Defeated by Mount Archibald

For a few years now Mount Archibald has been on my list for an activation. I have looked over various approaches to the summit as there are no published trails for it. There are references to an old ridge walk trail starting down at Bridal Falls and ending on Mount Cheam but those were dated and not of much use. So, when John and I completed our hike of Mount Cheam earlier this year we did a bit of scouting. Well, the day finally arrived for us to activate Archibald. John arrived at my place at a more leisurely hour as we were not expecting to use the crowded parking lot.  We set off for a fun day of adventure.

The drive to the forestry road proceeded as usual and we were now at the start switching the truck to 4x4 mode and dialing in the resource road channel on the radio. We noticed another chap in a jeep getting his tires ready for the road so we guessed he would be following us to Cheam. We set off and soon reached the fork for the Chipmunk. Here we saw some construction equipment and warnings of construction on the road. We continued in and saw that the trees along the side of the road were cleared, and eventually we came by some parked excavators. Though the road was not improved, it looks like they will be doing so soon. I surmised it is all in relation to a site survey being done to bring a gondola up to the Archibald Ridge.

We continued along to the fork I reviewed on the map as a possible route up. Here, we turned off the main road, but this fork soon narrowed, and we decided not to continue but to drive further up the mainline. We passed the next fork which we had explored last time here and just a bit before the parking area we pulled into another fork to park, we couldn’t go in far due to a big berm across the road. This road made its way in the direction we wanted so we parked and got our gear on. By the way, it was snowing!

Now I hadn’t expected snow on this trip, I really should have but the summer just didn’t seem over at home yet and I really didn’t think about it enough. John did of course. So, when ready, we started up the old road, but I was soon running back for gloves. Then we continued up the road and were making good time to its end. Now John had to carefully pick a path to the ridge line above us while avoiding the steepest sections. We had some soft areas to navigate and by this point the ground had an inch of snow cover. Soon we reached the treed area and found it reasonably passable though the snow cover did make it a bit slippery in places.

After finding our way up the slope we finally reached the ridge. Wouldn’t you know it, we spotted some fresh trail flagging and the old trail along the ridge! The flagging was very recent and made following the trail easy. Now we could pick up time as the trail made it much easier. That said we soon came by the next rise and the trail made for a steep rocky section. John, in the lead, started up the slope but soon decided that it was too slippery, and we would need to find an alternate route for the next bit. He continued a bit further but was looking down slope for a way forward. I was still a bit above him on the slope and trying to find a stable footing. Unfortunately, as I was planning my way down to John my foot slipped, and I fell forward upslope onto a flat rock with my right shoulder. My shoulder did not appreciate the gesture.