The Garibaldi Lake circumnavigation high route with seven summits along the way.
We started at 0300 Saturday, Aug 9th, and quickly hiked up under a full moon to the top of Panorama Ridge for sunrise. I wanted to add Panorama and Gentian Peak as extra summits instead of going up Helm Glacier because it made the high route feel more complete by staying on the high ground close to the lake. We made it to the summit of Castle Towers at 1020. It was a fun scramble to the summit through the chimneys and blocks! Following Erik’s and Nick's route down through the loose gully off of Castle Towers onto the Sphinx glacier below. It felt sketchy, with lots of rockfall and instability. From the bottom of the gully, we traversed the glacier over to Mount Carr. Unfortunately, the snow bridge onto the ramp had broken, so we had to climb onto the face before traversing left over loose blocks to gain the top at 1245. While heading to Sphinx peak, we decided to stick high on the glacier to avoid the sidehilling and crevasses. Finding ourselves at the base of the Bookworms, our group chose to scramble up to top out at 1400, adding in a bonus summit to the traverse. Next over to the Sphinx! We found an early gully that appeared to allow us to scramble up to the ridge, bypassing the long descent to the col and back up, along with a lot of backtracking! We made it to the summit of the Sphinx at 1545, then hiked down to Sphinx Pass and across the Phoenix and Sentinel Glaciers. I tried to follow the route of EC + NE from 2017, but I think the glaciers have receded a lot since then, making the transition from Sentinel Glacier onto the flats before the Table tricky. We travelled through the meadows on the way up to the boulder fields below the Table, traversed them, then made our way down to Table Meadows. The views of Gaibaldi and the Table are incredible from here! We then made the long slog to the top of Mount Price, our last big climb for the day! At 2045, just as the sun set, we made the summit, then jogged down the trails back to the lake and made it to the car just before midnight, completing the traverse in a day!
We carried two 20m ropes on the traverses and decided not to rope up for the glacier crossings, as most crevasses were easily distinguishable. On the rock, we were able to free climb up and down everything without the need for rappels or rock shoes. In total, I summited seven peaks along the way: Panorama Ridge, Gentian Peak, Castle Towers, Mount Carr, The Bookworms, The Sphinx, and Mount Price. There was a lot of water along the route, fresh from the glaciers and snowmelt. The clouds came in for a few hours, but thankfully, visibility was always fantastic. My Brother and Husband joined, as I have been talking about this route for years, and they wanted to see what it was all about, too. Their presence added a sense of camaraderie and shared experience that made the journey even more memorable.