Garibaldi Sept. 23-25th 2017

This past weekend my buddy Braeden and I went on a 2 day hike in Garibaldi to climb the Black Tusk & Panorama Ridge. I picked him up on Saturday at 7:30 at the seabus in North Van. About two hours and one wrong turn later we arrived at the parking lot / trailhead. As it was Saturday morning it was very busy and we had to park quite far down the road. We both did one last pack of our bags and headed up the trail. There was a park ranger who checked we had reserved a spot and warned us of bear activity. With that in mind we started the 7.5km 800m elevation gain slog to the campsite with our 30lb bags.


We were very hungry when we arrived at 1:00 p.m. and after setting up had lunch immediately. Below is a picture of the black tusk from our campsite. After resting for a bit we headed to Garibaldi lake sans pack as it would not be in our path the next day but we heard it was too beautiful to miss.


The first picture below is from the southwest corner of the lake near the campsites looking at Panorama Ridge, which we would climb the next day. I initially thought the approach was from the West but it turns out I was completely wrong and it was from the North (not seen). The other picture is looking East towards Castle Towers and some other mountains I'm unfamiliar with.




Here is a picture of us on Sunday morning about to leave. We woke up at 6 and had breakfast and got ready. We left at 7. It was a 2.5km stretch to the black tusk turn off and then aproximately 3km to the end of the official trail. Past the trail is where I took the selfie below a little bit after climbing some scree. The tusk became more and more immense as we approached. I was very nonchalant about the climb and Braeden was a little anxious, I must admit as we got closer however I began to feel the same way.

Looking back to the south you can see the way we came with Garibaldi lake below. Braeden would routinely stop and set up his tripod to take pictures. We were the first ones out and didn't see anyone behind us till we were basically at the top. It was a little unnerving since we weren't 100% sure we were on the right trail but the people behind us confirmed we were.



As we came to the base of the tusk the immensity astounded us. This was the lookout where many people stop but those who want to climb the chimney to the top can keep going about half an hour. We then had to skirt the south face to get to the west side and find a chimney to climb. I had heard online there were some you could mistake for the right one that were more dangerous but I found the right one marked with some tape.


The next two pictures are climbing the chimney. Braeden was pretty hesitant to climb so I went up by myself. The rock was very sketchy and even large chunks could come lose and therefore checking each and every hold was essential. The chimney itself is maybe 50m but it branches at a few points in to the false chimneys so you have to make sure you look behind yourself and visually remind yourself the correct path for the descent. You would NOT want to take the wrong one down. Luckily some people have marked the way with tape as well but finding your way down is always more difficult if you haven't made it a point on the way up to remember the way. The chimney was a deathtrap for any rocks falling as it was steep. I am very glad we climbed in the morning when no one was around as I would be very afraid of getting hit in the afternoon when more people climbed.

After I made it to the top of the chimney I yelled for Braeden but he obviously couldn't hear me. I didn't like being up there by myself in case anything happened so I descended a bit and to my surprise Braeden was crawling up! We made it to the top, had a short break and descended. On our way down we had some people help us lower our bag with a rope as it was a little sketchy to downclimb with the bag.



After we descended to the black tusk split around 1:00 we had been hiking already for 6 hours! We decided to do Panorama Ridge anyways as we were feeling quite invigorated. Only took us another 5 hours and 800m! I didn't take nearly as many pictures because we were tired and frankly the climb was a lot easier and less exciting than the Tusk. The view at the top was great however but we were really too tired to enjoy it and decided to leave. We arrived back at camp at around 6pm. After dinner and a few drinks we retired for the night. The next morning we woke up, packed and headed back to the car getting there at about 11. Returning to home. Overall a great trip. There are many more sites to see at Garibaldi and I can see myself going there again. It was very busy though even in September so I can't imagine how hectic the summer is.