Brunswick Mountain

May 2021

Saturday marked my second week of freedom (post-government-mandated quarantine after arriving to Canada), so naturally, I set out to climb another peak. I made loose plans to climb “a peak a week” while in Squamish for the summer, and Brunswick Mountain looked to be another good warm-up peak to get used to scrambling up North.

I arrived in Lion’s Bay around 6:15am, parked at the elementary school parking lot (don’t park on the street or you’ll get a $100 ticket as I did the week previously), and started the steep hike up. The climb is almost entirely on fire roads and trails, though it is quite steep the whole way, gaining roughly 5,500 feet in about 6 kilometers. Near the top of the climb the trail was replaced by snow, and microspikes and an ice axe were required for safe passage. I was greeted by a few steep and exposed sections snow, but with the ice axe they felt relatively safe.

I saw a few folks coming down who had made it to the summit for sunrise, and eventually made it there myself around 9:30am. Once I gained the summit ridge, I had a beautiful rock/snow scramble to the top and 360 degree views of snowy peaks. The gray skies started unloading a bit of rain, and with my California wardrobe of t-shirt, shorts, and a windbreaker, I decided to not lose any time loitering about. I jogged up the the summit, took in the view for about thirty seconds, and started hoofing my way back down, not wanting to be caught up there in a storm with poor visibility.

After carefully navigating the snowy descent, I hit trail again and could relax, now that I was off the exposed section of the climb. Back on the fireroads, the crowds abounded, in what I call “the spectacle of Lion’s Bay”, reminiscent of the “spectacle of Whitney Portal” back home. It was good to see so many folks out enjoying a beautiful day. I jogged back to the car, which didn’t have a ticket on it this time, and headed back to Squamish for a big lunch and a long nap.