Leader: Aino Keineanen
Participants: Simon Tsianikias, Sam Perry, Lucile Paschal, Katie Sattler, Luis Dias, Connor Bauman, Robyn Mueller, Maya Schuab, Matthew Butler, Morris Kusters, Stella Mueller, Luce Tornare, Sara Bellman, Michael Volovyk, Eleonore Shaw, Elisabeth Giroud, Jamie Ranney, Lily McElman, Eleanor Hsuin, Haley Foladare, Griffin Brown, Tristan Russell
After an early morning pickup, we drove east past Hope into Manning Park. This was right in the middle of the exceptionally dry month of January 2025, but when we arrived at the Cambie Creek trailhead, we were pleasantly surprised by about 5cm of fresh snow at the parking lot.
Unfortunately, someone’s bindings would not adjust far enough out to fit their boots, and for a bit it looked like this would be a repeat of the binding issues we had on the Steps 1 trip. A couple people tried their boots to see if they fit, and remarkably, my boots fit perfectly without any adjustments. We swapped out equipment, and by 9:40 am, we were on our way.
This raven joined us as we suited up. Photo by Simon Tsianikias
Gearing up. Photo by Luis Dias
The trail was mostly a single file skin track on an old road through the forest. There was a short downhill, then we crossed the river and began the climb. We expected the track to be very icy, but it was very manageable. The climb was quite mellow, with a few steeper sections.
Lower trail. Notice one of my boots are in ski mode. I didn’t notice anything and only found out a few hours later. Photo by Connor Bauman.
After about 2 hours, we began to go through open meadows near treeline on the SW ridge. By this point we had separated into groups, and I was in the front group along with Jamie Ranney, Sam Perry, Connor Bauman, and our experienced helper Tristan Russell.
On the way up. Photo by Connor Bauman.
Great views of Hozomeen. Photo by Luis Dias.
Around 2.5 hours in, we reached a high point on the ridge, which maps show as 1959m. This point gave great views in all directions, and the first views of the Three Brothers peaks. Most groups stopped here, but our group decided to continue to the summit.
Our objective from the 1959m point. Photo by me.
Another view from the 1959m point. Photo by Katie Sattler.
After a short descent from the point, we started up the ridge. After a short distance, we were breaking trail, however many places were so icy or wind crusted that there was nothing to break. The ridge winds were quite strong from here. From this point, Connor started absolutely sending it on the ascent, leaving all of us behind and even doing a lap or two in skins while waiting for us.
Around 1:15 pm, we reached another high point, and decided to push on to the summit.
Short descent before the final summit ascent. Photo by Simon Tsianikias.
After a short descent, we ended up in a small gully. This gully acted as a wind tunnel and everything was just ice. The winds were so strong that there was an exposed field of rocks. Traversing above these rocks along ice in skins was the hardest and most technical section of the ascent.
View north from the gully towards Princeton. Photo by Simon Tsianikias.
The sketchiest part of the ascent (up and right from this pic). All this was ice and we had a field of sharp rocks below. Photo by Simon Tsianikias.
By this point, I started falling seriously behind. This was the toughest physical activity I had ever done, and I was getting tired. We were close to the end and I pushed on. Our turnaround time was 2 pm, and I stepped on the summit (behind the core group) at exactly 2. Although there were higher bumps to either side, this bump was marked as “Three Brothers Mountain” on some maps at an elevation of 2216m. This was good enough for me! At this point, Simon, who was originally part of the previous group, caught up to us. He had taken good pictures on the way up behind us and took some great ones on the summit. He was with us thereafter.
View NW from the top. Photo by Simon Tsianikias.
L to R: Sam, Tristan, and myself. Photo by Simon Tsianikias.
Simon at the top. Photo by Simon Tsianikias.
After about 20 minutes, we transitioned and began the descent. We were worried that the skiing would be very bad and icy (Jamie bootpacked down the first pitch as she was on a splitboard), but it was actually fine. There were intermittent icy sections, but also lots of dry powder. We transitioned in the gully and quickly made it to the bump. Most of us didn’t feel like taking skins off since there would be one more short uphill before the 1959m point, but this was probably a mistake. Connor took off skins and sent it downhill through great snow, while we had to slowly descend in skins.
After 15 minutes resting at the 1959m point, we transitioned one last time and finally got some good turns in on the ridge. Skiing out on the trail was fine, less icy than the Red Heather trail. There were a few short flat sections and uphills that I just bootpacked, and for the last 750m before the parking lot, I put on skins to make things easier. We arrived back to the cars around 4:15 pm (?).
The climb was about 11km with over 900m of elevation. Some experienced people told me that after this, I was ready to go to Brew hut. I would also call this my first “mountaineering” trip in the winter, which was cool.
Thanks to Aino for organizing, Tristan for helping our subgroup, and to everyone for making this a great trip.
Stoked for Step 3!
Now that’s some solid ski touring! Hope Step 3 goes well!