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Scrambles and Skiing at Semaphore Lakes [more info added] · Sat. Jul. 30th, 2022 - Mon. Aug. 1st, 2022
Warning: This is an old trip - it already happened
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Start: Saturday, Jul. 30th, 8:00 am
End: Monday, Aug. 1st, 8:00 pm
Pre-trip meeting location: email faff
Description:
Looking to get out on some ridgeline and beat the heat this weekend but dodge the 30+ people that will be at Phelix?
Semaphore Lakes and Locomotive Mountain under early summer snow, courtesy of someone's blog
The Semaphore Lakes area is located NW of Pemberton on the Hurley River Road, about a 3 hour drive from Vancouver. With parking at 1350 m the subalpine (and current snowline) is only 2.5 km and 300 m of gain from the trailhead, allowing for easy access even with heavy packs. We will camp here for 2 nights and do various activities during the days. Above the lakes there are 5 peaks encircling the glacier that are popularly done as a traverse, easily accomplished in a day from camp by fit scramblers. Folks looking to take a more leisurely pace can tackle Locomotive and/or Face Mountains as individual objectives. I have been motivated recently to get back on the summer skiing train and this is the perfect location for it with easy access and good slopes, but this is totally optional. The trip will be in a base-camp style, with everyone free to choose their own pace and objectives for day trips from camp. Thus this trip is open to all abilities (minimum some backpacking experience), as long as you are willing to be somewhat independent. Note that the area is still quite snow-covered so you should be prepared to camp and travel on snow.
Since 3 days is plenty of time to climb all the peaks in the area I was not planning on a super rushed itinerary, leaving Saturday morning ~8am and getting back in time for dinner Monday. My personal plan is to approach to camp Saturday and ski a little bit in the afternoon/evening, then leave the skis behind Sunday to scramble the 5 peak traverse, then ski a little bit more Monday morning before heading out. Non skiers are free to join me on the scrambling on Sunday, but if you'd like to spread the climbs out a little bit more since you'll have extra time Saturday and Monday feel free.
I'd like to camp a little bit above the lakes in the "moraines" area, this is still only ~3km and ~350m of gain from the trailhead. From camp the statistics for the traverse are ~10km and ~1200m of gain. It can be done in either direction but is most popular clockwise. Locomotive Mountain is probably the most popular peak on the traverse as an individual scramble, while Face Mountain is the highest and technical crux (Class 3). Ambitious parties could add an out-and-back to Handcar Peak on the far end of the traverse to make it 6 peaks. A very easy ascent from camp that could be done in an evening/morning is Railroad Mountain.
The latest conditions report is that the lakes and above are still mostly snow covered, there appears to be substantially more snow at similar elevations here compared to the Phelix area. This apparently (in addition to being a plus for skiing) offers good travel for the scrambles by minimizing loose rock slopes. The few moderate rock sections on the mostly easy traverse are snow free.
Bring the gear you typically use for backcountry camping and hiking on snow. Let me know if you have any questions on what this entails. No technical glacier/climbing gear needed.
There will currently not be a pre-trip meeting unless the group becomes much larger, I will send out an email to people on the list Wednesday afternoon, email me if you sign up later
Posted: 2022-07-26 00:47:09
Last modified: 2022-07-28 16:17:37