Finally up Mount Price

Mount Price is a modest summit that sits up above Garibaldi Lake.  Though quite an easy peak (mostly a "hike with altitude"), I'd been thwarted on two prior attempts.  The first was back in winter ~1999 - we'd turned back on a ski attempt when a storm hit the area.  My friend Mike & I tried it again in January, 2004 on another ski attempt, but ran out of time. 

January, 2004 - about to run out of time on Mount Price

The biggest challenge with the peak is just the distance - it's about a 28km round trip, with about 1700m of elevation gain.

So, fast forward to last weekend - my colleague Rod was looking for a good final hike before moving back down to Colorado with his family - so I thought that Mt. Price would be a good objective - plus, great scenery above Garibaldi Lake.

We left the car at around 9am from the standard Garibaldi Lake parking lot - we quickly dispensed with the switchbacks and covered the 9km and 900m up to the lake in 2 1/2 hours.

 

Rod at Garibaldi Lake - 2 1/2 hours in

The trail from the lake to Mount Price is well marked, though a little tricky to find the start of it from the lake.  Thanks to the guidebook, the description was easy to follow.

Mount Price (2nd peak from the right)

The trail to Mount Price was generally gentle and a pretty good trail by coastal standards.  However, there were several areas of Talus (from old lava flows - Mount Price is apparently an ancient volcano) to slow things down.

Mount Price above the old lava flows

The final scramble goes up and over the summit of Clinker Peak.  Again, straightforward hiking for the most part.

Rod climbing a snow slope, the Black Tusk on the horizon

The weather had started to turn a bit, though - with clouds getting lower and darker skies to the west.

Final slopes - Clinker Peak in the background

We made the summit at around 2:45pm - about 5 3/4 hours after starting. 

We started getting a few drops of rain at the summit.  Not quite the views I was hoping for ... clouds were coming in and out, and we only got fleeting views of Mount Garibaldi, the Neve, and points beyond.  We hung around the summit for around 45 minutes hoping for views to improve.  But, they never did - no bother, it was still a great place to be.

Rod at the summit

 

A final view of Garibaldi Lake

The descent went reasonably quickly, although the final trail down from Garibaldi Lake to the parking lot was it's usual tedious self.  Finally got back down to the car at around 8pm - total time up and down of around 11 hours. 

It was good to finally knock off Mount Price, and it was great to give Rod one final "send off" hike.