_modzzz_articles_page_title_browse_letter RSS2020-08-08T16:59:00+0000Two BCMCers, David Egan and I, started at about 8:15 am to hike up to the summit of Mount Brunswick. We had clear, blue skies and it was quite warm. We each brought about 3 litres of water which was a good idea as there wasn't any access to water above about 600 meters of elevation where we crossed Magnesia Creek. I drank almost all of my water by the end of the hike! We took a few quick breaks to refuel and rest. The trail was in good condition, easy to follow, and the views were amazing from above about 1000 meters in elevation. You can see the amazing blue waters of Howe Sound. We saw a mama Grouse and her two babies high up on the trail where we could already see the views of the ocean. They scurried across the trail and the mama Grouse watched us from a branch of a tree as we watched back. They were so adorable! We arrived at the ridge to the summit in about 3 and a half hours. There was a bit of scrambling to get to the summit once you reached the ridge and it was exposed in some areas. It was fairly easy to walk on the right side of the last section instead of on top of the rock and to the summit. We crossed paths with only a few people. At the summit, we were visited by a Dark-eyed junco. There were also some beautiful alpine flowers such as Arctic lupine and Davidson's penstemon. We completed the hike in about 8 hours which included a nice break at the top. ~Sara

]]>2020-08-08T16:59:00+0000I'd intended to skin up from the Cypress resort to St. Marks peak, then ski the HSCT. But, a day or two before, I decided to prepend to it a hike to the resort from Marine Drive. The latter took too long, and, due to the recent warmth, the snow on the trail (from the Cypress resort) towards St Marks had mostly melted. So I aborted the HSCT attempt. I'd done the Marine-to-Black-Mountain-to-St-Marks hike once, a few years ago, in summer. I thought that there might be snow on the scree, just before Eagle Bluffs, but I came across none. No crampons or axe was needed. The few people who do hike up to Eagle Bluffs seem to start from Horseshoe Bay; I have done so from Marine Drive, going through the Nelson Canyon Park and Whyte Lake areas. On this occasion, unlike my previous attempt, I got sloppy, and ended up mistakenly taking the long route (towards Arbutus Grove and Larson Creek), unnecessarily climbing a hill, and getting lost in the maze of unmarked, residential trails! The map+compass+GPS combination got me out, but significant time was lost. Being early in the morning, on an under-used trail, I ran into a very displeased, adult bear as well. The snow-pack started in the trees after Eagle Bluffs. The route towards the resort was not worth skinning, as it was too narrow, with tight up-and-down rolls and quick turns, and covered with pine needles. Approaching the resort, all the bamboo markers for the snow-shoe trails had been removed, as it was off-season. So, more time was lost. Thankfully, there were enough people around (coming from the resort) that some help was obtained. By the time I hit a run, my legs were too exhausted to ski the cupped snow well enough. Most of the Cypress bowl still had a good snow-pack, though; it is certainly worthwhile to _drive_ up for a few laps, if you don't mind hiking up the runs every time. I contemplated whether I should attempt the HSCT, as it was late in the afternoon, and I was tired. As I _could_ go on at a slower pace, and th... Read more

]]>2018-05-17T02:38:00+0000An Incident Summary of the most catastrophic BCMC Website Nuclear disaster in BCMC History by the culprit, the BCMC Webmaster. Categorization of disaster on International Nuclear Event Scale: 7 - Major Accident Time Line of Incident: January 9th, 2016 11:09 PM BCMC Webmaster (me) logs into BCMC Server to perform seemingly routine task requested of him by web development team11:12 PM BCMC Webmaster creates subdomain and redirect to existing .php page on website, or at least so he thought.11:13 PM BCMC Webmaster immediately notices main BCMC Website is now offline.11:14 PM BCMC Webmaster deletes subdomain with redirect assuming this will return website to original state11:15 PM BCMC Webmaster notices that the main BCMC Website is still offline despite the elimination of the subdomain11:17 PM BCMC Webmaster takes a peek into the reactor core (file structure) to see if anything has changed.11:18 PM BCMC Webmaster takes note that the reactor core has been damaged and countless files and folders are missing.11:20 PM BCMC Webmaster sounds the alarm and summons all members of the Web Development Team to assist.11:30 PM Other members of the Web development team confirm that the BCMC Website reactor core has been compromised.11:45 PM (or thereabouts), the Web Development team decides that a full restoration of the previous day's backup file is in order.11:46 PM BCMC Webmaster initiates backup restoration of BCMC Website through server's restoration backup application.Crisis and Meltdown January 10th, 201612:03 AM backup restoration fails, unexpected server full error indicated12:03 AM Server interface is destroyed/non-functional, access to server is lost, reactor core is in full meltdown. The crisis is now underway.12:13 AM BCMC Webmaster contacts India based emergency responders to aid in the crisis and pleads for assistance.  1:00 AM BCMC Webmaster is still unable to gain access to the core, now in meltdown.3:00 AM BCMC Webmaster and web team packs it in for the night,... Read more

]]>2017-01-11T20:41:00+0000Cliff, Win, Connor, Bala, Oudi, Brian (me) climbed Bakers North Ridge. Leaving Saturday morning we met at the trailhead at 10am and headed up to set up camp on the football field below the Black Butte. We were joined by a second larger BCMC trip heading the Coleman Demming. It was a hot, hot weekend not a cloud in the sky. After a quick dinner and a lot of chit chat with the other group we all crashed about 8pm. 12:15am we rose to a beautiful starry night and set out across the crevasse fields. With out too much trouble we got across those as recent snow had them fairly well covered and the night being cooler the snow was firm. At about 6am we started ascending the North Ridge. reaching the the key ice step a single pitch going anywhere from a WI2+ to WI6 depending where you want to climb. Here the party split into two with Connor leading Oudi & Win up a classic WI4 and Bala taking the second team up a WI3 alpine route (rocks, bad ice etc.) We both topped out onto 50+ degree snow slope and did running belays to the top where we met up again. Solid leads by both Bala and Connor were impressive. From there we hiked down the Coleman Deming to get back to camp about 5pm. Sorted the gear and headed down the mountain. A couple of notes 1) When climbing with Bala please allot time for meet and greets. Everyone knows Bala, Bala knows everyone. (Will Gadd stopped to talk with us "read Bala" last trip) 2) Any BCMC member who happened to ski past us on the decent down CD. Next time be a decent mountaineer and pick up a hitchhiker 3) I don't care how much sunscreen/lip balm you have it isn't enough pack more. 4) be careful things dropped on the north ridge will slide to the parking lot (anyone need a left handed glove just 1) and just because it is dark out when  you get up make sure you grab your sunglasses (thanks again Connor)  Finally I would recommend any of these partners for any trip they are solid climbers and an easy going group.... Read more

]]>2016-06-27T23:19:00+0000The trip was amazing. Conditions were sunny on the day in and light snow on return trip back. Snowshoeing across the lake was further than we thought. It is approximately 6km. The hut is quaint. Another group of 3 were there as well. The hut was cold. There is no woodstove and the small heater would not work, even though we brougt up lots of white gas,  In the night it was -8 in the hut and all our shoes and clothing was frozen in the morning. Despite that we had a great time! it was full moon and the views were spectacular. The trail was hard pack and so we didn't need to use snowshoes that much. Beautiful trip, I just need a warmer sleeping bag!

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