07/20/2018
This was a battle. No individual part of it was overly challenging, but the combination of everything, and the distance really added up. This peak is iconic to Whistler and the whole Sea to Sky corridor, without a doubt the most unique and known mountain in the area. Working on Whistler Blackcomb, there hadn't been many days that I didn't catch a glimpse of it, or stare at it for hours on end. Its significance to me can't be put into words, I've photographed it more than I have anything else. The chance to summit it had eluded me, due to injuries, weather, inconvenience and poor prioritizing... a lot of excuses really. Not willing to wait any longer, I told myself it was happening on the coming Monday, no matter what. Ready to attack this on my own, I was quite relieved when one of my best friends (Rob) said he'd come with. My logic was that, if I'm gonna do it, I'll do it the most majestic way, which is also the longest way. However, it was a bit longer than I had thought, 37km instead of 30km. We felt that extra 7km when we were stumbling in the dark back to the trailhead. Anyways, we came at it from Cheakamus, through Helm Creek. If you want to make this a multi day mission, I would 100% take this over Taylor Meadows. Although in a single day... not sure if I'd do it again from this side, marathons aren't exactly my thing. Starting out with a relatively short and very savage section of switchbacks, the trail mellows out for a a very long time. Once we broke out of the tree-line and hit the Helm Creek campground, we were met with an view of the Tusk. For the couple of hours it was on the horizon, one of the most motivating things to walk towards. The trail is nearly flat until you start the approach, then it really isn't. As I said in the start, no single part of this was a big challenge, but combined it definitely was. I've done plenty of exposed scrambles, but to summit this thing was scarier than all of 'em. Getting into the chimney was the worst part, again, not because it was that hard, but because falling just wasn't an option. There were more handholds than anyone could ask for, and every single one of them could rip off like lego-blocks. Taking it slow, testing every rock, we worked our way up, it got easier and more exposed as we climbed. Can't really say how happy I was to make it up there, felt like I was on the roof of my neighbourhood, the place I consider home now. We had a short window to enjoy our time up there, as we watched the storm clouds come at us from the South. The windows picked up, it got cold, and when it started raining, a bit of worry set in. That chimney definitely wasn't easier to climb with wet rocks. Glad we survived this one, it'll be one of my favourite adventures forever. I could go into detail about the walk back but that was the real grind. Swollen knees and fear of bears, that's all I need to say. I loved this. If you're waiting for the stars to align for you to go do something, stop, and just go do it.
