Parkhurst Mountain (2,494 m) is in Garibaldi Provincial Park, south of Wedgemount Lake and northwest of Wedge Mountain (2,895 m). Slawomir had proposed doing Parkhurst earlier, so we decided to give it a shot.
The last time I had been up there on Wedgemount Glacier was in August 2019. So I was excited about hiking up now, as I could see the Wedgemount lake in wintry conditions. For April 11, the weather forecast was great and relatively good avalanche conditions (moderate/moderate/low) for the Sea to Sky region.
I met Slawomir and Beata at St. David’s Church at 5 am, and with a short break at Whistler, it took us less than two hours to reach the turnoff for Wedgemount. Just a few minutes after the turnoff, we saw few other cars parked. It is still early in the season, and we could not drive to Wedgemount Trailhead.
Wedgemount Lake Trail
After gearing up, we started our hike just a few minutes past 7 am. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the trailhead.
Soon there was consistent snow on the trail. About an hour from the trailhead, Slawomir and I put on our crampons. Beata had her spikes on since we left the trailhead and was wise to put them on earlier.
We switched to snowshoes once we cleared the forest and arrived at the steep section going up to Wedgemount Lake. After a quick break, we were back on the trail.
A hiker in front of us was going straight up, but we decided to take it easy and use switchbacks.
It took us just under 4.5 hours to get to the Wedgemount Lake hut. In summer, it had taken 2.5 hours for the same hike.
From the hut, we had an amazing view of the surrounding mountains – Mount Cook, The Owls, Mount Weart, Wedge Mountain, Parkhurst Mountain and Rethel Mountain.
We took a long break at the hut. It was already noon, and it would take us another 3-4 hours to reach Parkhurst Mountain at this pace. The weather forecast was great, so we decided to continue and do a time check once we were closer to the Wedge-Parkhurst col. We saw ski tracks heading to the glacier from the hut, but we stayed clear of these tracks and took turns breaking the trail.
Parkhurst Mountain via Wedgemount Glacier
As we climbed up from the lake, I should have taken a direct approach to the Wedgemount Glacier. Instead, I followed the ski tracks and hugged the mountain. It would have been fine for the skiers, but It was a bit tricky to snowshoe at some steep sections.
As we arrived at the glacier, we had a quick chat about roping up. Based on the snow conditions and our prior experience on the glacier, we decided to continue unroped.
Higher up on the glacier (2200 m elevation), we decided to drop our bags and hike with just one backpack to the summit.
We just had another 300 m elevation gain to the summit over a distance of one km. We hiked to the Wedge-Parkhurst col (2300 m) and then went up northwest towards the summit.
The summit was farther than I expected, and finally, after eight hours of hiking, we reached the summit.
Over the last few months, I have made several trips, but I have to say that the views of the mountains around Wedgemount Glacier were one of the best.
Descent
After a brief break, we started heading down. It took us less than two hours to get back to the hut.
Slawomir took the snowshoes off while coming down the steep section. I continued with the snowshoes for a while but then realized that it was easier to do a plunge step down the slope.
We put our crampons/spikes back before we entered the forest. If I am back here in winter/spring, I would likely carry my microspikes as they are much better on the trail at lower elevation. We came down at a pretty good pace, and we were back at the car before it got dark.
In total, we hiked around 22 km with about 2200 m elevation gain in just over thirteen hours. It was one of the longest days out hiking in the last few months, and I was exhausted. It was also my highest elevation gain/drop in a single day. Since last year I have been training for long days on the mountains like these, and it was good to test the endurance on this hike.
Resources:
Garibaldi Provincial Park – BC Parks Website
Trip Plan – AdventureSmart
Forecast – Avalanche Canada | Mountain-Forecast | Yr.No
Disclosure: I am not affiliated with any of the above individuals or organizations.
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