Helm Peak - Alternative Plans
Back in 2019, we tried to summit Castle Towers Mountain. Weather and conditions weren't ideal and instead of pushing for a summit with a questionable weather window, we hit some other peaks along the way.
The classic way to get to castle towers involves traversing Helm Glacier. The glacier was dry at the time, but with the possibility of incliment weather, we chose to go around the glacier.
We walked to the glacier lake and hopped a stream to get access to another route around the glacier. Wading through a glacier river sounds as fun as reading the phrase.
After meandering for a while we found a spot to camp. We weren't anywhere close to where we needed to be. All the detours along the way put us several kms behind schedule. And with the potential for incliment weather, it was a prudent decision to scale back our objectives. We ended up scrambling up helm peak (below) in whiteout conditions.
We had enough time left that we walked up to Fuscian Peak and waited for breaks in the clouds to catch a glimpse of our preious target.
While Castle Towers was obscured by cloud, behind us, Black Tusk loomed ominously in the background
On the walk back to the car, we bumped into some locals on a family outing.
Nothing ever goes exactly as planned, we stayed flexible on our target and set out to enjoy a great day in Garibaldi Park.