The Black Tusk

Just a couple of weeks now until the the ride, and I'm feeling pretty good.  The rides have been getting longer and tougher, and the steep British Columbia hill-climbs seem easier every time.  PMC donors have raised over $16,000,000.00 so far this year but we're not done yet with another 20 million or so to go, so please donate if you can!  I finally managed to get up into some real mountains this past week, on an overnighter with Bailey and the UBC outdoor club to The Black Tusk.  

Hiking through Taylor Meadows at 5,000' in Garibaldi Provincial Park.  

Mt. Garibaldi is the highest peak in the Vancouver area, a dormant stratovolcano that sits just north of the town of Squamish, a couple of hours drive from the city.  It is the centerpiece of the amazing Garibaldi Provincial Park, 750 square miles of rugged peaks, glaciers and alpine lakes.  The park offers backpacking, mountaineering and rock climbing, and in the winter world class ski touring.  This time I would be heading to Garibaldi for a two day trip up the Black Tusk, an ancient and extinct volcano and now a crumbling tower of frozen lava.  At 7,600 feet the Tusk is a worthy challenge, and while it can be done in a long day by a fit party, we decided to load up with heavy overnight gear and enjoy a full weekend in the alpine.  

A very pleasant camp at Taylor Meadows.

We started the weekend with a five mile hike through the usual forest of giants, up to the Taylor Meadows camp just below treeline at 5,000 feet.  The system of trails leading up to the alpine here is very well used, being so close to the city and offering relatively easy access to some of the best views in southern British Columbia.  The trails lower down on the mountain are wide and well maintained so the crowds were not a problem, and we made it out of the big trees and up onto the alpine flats by early afternoon.  

Nearing treeline on The Black Tusk.
The Tantalus Range, across the Squamish Valley, in the background.

We set up camp and ate a sandwich, and made our plans for the summit.  On most summer mountaineering trips on high glaciated peaks, the middle of the afternoon is not the time to make a summit attempt.  By the time the sun has fully risen these mountains are a dangerous mess of soft snow and crumbling rock.  The mountain is most stable in the early morning hours, when the snow has had a chance to refreeze overnight.  Climbers will often get an 'alpine start', rising well before dawn in the hopes of being on the summit by sunrise and off the most dangerous slopes before the midday sun hits them.  This strategy also minimizes the amount of time that climbers are exposed to the sun, from which there is no escape.  The sun at higher altitudes can be particularly strong, and reflects off of the snow to burn every unprotected corner of skin.  Besides sunburn, this kind of exposure can exhaust climbers and cause dehydration and even snow blindness.  On serious high altitude ventures above 10,000 feet this schedule is also imperative in order to acclimatize to the lower oxygen environment.  Climb too high too fast and one is at severe risk for altitude sickness, though this would not be a problem for us on the Tusk.  

Bailey takes in some views from the snowfields on the Tusk.

Given all of this, we had the decision to keep heading for the summit that same day, or hang out for the rest of the afternoon and set off early the next morning.  The Tusk is really only a half serious objective, there are no glacier crossings on the route we had ahead of us, and the poor snow season this winter in B.C. meant that there was little snow cover left.  We also had the prospect of a long afternoon at camp with little to do and lots of mosquitoes.  We did all the math, and decided that the route was short enough that we might as well give it a shot that afternoon, and turn back if the sun became too much to handle.  

Final snow and scree slopes before the summit pinnacle. 

So, we packed up water and food, helmets, extra layers and lots of sunscreen and hit the trail once again.  We made our way up through the last of the thinning trees and into steepening alpine meadows.  The meadows eventually gave way to dreaded scree, steep slopes of loose rock and ash from eruptions past that slide out from underneath you with every step.  Travel over this stuff is quite literally two steps forward one step back, and can be pretty tiring in the hot sun.  This finally turned to snow cover, and we had a reasonably easy climb up to the final summit spire as views of the Coast Range opened up around us.  

Bailey negotiates the summit scramble at 7,000' on the Tusk. 

After a short break at around 7,000 feet to catch our breath and take in the views, we set off for the final climb to the summit.  This part was what we had all come here for, a beautiful summit scramble up the final steep rock tower of the Tusk.  This tower is the frozen remains of what was once the magma conduit coming up through the volcano.  When this magma hardens it is stronger than the surrounding slopes of erupted ash and rock (that scree we hate).  The scree crumbles away over the years and all that is left is a near vertical tower of hardened lava. Climbing this stuff can be a little unstable but fun as heck, and the geologist in me ain't mad about it neither.

Having a good time.

Mt. Garibaldi 8,800' and Garibaldi Lake from near the top.

Crushed it.  

Bingo!  

Finally at the top, we relaxed and took photos and congratulated ourselves on a job well done.  We soaked in the 360 degree views of high glaciated peaks, and chugged water.  I'll admit that after going from sea level to nearly 8,000 feet in a single day, I had a couple of waves of the familiar altitude nausea but managed to keep it together until we began making our way lower down.  

Feeling congratulatory on the way down.

We hiked our way back down to camp, ate food, drank water and tried to relax in clouds of voracious mosquitoes.  The next day we packed up camp and headed off the mountain, but not before a stop at Garibaldi Lake.  This is the catchment for all the glacial melt water coming out of these mountains.  It is crystal clear, freezing cold and a spectacular shade of blue as a result of fine glacially milled rock dust suspended in the water.  It was painfully cold, but a welcome reprieve from the heat of the afternoon.  After a swim and a sandwich we hiked our way out of the park and back to the cars.  Another summit, another great weekend in the mountains and a good 20 miles and 8,000 feet of PMC training.  

Taking a dip in Garibaldi Lake.  Brr.

Hiking past Garibaldi Lake on the way out.  

The Garibaldi Lake Barrier.  This wall of frozen lava keeps the Garibaldi Lakes confined high in the alpine.
A major earthquake could rupture this wall, sending the contents of the lakes down through the populated
Squamish Valley.  A reminder of the living landscape on an active tectonic plate margin.  

That's all I got on that one.  I'll be heading back to Massachusetts in a week or so, but not before taking a shot at the highest Cascade volcano, 14,400 foot Mt. Rainier in Washington.  I'll get a blog up on that one before the ride so check back for that.  Please check out my PMC profile page and donate if you can, thanks for stopping by!