ARC’TERYX AND ROBINSON’S

Shot in partnership with Arc’teryx BC and Robinson's Outdoor Store

DAY ONE

Perhaps having one of our team members drop out due to a knee injury wasn’t the best omen, but I was off grid on a work trip and unaware of this turn of events until ten hours before our planned start time of 2am— Canada Day.

As it turns out, a 2am start was overly ambitious. Coordinating gear and dropping off a car at the traverse's end took us until past noon. Fortunately, day one wasn't technical, just vertical. We ended the day bivying just shy of the summit of Ossa.

DAY TWO

After coffee we summited Ossa, lowered our packs down a chimney, rappelled off a horn, scrambled past a couple of mountain goats, and summited Pelion. We then spent 6 hours attempting to rejoin the standard traverse via 3rd class gulleys that all rolled off into cliffs before reaching the snow.

After much backtracking, and blind trust in a pre-saved GPX track, we were free of both Pelion and the notion that we should summit anything extra on our way to Tantalus.
Once on the snowfield we sped up considerably, following tracks set by Sarah Hart and Jenny Abegg, who had passed us earlier setting the women’s Tantalus Traverse FKT.
While we had hoped to summit, we still had a ways to go as the sun set. We found another bivvy site with a view, and set an alarm for 4:30am.

DAY THREE

With all the optimism in the world we set off for the summit at 5am. Walking the ridge as the sun rose made the previous day’s struggles on Pelion worthwhile, and spirits were high as we summited Tantalus at 9am. After an hour drinking coffee and taking in the view, we descended to the snowfield via a series of rappels, at one point passing a small group going the other way.

By this point I had been out of water since making coffee, making the relatively short 45 minute crossing of Dione Glacier to Jim Haberl Hut feel like hours.

Once we reached Jim Haberl Hut I traded Gabe (who had run out of food) a protein bar for the rest of his water, wrang a small swimming pool of water from my socks, and stared at a mountain hut that has been on my list for half a decade.

Rounding Serratus mountain at 16:25 I sent a premature text: “Above lake now. Optimistically out before sunset.”

Then we got cliffed out. Rejoining the trail lead us straight through a swamp and on to some bushwhacking. At 22:32, with 1% battery I sent an update: “Still trying to get out. heading down from the lake.” After which my phone promptly died.

The trail down from Lovely Water wasn’t technical, but was exceptionally steep. By midnight my once dry socks were waterlogged, my toes were hitting the end of my shoes, and I was very much regretting the long break we took at the summit. My phone had long since died and so the photo evidence of my low point was captured by Gabe (at my request) as a reminder should I ever think of attempting such a trip again.

When we finally hit the Squamish River the Water Survey cable we expected to be met with was nowhere in sight. After backtracking to what in hindsight was a rather obvious trail we ran the final stretch to the official end of the traverse.

Using slings and a couple of sacrificial carabiners, we ventured across the river, swaying as fatigued limbs attempted to keep us upright. Gabe’s comment, “This is one of the weirder things I’ve done at 3am,” pretty much summed up the experience. Back on the civilized side of the river one final rappel saw us past a barbed wire fence to the ground, where we wearily but triumphantly made our way to Gabe’s car. Plugging my phone in I sent a message, 3:40am: “Out. That was deadening.”

You can find the video recap of this trip here on the Arc’teryx BC Instagram page.