Panorama Ridge – Sunday Oct 3 2021

[Ye Chu]

I haven’t done Panorama Ridge in 20 years as I thought it was too hard for me and was kind of worried about the challenge. As such, I made sure we went at a moderate pace and had plenty of water, snacks and WC breaks. We even had time to do stretches, LOL! With the change in dates to catch the sunshine, three hikers could not make it and an enthusiastic group of four showed up on Sunday at 8 am (sharp!) at Rubble Creek trail head. We had one new member, Davit, who had mountaineering training in Georgia and was way stronger than all of us (he climbed 5000+m peaks). I suggested that he could easily do C and D hikes with his skill set. He also said he wanted to try beginner backcountry skiing and I replied that Lesley Bohm would be a great safe leader for beginners.

The day started in sunshine with white cumulus clouds formations which always makes great photography. Rosa was definitely our master photography/videographer and I look forward to her fun video of us. We did a lot of pretend running across the snowy summit for her video. Yes, there was snow for the last three km towards the final summit. Microspikes were a necessity, as were walking poles. It was very slippery. We saw 20 to 30 trail runners in shorts, slipping and sliding everywhere on the snow covered boulders. Most hikers looked very inexperienced, and were there to get that perfect instagram photo from the false summit. We saw lots of toilet paper and excrement cascading down from the false summit (I even saw a sanitary pad!). I can’t believe they made no effort to get off the trail and bury their dirty deeds. An outhouse is definitely required near the last junction before the Helm creek turnoff as this hike is becoming another Joffre Lake.

I like leading small groups for strenuous trips as you can move quite efficiently. Davit kindly recorded the stats for us. Hiking time: 6:58:45 hours. Rest breaks: 3:10 hours. Distance: 29.78 km Elevation gain: 1930 m (includes all up and downs. Otherwise 1644m). Calories: 3565! Steps: 42,138! The last two statistics made me laugh!

By the end of the trip, we all had blue teeth from snacking on the best blueberries in Taylor meadows. Rosa said it was like eating sugar. We were back at the cars at 5:10 pm with plenty of daylight to drive back to Vancouver. I have a feeling we all slept very well after that trip as it was both exhilarating and exhausting.

 

• This topic was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by Ye Chu.

[Davit Khijakadze]

Thanks Ye for organizing this trip !
It was an awesome day with awesome people !

[rosa park]

What a great day we had! It was a day soaked in the beautiful n mysterious Garibaldi lk, autumn leaves and blueberries. The last 2km of loose rocks covered in snow were too slippery and more difficult than the summer hike, but well worth the unforgettable hike.

[Author]

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