Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge Trail Run
2018-08-31 After trying to decide what to do for the long weekend approaching, Sara and I decided on a doubleheader of activity. Firstly, doing both Black tusk and Panorama Ridge in a day and then subsequently completing the Howe Sound Crest Trail two days later. Given my running days are long behind me, this was going to be an adventure for me in particular.
Black Tusk is one of the most distinctive features you can see along the sea to sky highway. a sharp, near vertical volcanic peak, eroded by time to reveal the magma column that cooled. While quite striking in nature, it isn't that difficult to summit, requiring not much more than a helmet. Even then, some people opt not to bring brain bucket for reasons I cannot comprehend. The crux of the hike is the chimney which is classified as a class 3 scramble. Although the end of the scramble only leads you to the false summit of Black tusk, the true summit is a class 5 scramble through some truly sketchy stuff. So our goal was the false summit...
Without giving it too much thought, we set off early to beat the crowd of folks who typically crowd Garibaldi Park, starting early enough to get parking in the upper parking lot! From there, tit was pretty quick work to make it through the switchbacks to get into Taylor Meadows, much easier than it is in Winter, both going up and down!
One of the things I wanted to accomplish was be at the crux (chimney) before the crowd of people start making their way up. This so I don't get rocks kicked at me while climbing up and to invariably avoid unprepared people.
By the time we were close to the approach of Black Tusk, we had pretty much passed everyone else on the trail. At this point only overnight folks were ahead of us and one person was on the scramble when we approached the chimney.
At the top of the false summit, we got to see some unique lava flow reminiscent of glacier ice floe. It was a little short lived as we hopped off the summit almost as soon as we got there, save for a quick snack break. During our descent hoards of people started trickling through, some in jeans (impressive!). Most did not bring a helmet and some even asked for directions...
I'm still a little shy when it comes to backcountry confrontations. I don't think it's fair of me to impede with other's enjoying the backcountry, but I do feel that some people, especially those that did not grow up in an education system teaching backcountry awareness, can get ahead of themselves. However, that is for another discussion.
Originally, we were going to call it a day once we completed Black Tusk; however, we finished it so quickly that we decided to (rather I got coaxed into) also running up Panorama Ridge. Now my background these days has primarily been cycling, so my cardiovascular fitness was okay, but endurance of certain muscle groups was lacking. I swallowed my pride and let Sara lead the way for the remainder of the run. At some points, I'm sure she slowed down so I could catch up.. When we got to to the top, we took the obligatory panorama of Panorama Ridge and promptly headed for the car so we could stuff our faces with some vegan food back in Vancouver.
Gear list:
- water purification tablets
- helmet (recommended for chimney).
- emergency blanket
- light medical kit.