The Vitals
The Trip
This was a two night trip without even a particularly early Saturday start. We drove to the trailhead and were hiking by 9:30 but there were already around 10 parked cars. It’s true that there were many other groups around the entire weekend, but there are limitless options for camping amongst the multiple bowls and both named and unnamed lakes.
I was under the mistaken impression that the access to this area was bushy but the entire road seems to see enough travel that this just isn’t the case. There are some bushes that brush you but you can maintain full pace all the way. Despite the easy travel, the first hour or so were a little difficult for me to get into the hiking mindset. I had been very active in the week prior and I think I was just feeling a bit low energy.
There aren’t many views to speak of until Lizzie Lake with its treed shoreline. Even after the lake, a spell is spent climbing up to the “Gates of Shangri-La” which is the first time you can recognize you’ve actually gotten somewhere interesting.
From here, the views quickly open up. You pass the old Lizzie Creek cabin (1968?) and then you are in the subalpine with choices to make about how you will spend the next few days and where you will camp.
We climbed up past Arrowhead Lake and found a nice knoll next to Heart Lake upon which to set up camp for the next two nights. There was still lots of time in the day so we headed up to the nearby col between Anemone and Tabletop mountains and climbed the pair. Along the way I stepped on a large rock that rolled out under my feet and I clattered down on my elbow. Not a major injury but it hurt quite a lot for a few minutes and I got a nice scrape and a bruise.
From the tops of these peaks we were able to spy ahead to the next day’s goals of Tundra and Caltha peaks. We could also check out the skyline of the “Meditation Loop” traverse, a worthy-looking future trip.
While we had been on the peaks and making dinner, black clouds had been gathering to the west but nothing ever came over to our camp and we were in bed shortly after 9:00 for a (in my case) very restful night.
In the morning we set off to the pass near Iceberg lake and carried on down to Cherry Pip Pass. The best route to climb Tundra peak is probably from the col between it and Caltha, but it seemed very natural to climb straight up the west ridge from Cherry Pip Pass and start a loop. We bypassed the first small summit and topped the second before we had to downclimb about 60 m and traverse a steep talus slope until we reached the trail coming up from the col. This worked out fine but of course there was a lot of rock moving around under our feet.
Once we got on the SE ridge, Tundra lake came into view with it’s brilliant blue colour. We are used to beautiful glacier lakes like Garibaldi, but Tundra has a unique, rich tone and is very clear unlike the aforementioned lakes teeming with sediment. It was hard to look away or stop fantasizing about camping on its eastern shore.
I was tired on top of Tundra, but after lunch I got my pep back and decided to add on Caltha Peak but I was to be alone for this portion of the day. We made our rendez-vous plans and I set off down to the Tundra-Caltha col as quickly as I could. I passed a few parties coming up but between the steep terrain and some routefinding, this was not actually very quick.
What was quick was the ascent of Caltha once I reached the low point of the col. It was under half an hour from here to the summit and I was breathing pretty hard at the top. Just before the summit the black clouds that had gathered again in the early afternoon started some gentle spitting but it never progressed past that.
After summiting, I rounded the shorter peak to the southwest and picked my way across the boulder fields until I reached the ridge running east-west above Caltha Lake. I was glad when I was finally off the boulders as it had become a bit tedious trying to move efficiently over them.
The ridge above the lake had a lot of microterrain and I spent less time than expected enjoying the views. However, the last sandy descent to the lake was very pleasant and I sat down for a refresh at the outflow. At 4:00 I got back on my feet having spotted my partners ahead of me making their way back to Cherry Pip Pass. I caught up to them just after the pass and we rambled back to camp together in some late afternoon sun.
After dinner, thunderstorms picked up to the west and we watched some great forked lightning across the sky. In my tent, I could still see the flashes and hear the thunder, but we were again spared any rain ourselves.
The last morning, Dave and I left a bit earlier to add ascents of Arrowhead and Tynemouth. Arrowhead wasn’t too notable but we had a good time scrambling up Tynemouth. A general theme seems to be that any route that looks like it goes, does, so you don’t need to spend a lot of time looking for the easiest way. Our route up Tynemouth was a bit less traveled but included fun movement and continuous climbing. With just a bit more time we could have added Long Peak but this will need to wait for the next trip.
For the return, we dropped down some steep slopes to Rainbow Lake and then contoured just above 2000 meters before we could return to our camp in another pleasing loop that took a little under three hours.
At 11:00 we were heading back to the trailhead and began to see more people as many groups seemed to be on the same timeline. The terrain to the lake was not particularly fast but Alex really started to set a rapid pace once we hit the road. I had been concerned that the road out was going to be boring and stretch on forever. Instead, I had to spend my mental energy motivating myself to keep up with the trailblazer ahead.
We reached the car at 4:00 and had a refreshing wash in the river before the drive back home.
I really enjoyed my time here and wish to return to try some other peaks and camping locations. It was busier than any of us expected but there is so much space in the alpine that you can find solitude in camping quite easily, if that’s the aim.
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