The Dickens Detour

The Seymour Sweep involves bagging all of the named peaks in the Fannin Range in one day.  This takes some doing.  Few have been successful.  Those who have experienced hardship.

Saturday 25 September 2010.  It had been almost exactly 1 year since David Crerar and I completed our epic Seymour Sweep.  This year, we planned to avoid hardship.

It had been a crappy September to date and many bagging adventures had been aborted due to weather.  The forecast for Saturday had been improving during the week, so there was much exchanging of emails between the more serious baggers as the weekend approached.  One by one, bagger-buddies mysteriously dropped from the list of those who were committed. 

Neil Ambrose and David Crerar toed the line, as it where.  Here's an outline of our 17-hour adventure:

• Alarm set for 5:00. I wake at 4:30 in a panic.  Was that knocking I just heard?  Have I slept in?  False alarm, but I can't go back to sleep
• the Saturday paper has not yet been delivered.  I drink coffee and review what I have packed.  Alarm sounds on time.
• Neil and David arrive punctually at 5:30 am.  I throw my bike into the box of Neil's monster truck on top of the others
• Rockstar parking near the End of the Line Cafe in North Vancouver.  Crap:  my camera battery is dead, so no award-winning documentary film will be available to show at the 2010 Baggers Banquet.  We are off by 6:00 am.
• Ride ~20K up the LSCR trail and Branch 4 road to the trail.  Stash the bikes in the woods.
• Pace notes refer to bivvy bag?  Legg injured?  Rothwell has urgent family business?  Does not seem right... we anticipate an ambush. 
• Scramble up to Vicar Lakes.  Note that trail is very well marked and has been cleared.  Very steep.  Many ropes.  We make good time (1:45 to the lakes)
• It's foggy and windy in the alpine.  Given we have planned a dogleg to Presbyter, Deacon and possibly Dickens, we opt to save Bishop for the return trip. 
• Rock meets bone. Rock wins. Blood flows:  I am the first to get injured.
• Bag Presbyter around 11:00 then Deacon slightly later.  Silly photos thanks to David's costumes. 
• Clouds dissipate.  Awesome views.  Can almost reach out and touch Dickens. 'Looks like the sun is going to come out!  Cryptic texts received from bagger buddies suggesting they might be on a sailboat below.  Opt to bag Dickens, too, and maybe bushwhack down to Wigwam Inn for beer and burgers on the boat.
• Somebody moved the trail.  Give up looking and opt to nix plans for Dickens.  Find trail and drop steeply down to Fannin Lake
• Steep climb up to first of several Dickens peaks.  Continue on to Dickens 2 and site of makeshift helicopter landing pad for photo shoot at 15:00 or so.  Stunning views of upper Seymour valley, Indian Arm and surrounding peaks all of the way to Mount Baker
• Reconnoiter lost route 1-kilometer straight down to Wigwam Inn.  Opt for the devil we know, and retrace our steps toward Bishop. Pleasantly warm under sunny skies.  I propose a short cut.  In moment of poor judgment, bagger buddies agree
• Simple detour becomes bushwhacking on steroids.  Climb steep, slippery cliffs.  Frequently bet lives that this or the other blueberry bush's roots would hold our weight.  Success... but daylight wanes and clouds roll-in as we bag Bishop in the fog. 
• Decision time:  run to Seymour where my car was parked or descend directly to the bikes?  Opt for the most direct route to a hot shower and roast beef dinner as rain starts falling.
• David comments about how the Vicar Lakes directly below us look lovely in the failing light. Neil looks away from the slippery trail for a second and goes down like a sack of hammers.  Bad noise comes from his ankle.  Bad words spew from his mouth as he writhes in agony.  Bad thoughts about broken ankles and spending a cold and wet night far from hot showers, loved ones and roast beef dinners make the rounds.  Neil sucks it up and we proceed gingerly down the steep, rainy, muddy, slippery, cold, dark trail toward our bikes.  Sounds of wind and rushing water punctuated by grunts and cuss words from Neil for the next 4 hours
• Rain fluctuates from hard to driving in intensity turning rocks, roots and logs (basically everything) into a slippery quagmire.  We are tired and freezing.  Route finding on way down is an issue.  I pause to think about the sacrifice my friends at North Shore Rescue make to rescue folks who get into a pickle in situations like ours.
• A cheer rings out in the forest when we arrive back at the road.  Trip down takes almost 3 times as long as trip up.  Thank goodness nobody has poached the bikes!   The cold penetrates my bones as we ride back through the driving rain.
• All 3 of us make it back to Neil's monster truck in alive and in good spirits.  Success! 
• Neil puts the heater on "high" as we drive toward hot showers and hot food.  Pine needles fall into big piles on the entryway floor as Neil and I remove our soaking gear and race for the showers.  No roast beef to be found on the table at 11:15 pm, but make mental note to buy some for tomorrow
• as we tuck into hot soup and a cold beer, Neil confesses he was just along for the ride.  Some ride, eh Neil?

Notes:

• We completed the dogleg portion of our intended route (Deacon Peak, Presbyter Peak, Mount Dickens Peak2 and Mount Bishop) in 17 hours.  For the sake of giving this route a name for future baggers, I have called it the Dickens Detour.  Baggermeisters only need apply.
• A tensor bandage for sprains was not included in any of our packs.  Note to self:  add to the Baggers Essential Companion