of loose dirt, and bit of boulders. It seems one of the group members wasn't a big fan of either, and took it quite slow. Once we bottomed out, we also took a 70 minute break, which was definitely a factor in the end trip-time. If it was up to me entirely, this'd have been shorter, but they were just some friends hanging out and camping a couple nights, not intense peakbaggers, so they had the time to relax. I wanted to keep going with people and not tire myself out, so I accepted this, and got to enjoy some nice conversation, something I often lack even when with others since we're usually at a "no talking, that's extra breathing" sort of pace.
After that lengthy break, the uphill began. It is steep, but easy to navigate. Just a bunch of big steps winding through a forested trail up the mountain. There's a few spots where some people would use a hand or two, but for the most part up to the first false summit it's pretty easy, if a bit of a grind (depending on where you started, and how much you're hauling).
Once you get close to the first false summit, you start hitting some more areas with ropes/chains. Naturally, I refused to use any of them, but they're there for those who want them. This is a very heavily trafficked trail, so there's not much you'll be forced to do that might make you uncomfortable. There's a few ups and downs along false summits for a while, including a short traverse on a narrow ridge with both a rope and chain, but one can walk across it with careful foot placement and courage.
After getting through the ups and downs above, we eventually summited at about 3:45pm. After a quick photo session, we continued on, as I had to get home after a couple more peaks, and they were heading for Magnesia Meadows, also a good ways away. So, onto the next peak, David Peak.