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Looking down on Williamson Lake

Sunday, 5:50 am: I sat bolt upright in bed wondering why I was so suddenly awake after only 5 hours sleep. Then I remembered that I’d been thinking of climbing Welch, but when I got to bed so late, I hadn’t had the motivation to set my alarm. I guess my body still wanted to go!

I had a quick shower to wake up, packed and was on the road from North Van at 6:30 am, the light and fast early morning traffic propelling me into Chilliwack in not much more than an hour. After a stop for gas and some blueberry & cranberry muffins at Tim Horton’s I headed more slowly on up the Chilliwack Lake Road. At around the 28 km mark, I turned left onto the Foley Creek Road and rattled my way up past all the weekend campers to Foley Lake and onto the Williamson Lake Spur road. The moment of truth was approaching; would the gate be open? YES!! I cruised up the steep but smooth roadway, exulting in each foot of elevation gained effortlessly as compared to the old Williamson Lake Trail (those who have done this trail from Foley Lake know what I’m talking about!). The last little bit of the road did have a few small to medium sized waterbars but these posed no problems for the Jeep.

I grabbed my pack, traded my sandals for hikers and was ready to hit the trail a few minutes after 8:30 am. The question was which way to go. The was a bit of a cairn with a bunch of flagging on the ploughed up, deactivated spur road that continued directly up the valley, but on the other hand, the latest edition of 103 Hikes said to continue over the creek and then back around to the end of the Foley Creek road. I thought, “103 Hikes can’t be wrong” and headed left across the creek. When I came to the end of the road, I didn’t see the rough trail described in the guidebook anywhere so I just thrashed in the most direct line to the trees, and then began a rising diagonal traverse in hopes of intersecting the old trail. It seemed that no matter where I went I could see no sign of the old trail so I finally gave up and just set a route up through the steep open forest, often on faint deer, goat and bear treads. After half an hour I gained the ridge crest and moved more easily along, finally finding a remnant of the old trail, still well marked but often almost complete obscured by fallen branches and needles. At this point I was pretty sure that while 103 Hikes may not be wrong, it could certainly be out of date! Sure enough, I soon joined a heavily travelled trail rising up through the trees on the side of the final logging slash. D’oh!

A View of Mount Foley from the Summit Now that I was on the “real” trail, I was able to quickly ascend across the open but bushy upper valley slopes, streaming sweat in the hot and still morning air. It was a relief to finally gain the beautiful alpine meadows above and feel the cool breeze sweeping across Williamson Lake as I checked out the route ahead. The East Ridge looked like the quickest way up so I headed in that direction, passing a North Face tent in the meadow that still showed no signs of life despite the fact that it was nearly 10 am! The loose scree and boulder slopes above the lake were somewhat annoying but I still made good time by sticking to the most solid areas, finally ending up boulder hopping more or less up the creek that drained the upper snow filled bowl.

As I approached the bowl I contemplated the route possibilities to get onto the East Ridge, not at all liking the look of the nasty gendarme that sits just east of the Welch / Foley Col. There were two obvious lines of weakness in the South Face of the East Ridge that looked as if they would give easy access higher up the ridge, thereby bypassing the entire gendarme horror show, so I headed for the one nearest the summit of Welch, scrambling up solid, easy ledges covered with the usual piles of loose debris. As I got closer to the ridge crest, the scrambling began to get steeper but whenever it looked like it might turn into actual climbing a ledge would appear to lead easily past the difficulties. Scared and excited at the same time, I popped up onto the East Ridge, only to have the view down the vertiginous North face kick me in the stomach and knock the psych right out of me.

Me feeling lucky on the Summit Whenever I’m alone in the mountains, my psych tends to be a pretty fickle thing and such was the case now. The scramble up to the ridge had been challenging enough to be fun but since there wasn’t any significant exposure most of the way, it was all good. However, the yawning exposure of the North face on my right and a steep rock step ahead of me pretty much took the wind out of my sails. The rock step loomed up above me menacingly, looking way harder than 3rd, or even 4th class leaving me totally demoralized! I stood there considering my options and not liking any of them, but at least I knew I could go down as long as I was careful. So, totally defeated I turned to go…

A View of the Lower South Ridge …and was surprised to find myself grasping the first holds on the rocks leading up the ridge. A little foot shuffle, a quick reach and I had another bomber hold… "hey wait a minute, this is easy!!" In a matter of seconds all my doubts and misgivings evaporated and I was flying easily up another series of delightful ledges and pulling over little boulder problems. I couldn’t get over how totally wrong my perspective had been! A little before the true summit I traversed left (south) off the East Ridge crest onto easy ledges that eventually lead up below the summit block and to the short little scramble up the summit itself. A little after 11:30 and I was on the summit. Sweet!! The mountains of the Chilliwack region were spread all around me and the views in all directions were awesome! Cheam, Lady, Baker, Slesse, Rexford, Foley…wow!! I drank in the surroundings as I ate a Balance Bar, then took a bunch of pictures to try and capture the views for some future time.

Back down at the Jeep with Welch Peak in the background After half an hour’s rest, I felt the South Ridge calling me and I headed down (and back up) the delightful and surprisingly solid ridge crest to the false south summit which again proved to be almost a walk when it had appeared much more difficult. I continued easily down the south ridge, reveling in the enjoyable scrambling and staying on the ridge crest more than really necessary because it was so enjoyable. For some reason it brought back memories of a great route a friend and I had done in the Black Cullen Hills on Isle of Skye in Scotland a few years back. The only difference was that here the route wasn’t covered with domestic sheep whose acceptance of exposure far exceeded my own!

Near the end of the South Ridge scramble a gendarme finally forced me off the ridge crest into an annoying descent and re-ascent of the easy but loose and slippery east face. However, soon after regaining the south ridge the difficulties subsided for good, and only one last manky descent followed when I decided to leave the south ridge too early and head down a loose gully to the boulder field below instead of descending easy heather slopes a little further on. At 2 pm I was back at the lake were I stopped to enjoy the cold water on my feet and soak in the satisfaction of looking over where I’d been. Finally, all that was left was the hot but quick (now that I knew the correct route) trail back to my Jeep, which I smoked down in less than half an hour, arriving totally fulfilled a little less than 6 and a half hours after I started. Another perfect day!

 

 

 

 

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Details:

Date:   August 2, 2004   (1 day)
Participants: Me!
Gear:  Standard Hiking/Scrambling Gear, A rope & slings as conditions, experience and psych dictate, An ice axe & crampons would likely be useful early season.
Rating: Class 3 / 4 depending on route, Grade I-II, 4100’ Elevation Gain

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