The Adventures of Andrew Maurer

As the last few days of summer are coming to an end, I figured one last trip before school was needed. Dad and I decided to try Garabaldi

Set off from the Elfin Lakes parking lot at 9:00am – first time taking Dad’s new Yaris on an unpaved road.

Made it to Elfin Lakes in 2h30m. Took a few pictures, ate some lunch, and departed towards our campsite.

We saw signs that said that the bridge over Ring Creek had just been repaired – lucky us! It was also a good place to fill up, as all water after this was pretty silty.

We started searching for a campsite as we got higher on the glacier and found a perfect spot at the base of Tent Peak. There was a stream running under some loose rocks, which I cleared away to make a mini waterfall for filling up. Dad siesta’d and I got to work making a bench by my tent door.

Then sunset and bed. Dad was cold with his summer thermarest and summer sleeping bag. I had my winter bag with a nalgene filled with a litre of just boiled water so I was set.

Quickly got ready in the morning, geared up, and set off to navigate the glacier. We made it to the Garabaldi Col with no problems at all.

Got to the base of Garabaldi, where it turns from glacier into rock. Dad went up first while I took off my crampons. I started up, but quickly got freaked out. The rock is very loose and holds that looked firm would pull right out. Seeing hold after hold slip and fall away I psyched myself out. I slowly downclimbed and decided to do Dalton Dome instead. Pretty disappointed, but I’ll be back to try again.

Got back down from Dalton Dome when Dad got down from Garabaldi. He decided he wanted to do Dalton Dome as well, so I waited on the col while he summitted.

Back at Elfin Lakes by 3:00pm, back to the car, then headed to Squamish for fish and chips and  a beer.