Mt Garibaldi - July 9-10 2022

Coast Mountains, Squamish, British Columbia
2675m

Picking up from the first day and a half in the Brohm Peak trip report, we departed Brohm peak, and made our way up to high camp. The hike is not very eventful, we walked along a rocky ridge with snow on either side up to camp-elevation, then traversed the face til we got to camp, maybe an hour of walking. Since this was part of a guided weekend intended to learn us up about glacier traversal and crevasse rescue, we roped up for the walk across the face, but this was in no way necessary. We hit camp around noon, set up, ate lunch, and then moved on to practice some more skills in the afternoon. We also met a group who flew in that morning with the intent to summit the next morning like us (but with slightly fresher legs).

After lunch, we practiced building snow anchors, refreshed our self-arrest techniques, and discussed logistics for the next day. However, weather was getting worse, with visibility by 4pm being basically 10-20m, the wind picking up, and rain still forecast, so we made dinner and hopped into our tents fairly quickly, wanting to avoid the biting wind, and knowing we had a very early morning ahead, alarms set for 2:30. It is July, after all, so a very early start is essential to avoid the bad snow (plus Sunday's forecast called for afternoon rain we wanted to avoid).

While this time we did get mostly flat spots for our tents, it wasn't totally flat, it was pretty biting cold, and the wind was loud, so it again wasn't a perfect night of rest. I think in the future I'll bring both sleeping pads (only brought the inflating one this time), think that'd help a lot. But since we tucked in by like 7pm, the morning didn't even feel that bad. We got up, made breakfast, I attempted to go to the bathroom with little success, roped+cramponed up, and set out some time around quarter to 4, just after the group that flew in.

The walk across the glacier right from camp was pretty uneventful, we just walked across the snow til we got between the two snow bumps in the above photo, and turned right (south). We cat-and-moused with the heli-group a couple times, but once we got around that corner a bit over an hour in, they took a break to crampon up (we just wore em from camp), and we stayed ahead for the rest of the way up.

From here, the next hour or so was pretty much just uphill slogging, steep enough to use an axe instead of a pole, but not so much that you needed hands. We did encounter a few crevasses that were certainly not filled, but nothing that couldn't be stepped over, so no big deal there. However, once we got near the Bergschrund, things got steep, and slow. The last 200m or so of elevation took about 45 minutes, as we had to go up slopes at times over 50 degrees in incline, and across a couple large crevasses near the 'schrund.

Sadly, I was far too focused to take any picture of this section, but I can say while there were a couple big crevasses there, the first was bridged over enough in the spot we crossed to be able to put your weight on the bridge without it collapsing, and the latter we managed to take a nice, big step across, although with a bit more precision than the walking-incline areas previously. The worst part, honestly, was the fact that I brought 15-year-old gloves that had lost their waterproof qualities, and the steep snow that necessitated hands did not make that feel like a very wise choice...

But, after that section that definitely made us feel like "real mountaineers", we came up to the summit to be greeted by... a bunch of clouds!

After a few minutes resting, celebrating, and talking we decided to make our way down without much delay. It'd be slower going down than up til we got past the bergschrund, and we still had packing up camp and the entire walk down, so idling was not in the plans.

Getting down was a slow mix of heel-steps, downclimbing, and side-stepping, which wasn't the most fun. The heli-group actually passed us here, though they quickly ran into the steps from the way up collapsing, and didn't gain much ground until past the bergschrund. Crossing those was slow due to the ropework necessary to get across safely, but we managed it without incident, and once past there, it was basically just walking downhill, nice and easy.

At least, in theory. Sadly, Logan's infamous ankle started kicking in again, and we had to slow down a good bit to keep the pain at bay. It took us about half an hour to get from past the 'schrund to back on top of the snowy bumps you can see from camp, and another half-hour to get back to camp from there. Skis, of course, would make short work of this, or just "intact ankles" could probably shave 30-50% of that time as well.

Thankfully, our incidental patience was rewarded with some breaking clouds past 8:00, at least below about 2300m, and we got some decent views again, and we passed the other group as they busted out their drone now that the weather didn't make that a fruitless endeavour.

After we got back to camp, I went to the bathroom "for real" this time, we packed up, and started the journey back down. The other group had announced that they were going to get a ride down from near the chalet, and since Logan wasn't feeling too great, we were hoping to join them, so we tried to keep pace, and managed to do so until about halfway between Brohm Peak and where the trail curves back south onto the snowmobile road. Unfortunately, Logan started really feeling it here, so we fell back, and didn't manage to catch that group. Instead, in about 2 hours after leaving camp, we got our way back to the chalet, where we recovered our thankfully intact stash of extra gear, had some lunch, and we (unsuccessfully) tried to find a lift out for Logan, as he was really feeling it at this point.

Sadly, we weren't able to secure that ride, so after a bit over an hour of packing, trying to get some more weight out of his pack, eating, and not finding a ride down, we headed down. In about an hour, we managed to make it out of the snow to about 1250m. We stripped some layers and continued on for about another hour until about 1000m elevation, where a skier we saw on his way up around Brohm Ridge drove by me and Seb with Logan in the passenger seat! He was gracious enough to give us a ride back to the car, so we tossed our gear in the bed and cruised down at a much more acceptable pace, getting back to the car in about 10 minutes vs the about 60 it'd probably have taken to walk given our pace at the time.

From there, we rejoiced at the presence of my catalytic converter, intactness of the paneling, and fullness of the gas tank (theft/break-ins really are rampant this year), and we got to drive down and out, some of us a bit more worn than others, but a successful trip nonetheless.

And, naturally, the next day, I looked out of my window in the morning to absolutely gorgeous conditions all the way up to the peak, because that's just how life works.

GPX Track + Map