a lot has happened since our last post: a camping trip in cultus, kayaking, and now a visit from brad, raquel and maria, but i want to get some pics up from our scramble up welch peak in the cheam range, so those things will have to wait.
welch peak is one of two mountains easily accessible from williamson lake, the other being foley. as the directions to the new williamson lake shortcut hike are always a little vague in the books, i will describe it briefly here. take chilliwack lake road to foley creek forest service road on the left (just past the jail). turn right after the bridge (left goes to cheam). continue on the main road, staying along the river until you pass foley lake on the left. keep low until you come to the gate. this gate is currently open 24/7, but i dont know for how long. after that it is right, right, left, left and you end up in a turnaround with 2 quad tracks exiting. take the RIGHT quad track and watch for the start of the flagged trail up a creekbed to your right approx 3 minutes in. after that you cant get lost.
the trail starts in a valley and enters the forest on the edge of a cutblock, climbing quickly and popping out into a wonderful alpine meadow. it was full of wildflowers, blooming insanely late this year.
from williamson lake, the routes up welch and foley are myriad. we chose to avoid the southern gendarme and head straight up the snowslopes to attain the ridge.
the snow brought us almost to the top of the ridge with ease. after that it was a quick scramble up mixed brush and scree to a whole new view.
here is brad deriving energy from "the still". you can see baby munday in the left background.
once on the ridge you are confronted with a beautiful spine to work your way up.
this portion was wonderful. solid rock and multiple mini pitches with occasional exposure.
after the initial slopes, the mountain became much steeper and the climbing more technical. the amount of exposure increased dramatically. hold on marc.
the snow pack has stuck around super long this year. the same snow that made attaining the ridge so easy stymied us near the summit. in a few places cliffs forced us off the ridge onto the east face. sometimes we traversed rock, and a few times we crossed high snowfields. at this point the rock became much more crumbly and we got into a few scary sections.
just under the subsummit the way was blocked by a sketchy corniced snowfield that extended down the ridge. working down and around it was possible but dangerous, as was traversing the tip. as both of us are new fathers, brad and i elected to swallow our pride and turn around just short of the summit. no big deal. it was a wonderful day with amazing views and we will be back.
the route down was awesome. descend the spine, climb the southern gendarme for fun and then weeeeeee... glissade all the way down to the lake. perfect snow for a little boot skiing. chilliwack is a wonderful place. i still cant believe i have peaks like this an hour from my door.
next up: camping at cultus. another wonderful thing about chilliwack.
the snows have held off long enough for my friend kris and i to embark on an alpine mountain biking excursion. the trail we chose linked 2 peaks and meandered down a long ridge between them.
the initial climb took us about 3 hours. we started up the flank of the mountain in dense new growth and then broke out into this beautiful open alpine forest working on its third millenium.
from there the trail transitioned to rough scree and we did some serious bike a neering. the wind was howling over this saddle and a bike slung over your shoulder acts surprisingly like a sail in those situations.
from the saddle we dropped our bikes and scurried up to the peak and back. after that we just had to clear a bit more scree before the next several hours were filled with this:
an incredible long winding descent through alpine meadows and old burns.
then rolling cross country trails slowly giving up elevation as we descended into a backcountry river valley. our initial plan was to visit the second peak and return directly to the car, but on the trail we encountered an old wooden map that showed another route down around the backside of the mountain instead. feeling adventurous, and not ready to finish our day, we opted to add another loop to the journey.
our beautiful pine needle and packed dirt trail meandered down the flanks of the mountain in an extremely pleasant fashion but although the valley continued, the trail ended at the border so we doubled back lower down, crossed the creek and followed an old doubletrack/singletrack/creek bed out and around the backside of the mountain and back to the road.
the round trip took us 8 hours and brought us through wonderful and varied terrain; both the views and the trail surface changed continually. high mountain trails have a glamour all their own. once again i feel so blessed to have these opportunities within an hour's drive of home. maybe there will be time for one more alpine ride before the snow hits!
