Garibaldi Lake sits in the Coast Mountains about 100km north of Vancouver, B.C. Not only is the lake itself one of the largest alpine lakes in the region, but it sits at the center of an area of incredible geology: surrounded by mountains on all sides, the area contains a lava dam that impounds Garibaldi Lake (and threatens to fail and flood the valley below), Mount Garibaldi, a massive and heavily glaciated stratovolcano, and numerous other volcanic features like the Black Tusk, a striking fin of dark rock, and the Table, a flat-topped and alien looking rock formation that was formed when magma erupted underneath the massive Cordilleran Ice Sheet during an ancient ice age and failed to pop through the surface of the ice, resulting in the flattening of the top of the molten mass of rock.
An overview of my route around Lake Garibaldi with the major summits annotated, taken from the summit of Mount Price at the end of the loop.
Last year Becca and I headed up to Garibaldi Lake for a quick camping trip, and since then I wanted to come back to explore more of the area. Circumnavigating the lake seemed like a cool sightseeing excursion. I had read a bit online about the route, but there were pretty scant details available, especially about the “high route” that I was interested in that would let me summit more of the mountains around the lake and spend more time on some of the glaciers. The weekend of June 13, unable to tempt any partners to join me, I headed up to B.C. by myself to give it a go, planning on packing fairly light to camp one night and trying to move quickly. I frontloaded much of the route on the first day because I harbored ambitions of trying to summit Mount Garibaldi early on the morning of the second day, but warm weather, loose wet avalanche activity, and the lack of an overnight refreeze caused me to bail. As I continued the loop, I saw a party of four heading towards the summit, which made me doubt my decision-making, but watching them almost get taken out by a sketchy avalanche an hour later made me feel more confident in my choice 😅. The trip ended up being a ton of fun with just the right amount of rumpus, and had about 15,500 feet of elevation gain over 32 miles. I ended up climbing 6 summits: Panorama Ridge, Polemonium Ridge, Castle Towers Mountain, Mount Carr, The Sphinx, and Mount Price, and took a lot of really dorky staged self-timer portraits along the way.
I’ll go into a bit more detail than normal on this trip report since there isn’t too much about it online, but feel free to just skim through the photos as always :)
On Friday night I ended up hanging out in Seattle with Becca until she left for Mount Stuart, which meant a later departure than ideal. It was almost midnight when I turned off the Sea to Sky, which made it extra unpleasant to set my alarm for 4:00 am. I snoozed for a few hours on the side of the road just below the Rubble Creek trailhead, then started out early Saturday morning, hoping to get up to the Barrier viewpoint before sunrise. I left the car a bit before 4:30 and cruised up the trail. The Barrier viewpoint was a little bit higher than I recalled, so I got there after the beautiful morning light on the Tantalus Range (and there weren't really any views from the forest below) but it was still very pleasant, just over an hour from the car. With the sunrise rush behind me, I continued at a more relaxed pace, and reached the Taylor Meadows campground just after 6:00, where I thought fondly of my trip a year earlier there with Becca. The trail was still mostly snow free to Black Tusk Lake, which I reached a bit past 7:00.
The Black Tusk above Helm Lake
From there it was an easy 30 minutes up snow to these spectacular summit of Panorama Ridge, with a mirror smooth Garibaldi Lake making for beautiful reflections even if the light was starting to get flat. I left the well-trodden route and headed off on my own, east northeast down the snowy and gentle rocky ridge crest towards a saddle just below 2,000 m where I got on the Helm Glacier. I traversed with a bit of post-holing to the 2070 m pass northeast of Gentian Peak at 9, then dropped down easy (but mildly steep) soft snow and heather towards Gentian Pass below.
Guard Mountain and Mount Garibaldi from the summit of Panorama Ridge. Note The Table looking like a rendering error just below Garibaldi. Mount Price is just to the left of my face.
Views of the Black Tusk as I descended towards the Helm Glacier
From Gentian Pass it was easy more snow and heather up Polemonium Ridge. I passed one party descending from an early morning ascent of Castle Towers, the last folks I would talk to until reaching the shore of Garibaldi Lake the next day, then reached the top of Polemonium Ridge at 10:30 where I took a quick break. Downclimbing into the saddle between Polemonium Ridge and the West Peak of Castle Towers was 5 minutes of easy easy class 2 scrambling with a plenty of traffic dropping to the right (south) side of the ridge. From the saddle proper, I stayed on snow on the south side to make a level traverse for about 150 horizontal meters until it was easy to climb back up to the ridge, then 100 vertical meters of more easy class 2 brought me back to snow. The last 300 vertical meters of steeper snow to the West Peak of Castle Towers were thankfully in great shape, and I reached the peak a little bit before noon. Beautiful views.
On the summit of Castle Towers Mountain, with Mount Price across Garibaldi Lake, and the Tantalus Range in the distance.
Unfortunately, I was alarmed to see that it looked non-straightforward to get down onto the Sphinx Glacier. I took a break and then some pictures while ruminating on what to do, and eventually decided to try and traverse over to the middle (main) peak of Castle Towers. I descended a steep cairned gully/ramp that looked a bit intimidating but was actually quite easy, with only one spot to face in, then traversed to the saddle between the west and the main summit on some snow. From there it was easy class 2/3 boulders mixed with snow to the summit, capped by a final 10 ft of fun, airy, but very secure and solid class 3/4. It took me about 15 minutes from the west peak to the middle summit. However, it didn't look possible to descend to the glacier easily from the middle summit, and it looked quite challenging to traverse to the east peak. I retraced my steps, downclimbing back to the notch between the west and the middle peak, then descended the very steep snow gully down towards the Sphinx Glacier. It was mostly easy, soft snow, although steep enough that I faced in for much of it as I descended about 100 vertical meters. At the very bottom there was a 10-ft melted out wet section which had just a tasteful amount of fucked up loose downclimbing, but as a bonus, I was able to fill up water. It's worth noting that while this route went for me when it was snow-filled, the gully would likely be really unpleasant after it melts out. As a worst case backup one could descend down to the saddle by Polemonium Ridge and then traverse to the Sphinx Glacier from there.
The snow/choss gully I descended to reach the Sphinx Glacier from between the West (left) and Middle (right) Peaks of Castle Towers
I made it down to the glacier at 13:15 and started heading over towards Mount Carr on gentle snow. It was slow trudging in the hot sun, with ankle deep post-holing, wet feet, and no breeze. Absolutely baking. Nonetheless, it was easy going until 100 meters below the summit of Mount Carr, then I climbed a short steep snow ramp and then a easy choss gully 150 immediately meters northwest of the summit. Once on Carr’s Northwest Ridge it was easy class 2 to the top, just past 14:30. There was a summit register from the '80s which was fun. Once again, stunning views with endless mountains in all directions. Fun to see over to Whistler and Blackcomb, as well as down to Mount Baker and Shuksan and even the Olympics.
On the summit of Mount Carr, looking back at Castle Towers.
I started descending Carr a little bit past 15:00. Back on the glacier it was more bakey post-hole slogging, and I slowly made my wallowing way over towards Sphinx Pass. I opted to stay high and traverse above the glacier at around 2100 m which put me on some more side hilling terrain. I’m not sure if it would have been better to drop to the flatter stuff. I arrived at the pass just after 17:00, feeling decently tired from all the hot sun and post-holing. There was a decent amount of loose wet activity, including point releases from my tracks, as well as later, some natural slides, and the idea of descending closer to Garibaldi didn't sound that appealing. Instead, I hung out at the pass and enhanced a little bivy site, enjoying the view while trying unsuccessfully to dry out my shoes.
A silly self portrait as I traversed the Sphinx Glacier, with the Bookworms at left and The Sphinx below and just left of Garibaldi.
Sphinx Glacier panorama, with Sphinx Pass below Garibaldi, and Deception Peak to the right. I camped at Sphinx Pass.
I had an early dinner, and then a little bit before 20:00 I headed up The Sphinx for sunset. I was hoping to keep my feet drier and avoid the snow slope above camp, so I attempted to scramble directly up the ridge. I pulled a few low fifth class moves but then found myself on top of a gendarme from which I couldn't descend, so I had to downclimb with my tail between my legs. I put my gators back on and booted up 50 vertical meters of mush before regaining the ridge at a saddle with two beautiful rectangular gendarmes. From there it was a fun scramble up easy heather and class 2 slabs until the ridge leveled out, then lots of boulder hopping for another 200 vertical meters to the summit, where I enjoyed a spectacular sunset. As it started to get dark, I headed back down, retracing my steps to camp and settled into my cozy bivy.
The blocky gendarmes on the ridge of The Sphinx were super cool!
Self portrait on top of The Sphinx, with Mamquam Mountain in the distance
Looking back at Castle Towers and Mount Carr above the Sphinx Glacier from the summit of The Sphinx
Mount Garibaldi (left) and Garibaldi Lake panorama from the summit of The Sphinx
I woke up as it was getting light and was disappointed to find that the snow had not refrozen overnight, with only a thin firmer crust on top of mush. Garibaldi looked incredibly close, and I really wanted to climb it, but with the schrund looking scary, no evidence of anyone having climbed the NE face recently, and the lack of refreeze, I decided to abandon my ambitions. I made breakfast and enjoyed the sunrise, then started off by heading up the peak immediately west of Sphinx Pass (East summit of Deception Peak) which was a lovely quick walk on heather and broken rock.
Morning light on Garibaldi and the Glacier Pikes
I packed up camp and left around 6:45, descending down to the Phoenix Glacier to the south. Post-holing through the crust was annoying, but it went quickly, and it was really cool being on the Phoenix Glacier, looking down into the deep Pitt River valley. So cool to see everything draining in different directions from one ice cap.
Descending from Sphinx Pass towards the Phoenix Glacier
I headed up the gentle Phoenix and on to the Sentinel Glacier, with incredible views of The Table - what a wild formation! While I felt disappointed to not go up Garibaldi, with how soft the snow already was (plenty of ankle deep+ penetration) I was confident I made the right decision, until I got a little closer towards the Glacier Pikes, when I saw a party of three or four people heading slowly up towards Garibaldi’s Northeast Face. My first reaction was that they had gotten a way later start than I would have wanted, but then I started second-guessing myself: maybe I was just being a weenie? I kept an eye on them as I continued around the lake.
Self portrait on the edge of the Sentinel Glacier, with Guard Mountain looking pointy and Mount Price at left
I made a rising traverse to around 1,900 m on the Sentinel Glacier to avoid some steeper terrain northwest of Glacier Pikes, going at a leisurely pace, enjoying the view and taking pictures. To descend to the pass west of Glacier Pikes, I had to downclimb some incredibly cool basalt faces with fractured columns tilted at an angle. From there, it was easy straightforward snow to the ridge leading to The Table. I stayed almost directly on the crest of the ridge, picking my way through meadows and around stands of trees lower down, then staying on snow and rock on the ridge crest proper higher up where it got steeper. I reached the edge of The Table around 9:15 and took a break, then headed up to explore The Table itself. Not only is it wild and foreboding, the views down into the glacial outlet streams and lake below the Warren Glacier were beautiful, too.
Cool basalt near the Glacier Pikes, with The Table in the distance at left and the Black Tusk across Garibaldi Lake
I doubled back on my tracks for this posed self-timer shot as I headed towards The Table
The Table is such a crazy, foreboding-looking hunk of choss!
Meltwater lake below the Warren Glacier
I continued onwards at 9:45, enjoying some cruiser boot skiing down the snow and then through a few trees into the nice open meadows between The Table and Mount Price. I skirted the right hand edge of the meadows, finding some really nice reflections of Garibaldi in the swampy meltwater puddles, as well as a super cool view of the massive arch on the back side of The Table. At the western end of the meadow, right at the low point between The Table and Mount Price, I worked gently uphill through light brush to get back into open meadows on the north side of a small bump (1660+ meters), then made a descending traverse towards Mount Price to a small rocky pass (49.90641, -123.03178). I then followed the watercourse down from the pass in a southwesterly direction through more meadows for about a quarter mile until below the drainage shown on the map coming down from the Price-Clinker saddle. The bottom of this drainage was guarded by a weird moraine or volcanic rib that didn't show up on the map, so it wasn’t quite obvious when I was at it - I had to climb up over it and then drop into the drainage, which made for a straight snowy shot towards the Price-Clinker Saddle. Lower down it was gentle snow, then up high it gave way to more hot brushy and snowy trudging in the windless sun.
Mount Garibaldi reflected in meadow puddles below Mount Price. Check out the natural arch on the north side of The Table!
About 2/3 of the way up, I looked back over at Garibaldi to see that a very large loose wet slide had ripped from just below the summit on the looker's right hand side of the Northeast face and poured over the cliffs onto the Warren Glacier below. The party that I had been watching slowly ascend was right next to it when it let loose, and thankfully seemed fine. I couldn’t tell if they had triggered it themselves or had happened to be next to it when it naturally released, but I would have been shitting myself if I was in their place. At least I was vindicated in my bail decision!
A little bit below the Price-Clinker saddle the snow gave way to loose unpleasant unconsolidated volcanic ash pumice dirt, and I charged up that all the way to the summit of Mount Price, reaching the top a little bit before 11:45. It was really fun to see the entire circumnavigation in a single panorama. There was absolutely no trace of recent people on Mount Price, which I was a little bit surprised about, and I was the first entry in the summer register since a winter ascent in January.
On top of Mount Price!
I started descending a little bit before 12:30. Below Clinker there was still plenty of snow, so I boot skied down to the forest. I followed some old tracks through the snow until it ran out, then followed the Mount Price trail, which was overgrown in a few places, but easy to follow with a little map checking and plenty of flagging. I reached the busy shore of Garibaldi Lake before 14:00 and spent a few minutes checking out the Battleship Islands. I dunked my head in the lake, which was blissful, then continued on towards the outlet. The trail down past Lesser Garibaldi Lake and Barrier Lake was pleasant but not too interesting, although there is a really nice waterfall just above the bridge on Taylor Creek. I poked my head back at The Barrier viewpoint, having completed my loop, then ran down the rest of the trail to the hot parking lot at 15:30. Dunking my head in Rubble Creek once again felt great before starting the drive back home, and I made it back to Seattle in time to catch friends for a pizza dinner.
Battleship Islands and Garibaldi Lake, with the Sphinx Glacier prominent across the lake, and Mount Price at right