Cypress Peak

July 30, 2005

Trip Report | Photos

Trip Participants: Julia, Marian, Vlad, Paul, Chris, Chris, Phil & Bogdan

Cypress Peak had been on my 'to-do' list since I got my copy of Scrambles. After my 14 hour day last weekend I was ready for a shorter day this weekend. Of course I wasn't willing to give up any views in order to have a shorter day so Cypress seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

I was able to assemble an enthusiastic group fairly quickly. It was touch and go for a while there in terms of our vehicle status but at the last minute Chris and Marian confirmed that they were coming so we had a Jeep and a CRV which shaved 2.3km and 700ft off the logging road.

We met at the church at 6am and were off at 6:05. After a brief stop for coffee, breakfast and gas in Squamish, we headed for the Chance Creek FSR. By the way, there is now a Starbucks and a Subway on the east side of the highway in Squamish. I keep forgetting. It would be a better place to stop as it's on the right side of the road.

The Chance Creek Forest Service Road is in good shape albeit dusty.... VERY dusty! There are waterbars on the last stretch but we made it as far as the last monster one. A lifted truck could make it all the way to the end of the road.

We left the trailhead just after 8am. It was downright chilly but I knew I'd appreciate the morning chill once we started climbing. Fortunately we had very good instructions from two previous groups which helped us to avoid a bushwhack. At the end of the logging road, we simply continued across the clearcut into the bush. There's the makings of a trail through there now. After about 10 minutes, we broke out at the bottom of the looooong talus slope and hopped across the river.

I love any hike where I only have 10 minutes in the trees and then I'm out in the alpine with views. We began hiking up the talus. Makes it more interesting when your never sure if that rock is going to move or not. We followed the river gully up on the way up which was probably a bad idea as a few people got stuck on steep terrain and had a dodgy river crossing. Those of us who crossed earlier seemed to have an easier time of it.

After negotiating some steep heather slopes, we were soon looking down onto a 'surprise' glacier. I say that because this is a really cool glacier so it was a neat surprise. A wall of ice rose up many stories giving us a unique view of the crevasses. Another interesting feature was the man rocks that were perched precariously on the edge of the wall. Some car sized. Judging by the many rocks at the bottom of the wall, we decided that this was not a good place to hang around. So we snapped a few quick pics and got out of there asap. You can avoid 'bomb ally' and hiking on the glacier by climbing up onto the rocks to the right and staying high, crossing rock and snow slopes until you get to the ridge.

The views just get better and better as you go. From the ridge you have fantastic views of Fee, Brew, and the Tantalus Range. There is a beautiful alpine basin on the other side of the ridge that looks like an amazing place to camp for a few days while you explore the area.

We had lunch on a big rock then we were off to the summit. If you stay right, you can avoid anything difficult (in my opinion.... it's still a scramble so not everyone is going to feel comfortable here). It looks much harder than it actually is. The holds are bomber. My only complaint is that it was too short. It's SO much fun but before you know it you're on the top and it's over. Stay kind of in the middle if you want a bit of a challenge with some interesting moves. Stay right for the easiest way up. Don't go too far left.

It doesn't look like it from below but there's a nice big gently sloping rock on the summit which is a nice place to stretch out and enjoy the stellar views. We spent about an hour on the summit enjoying the views. Tricouni is right there with a beautiful hanging glacier. Garibaldi, Garibaldi Lake, The Barrier, Wedge, Ossa, Pelion.... it's just spectacular. It was a shame to turn around and go back so soon. It had only taken us about 4 hours to get up and that was at quite a leisurely pace. Phil, Vlad and I decided to do a side trip along the west ridge towards Tricouni. We turned around after about 30 minutes but could easily have continued. We just weren't sure if there would still be a ride for us if we didn't go back.

Once we ran out of snow slopes the going slowed WAY down as we headed back. Steep talus slopes get old pretty quick. We had a few tumbles along the way but no one was seriously hurt fortunately. I would HIGHLY recommend staying close together with all this lose rock... especially on the way down when you're moving more quickly. If you're going to get hit with a big rock, you want it to hit you sooner rather than later. We had several near misses.

The logging road sure felt good. It was nice to stretch our legs on the way back to the trucks which we reached shortly after 5pm. Total trip time was 9 hours including two long breaks, a side trip, and hundreds of pictures.

This trip is a top 10 in my book. Next time I will take my helmet. If you want to venture off the standard route, bring an ice axe too.

Reference:

Scrambles in Southwest British Columbia - pick up this book for directions, detailed route descriptions, ariel pics and much more.

Trip Report | Photos