Mount Habrich

[eldinte]

Has anyone been up to Mount Habrich this year? How's the road? Any beta would be helpful, debating taking our bikes with us if the road is still gated down low.

Thanks!

-Nate

[J Mace]

I havent been this year, but there is no gate just a boulder blockade. I have been in quite a few times and I would never not take a bike. Take bug dope

[Dru]

http://thekidcormier.blogspot.ca/

Note the correlation between approaching barefoot, extreme sunburn, getting lost on the approach, and first ever summit.

[J Mace]

hahahahahaha, good find hahahahah

Ya its quite a bit easier than the way that made it sound....bare foot? What the hell

[NateDoggOG]

Yeah that was me going barefoot. It was a last minute decision for me to join the excursion, so I wasn't prepared at all. Only footwear I had besides my climbing shoes were flip flops, and once we got on the trailhead which is more or less a full on 4th class scramble, I just ditched the sandals all together.

Some beta for the approach:
- The road is doable, with a 4WD and a bit of lift. You could do it without the lift, but be prepared to bottom out a couple times.
- If you have the means, DO bring bikes. It sucks having to push them up the rest of the road once you hit the deactivation point, but it would suck a lot more adding an extra ~1.5-2 hours walking once you're off the trail and back on the road.
- On that note, start nice and early if you're planning to do the trip in a day. We saw some people who had driven up as far as possible, then camped there, as well as a party who had camped at the base of Habrich. If you plan on camping at the base, there is still a significant amount of snow there.
- The scramble trail is poorly marked. Near the start, you hit a fallen tree; look climbers left for flagging tape. Through the beginning there's a lot of brush and water runoff, but there is enough flagging to tell where to go. Once you hit the forest, the bushwacking lessens off, the trail is more apparent, but the flagging tape is a little less abundant.
- While in the forest, there's one spot where it looks like the trail can go either left or right. Stick right.
- Once you hit the snow, the trail and flagging tape pretty much disappear altogether. Mentally mark your destination and forage uphill!

Hope this helps a bit.

[Dru]

I remember the first time i went up there in 1991 we got to this bluff and started looking for a way to get around it to the base of the mountain. Half an hour later we figured out it WAS the base of the mountain.

[psi4ce]

The road is doable, with a 4WD and a bit of lift. You could do it without the lift, but be prepared to bottom out a couple times.

Just to be clear, he means do-able with 4WD, but only up to the boulder blockade.

As far as I know, not even the 4x4 elite in Squamish (many of whom have very impressive vehicles and off-roading skills) are able to get past the blockade. Even if you were able to get over the blockade, the road is super-washed-out above it. I'm no expert, but I think you'd need a super-specialized vehicle like a crawler or something to drive it.

Although, mind you, people are getting up there on dirt bikes--I know that for a fact because I saw a dude riding his dirt bike way up on the road far past the blockade. Personally, I prefer the peace and quiet. In fact, when I went and soloed Sky Pilot a few years ago, I did the whole trip on foot from way down by the start of Shannon FSR and I claim prestige by having done so.

I definitely stopped a lot to look at the interesting roadside crags alongside the road as I walked it. A friend of mine was riding his mountain bike down the road after climbing Sky Pilot, and he hit a baby-head (rock) and did an endo and just about killed himself... I'm pretty sure climbing helmets aren't rated for cycling and vice-versa...

Does anybody know if the road is going to be re-activated to service the new gondola top station?

[tobyfk]

The road is doable, with a 4WD and a bit of lift. You could do it without the lift, but be prepared to bottom out a couple times.

Just to be clear, he means do-able with 4WD, but only up to the boulder blockade.

As far as I know, not even the 4x4 elite in Squamish (many of whom have very impressive vehicles and off-roading skills) are able to get past the blockade. Even if you were able to get over the blockade, the road is super-washed-out above it. I'm no expert, but I think you'd need a super-specialized vehicle like a crawler or something to drive it.

Was up there on Saturday and can confirm this information is correct. My unmodified Forerunner got to the blockade with no drama. I would guess a determined driver with a "rental"/ un-loved 2WD sedan could make it too. Maybe.

[tobyfk]

- The scramble trail is poorly marked. Near the start, you hit a fallen tree; look climbers left for flagging tape. Through the beginning there's a lot of brush and water runoff, but there is enough flagging to tell where to go. Once you hit the forest, the bushwacking lessens off, the trail is more apparent, but the flagging tape is a little less abundant.
- While in the forest, there's one spot where it looks like the trail can go either left or right. Stick right.

Agreed, it's very poorly marked, especially the right fork to access the base of Life on Earth.

[gnarnaphobe]

What did you think of the route? Did you bring bikes? How long from the truck and back?

[tobyfk]

What did you think of the route? Did you bring bikes? How long from the truck and back?

No to bikes, and I am glad, as we hiked out in the dark and - as I am not much of a mountain biker - I would have had a sketchy ride in several places.

We parked at the blockade around 7am I think. Got back to the truck at 10pm. My partner dropped his ATC low on the route, which caused us significant delays up and down. I guess we would have been ~2 hours faster otherwise.

I thought the route was a little contrived in the lower sections and some of the bolting pretty weird. Some bolts serve only to force moves out on to the arete, others seem to have been placed above cruxes. The top two pitches are good. The summit is very cool. Rapping the route is not ideal in our opinion ... significant risk of getting ropes hung up on small trees or flakes. Someone could improve the rappel line by setting some anchors away from the arete. I was advised that only small gear was required but threw in a #4 Friend at the last minute. It was used a lot!

[browniephoto]

sounds offal

[gnarnaphobe]

Apparently Hamish F. And Peder O. Climbed more or less the same route 5 years before KM and RB did the 'FA ' with out any bolts and didn't bother reporting it.

Talk about hard man run outs!

[scrubber]

Well, they sort of did. They climbed the corner systems that LOE follows for the first pitch and a half, then stuck to the natural line of least resistance, slightly to the right. A lot of people over the years have mentioned that parts of LOE feel quite contrived. It's hard to force yourself out to the arete on slippery 5.10 when there are 5.7 corners and flakes 5 meters to the right.

On the other hand, I would wager a guess that more people climb that route each year than all the others combined. I've climbed several others, and wouldn't care to repeat any of them due to moss, wetness, and sketchy old fixed pro. (didn't want to carry hammer and pins up there). LOE is naturally clean, has reasonable fixed anchors, and provides a fairly straightforward decent. (as long as you're not trying to find the top rap station from above after climbing one of the other routes...)

Having Life on Earth up there is probably the only thing that keeps the trail from disappearing.

K

[Dru]

I climbed the original nose route with Andy Cairns in 1992. It's about a pitch to the right of LOE, but it's a super good trad 5.9, well worth doing.

If KM had hyped it a bit more in guidebooks it'd get done every weekend.