Sumas Super Grind & Fons Peak - February 4th and 5th 2023

 Its been a long time since I posted and that's for a number of reasons. Its not that I haven't been busy (quite the contrary) but that I have been so busy that I haven't been able to get out hiking! Since my last post (AST-1 course) I have gone to Mexico for a family vacation, bought and renovated a condo and moved in! So I have been very busy. I thought about putting blog posts for my Mexico vacation and renovating the condo but I think I want to keep this blog mainly hiking and adventure related. Not that the other things in life aren't exciting but more so that I don't feel like sharing those details with any random stranger who might come along.

 

Jebby loves the snow

With that said this past weekend I was finally free of urgent responsibilities and absolutely itching to get out so I made the best of it. Originally I had only thought I was going to be able to get out on Sunday however Friday evening I learned I'd have Saturday morning free. I needed to be back by 2pm and I hadn't hiked in a while so I wanted something local and not too difficult. I had heard of the Sumas (Super) Grind for at least a year now and had always been interested in it. Sumas is my home mountain and so a new trail is interesting by itself but also the fact that it is similar in stats to the Grouse Grind and is on the south aspect of Sumas piqued my interest. I had always thought I would do it after work one day or something because its length and elevation make it not enough for a full weekend day but it was kind of too long for an after work hike (I'm lazy). Long story short I ended up finally pulling the trigger Saturday AM.

Typical view on the Sumas Super Grind

The rough stats are 5km, 820m EG so I originally intended to start at 7am because I had budgeted 4 hours round trip however I slept in and started at 8. This proved to be ample time as my month and a half of rest had not impacted me as much as I worried and I was able to finish the trail in 2h30min. I had worried the trail would be hard to find or follow but it was neither of these and I very easily found it and never had trouble following it. It is a relentless uphill hike as you can imagine from the stats but quite pleasant. You can look behind you whenever you want and get decent views toward the south (Vedder Mountain / Sumas flats) and there are a number of viewpoints along the way that offer unobstructed views.

One of the many viewpoints

Before long I had made it to the top that I recognized from hiking before and made the short trip to the Baker Rock viewpoint. I am blown away by this viewpoint every time, there is something unique about it that I love. I didn't straggle for too long though and made my way down quickly. Not much to say about the way down except that even as careful as I was I still fell on my butt twice and cut my hand a bit.

I love this viewpoint

I was planning on getting out on Sunday but I hadn't chosen any objective so I posted on the SWBC Peakbaggers Facebook page looking for a group and a woman I had spoken to in the past about a few things (AST-1, Middle Miracle Mountain), Carol, contacted me and asked me if I wanted to go to Fons peak. I had never heard of it and when I looked up I found it was nearly in Lillooet (nearly 4 hour drive) and it wasn't anything super interesting. Apparently she was just super focused on this peak and had already dragged two others in to it. Well she said I didn't have to drive (hell yeah) and I didn't want to say no to the opportunity. The stats weren't crazy and so that lead in to my next adventure.

 

Group hot, I know I look dumb but its all I got

Waking up at 4:30 on Sunday AM I quickly got ready and headed out. Originally the plan was for me to get picked up at the Whatcom park and ride at 5:30 but one of the group, Lee, had car issues so I ended up getting picked up at 6, oh and Jebby was with us. We chatted as we made the long drive and finally made it at around 9:30 to the trailhead, yes that was a long drive.

Slightly better group shot sans Lee

The stats were quite similar to the grind I had done the day prior so I thought the effort would be approximately the same but boy oh boy was I wrong. We started in the snow and Jebby and I led the way. I would say we did the trailbreaking but there really wasn't that much snow so it wasn't that bad but it was steep. Most of the trail was the same, steep snow and trees. There wasn't really a trail to follow so to speak it was just straight up and avoid deadfall trees whenever possible. Another group had gone up about three weeks prior and occassionall we could see their tracks but we didn't follow it exactly. Basically whenever we were unsure where to go the answer was straight up.

Lee going under typical deadfall on the way up

 

We made it to a nice viewpoint at about 500m up after an hour so it was a bit slower than the day before because of the snow but I still thought we were doing good and would be up in another hour or so. Turns out I was quite wrong as the next 400m were brutal. At first it wasn't so bad but eventually about 200m before the summit the snow got real deep and steep. Carol had been leading for a while at this point as my quads gave up on me and we decided to don snowshoes. I already knew my snowshoes sucked but after putting them on I quickly gave up on them and decide I had to just suffer up. The rest of the group had better snowshoes and wore them all the way up. If Carol and the others hadn't been there trailbreaking for me I would have turned around. Note to self, buy new snowshoes.

I struggled up very slowly, postholing quite frequently even in the broken track from Carol and I was very tired but I just kept going slowly but surely. Even Jebby was having trouble and I had to help him up some particularily deep sections. I was a little worried about him at some points but he was completely fine. Thankfully this deep snow section was relatively brief and soon enough I was on the ridge. I tried postholing for a bit but I was so tired I put my snowshoes on. They functioned relatively well on the flatish part of the ridge and eventually I made it to the top, yay! At this point I think it had taken us about 3-3.5 hours to the top. Much longer than I thought but looking back I was just wildly wrong in my estimation as I don't have much experience in steep snow.

Jebby and I summiting, we were second

 

We chilled at the top eating lunch and taking pictures for an hour. Carol had picked this mountain because the weather forecast for this area had been good and it was right, the sun came up and it was absolutely beautiful. My sweater had became quite wet in my desperate journey up and I swapped it out for my puffy and rain jacket, I was very glad I had those. The night before Carol had mentioned possibly traversing the ridge to another summit but by the time we made it to the top it was already pretty late and I think she could tell we didn't have it in us. I am sure if myself and the others weren't there she would have continued and made it but I am glad we didn't as I was beat and had no real interest in the other summit.

Carol, Jebby and I at the top

The way down was much better but still long. I snowshowed until we got to the steep part and then plunge stepped all the way down. We didn't have any incidents on the way down and it was much quicker. In the end we made it back in under two hours for a round trip time of 6h30min including the long break at the top.

Lee making it up

The drive back was long due to some construction on the highway and we stopped for dinner at a diner in Hope and had a delicious meal. I got home around 9:20 and promptly passed out. Great trip and I was very glad to meet some new friends who I will hopefully go on many more hikes with in the future!

Alex relaxing at the top