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The Hinde

Posted by William W on Aug 08, 2010 (last modified on Aug 09, 2010)
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Twelve months ago, while enroute on the Auger Point Traverse, a group of CDMC members were enjoying the camaraderie of each other so much that they toasted a subsequent adventure for the following year. I've just spent the better part of today cleaning gear, after that trek was realized over this past week.

On Monday, August 2nd, Susan, Linda, Kurt, Otto and myself headed to the Phillips Ridge Trailhead to spend the better part of a week attempting a summit bid on the Golden Hinde... Both weather and snow conditions would be factors in the success of this trip. The initial part of this trek is the long climb up to Arnica Lake which is thanks in part to much effort, building this trail, by CDMC members such as Ruth Masters and Don Apps.

Our intention was to do this climb over 8 days with 6 days reserved for our transit in and out while keeping 2 days for our attempt on the Hinde. After our first night above Arnica Lake, we climbed aboard Phillips Ridge and much snow... We encounterd several parties, primarily made up of Alpine Club of Canada members, returning from successful climbs on the Hinde and all stating that they had not only used ice-axes but, helmets and crampons as well. After these exchanges, our hopes of a successful bid started to dim... we only had ice-axes.

However, the weather was brilliant and so, we pressed on to enjoy the superb scenery and more moments with our growing friendships. At this juncture we had the fortunate pleasure of running into one of our CDMC mates, Tim T, who was just returning from a successful summit of The Hinde with his ice-axe and not only was he most helpful with his directions but, also, helped to restore our optimism.

We spent our 2nd night at the Carter Lake outflow which allowed us the opportunity to shower and bathe... most refreshing in these mountain waters. Some of the lakes are still frozen over and most have significant snow down to their shores.

The following day, while proceeding to our base camp, we had a lunch-time swim in Schjelderup Lake and spoke to a young chap who had done the Hinde in just over 6 hours, round-trip from his base camp here... very impressive. We had decided that we were going to put our base camp much closer, on the ridge above Burman Lake... our average of 40 year older legs would need every advantage possible!

At our base camp, in the shadow of the Golden Hinde, the smoke from mainland forest fires was creating quite a haze and hampering air quality. We decided that the Hinde attempt would be done by Linda, Kurt and myself while Susan and Otto would support us from base camp.

The following morning, all was a go and we left at 6 am... getting to the snow on the Hinde was relatively easy and now the ascent lay before us. On our way to the southern face, we experienced a small rock and snow avalanche, a couple of hundred metres behind us... the Hinde has a lot of loose rock on it and helmets would be an asset.

Finding the suggested chute to ascend (not the usual summer route) was fairly straight forward but once on the snow, in order to make ourselves safe, we would spend a couple of hours both ascending and descending with our ice-axes... After great effort we achieved success and mounted the summit just after 12 noon. We took the customary summit shot along with signing the guest registry, ate lunch and enjoyed the terrific views from the highest point on Vancouver Island.

On our descent, due to a lack of water because we'd forgotten a water container at base camp, I cramped up and we had to spend a half hour on the face of the Hinde rehydrating from a dripping snow field... once this excitement faded, we once more were underway and enjoyed some great boot skiing and sliding on the lower slopes of this mountain.

We were entirely spent when we arrived back at base camp, after enduring 6 hours out and 6 hours back... our support team was most relieved to see us and we all celebrated the success of our adventure.

The team decided to break camp the following morning and return home, shortening the trip by a day... what we didn't realize was there was another adventure laying in wait for us.

When we attained Phillips Ridge, again, weather was beginning to roll in and we hastily made a bomber-proof camp, securing the tents with watermelon size boulders or anchoring them to the larger shrubbery. A small snippet of our evening: A fierce wind would gust continually with driving rain that would find it's way under the fly and following gusts would spray it onto us... morning showers were not necessary and Susan actually had her own personal indoor bathtub.

When we broke camp the next morning, we were both chilled and wet, deciding that we would attempt to go all the way out... this would be just under 20 kms in mountainous terrain with the ceiling socked down to the deck and making it very difficult to navigate. With the aid of Linda's GPS and much searching for landmarks we made Arnica Lake by mid-afternoon and breathed a sigh of relief, now knowing that we were only a couple of hours from our vehicle... however, one more adventure awaited.

Kurt and I decided to race back to the vehicle but Kurt took a wrong turn and ran into a bear... this quickly put him back on the Wright track and is why I think he beat me to the bottom!

We capped the trip with a Chinese meal in Campbell River, thanks to Kurt's treat... he actually owed everybody on the trip so he was just squaring up. During dinner, because of the equated success (as a group) that we've had in both years, we toasted a 2011 trek... stay posted for next year's adventure.

Trip Statistics:

Day 1 - 10.1 K
Day 2 - 10.0 K
Day 3 - 4.7 K
Day 4 - 10.2 K (Hinde Summit)
Day 5 - 7.2 K
Day 6 - 17.4 K
Total - 58.5 K

Moving Time - 23 Hr 30 "
Total Time - 55 Hr 40 "

Accumulated Elevation - 17,346 '
The Golden HInde - 7216 '

Trip Leader - Otto Winnig
Mutineers - Susan Holvenstot, Linda Hamilton, Kurt Nielsen, William Wright

More photos are available for viewing.