Thar, Nak, Yak, Zopkios, Zoa - Coquihalla Summit Recreation Area - 13 hours, 15 minutes
What an adventure last weekend! Ariadna, Joseph, Nick, Natasha, Rodger, & I summitted five peaks in one day. We started at 7:50am and ended at 21:10hrs. On Friday night, Ariadna and I went for a quick climb at Project Abby and then drove out to the parking lot at the base of the summits and camped in her van. The rain was relentless and continued on throughout the evening and we started to believe that the weather might not be so great for the hike the next morning. We fell asleep to the sound of the rain and the hope that we would wake up to the sunshine.
The next morning, we woke up at 6am and awaited our friends’ arrival while we got ready. They had to drop off their dogs in Chilliwack so I accepted that we would be starting the hike later than I normally would have liked. When they arrived, they looked so prepared and ready to go that I began to feel insecure and nervous. I knew that three of them were part of SAR (four including Ariadna) and I think this intimidated me. I fumbled with my pack and couldn’t decide if I wanted to wear my jacket or not. Somewhere within the first 20 minutes of hiking, I lost the mouthpiece to my water bladder and got very hot in my jacket. I tried to take off my jacket as quickly as possible without falling behind; I realized very soon that I was the slowest and least experienced in the group.
Thar is not a popular hike and cowers beneath the more prominent Nak and Yak peaks that people tend to focus on. Thus, we had to create our own trail and bushwhack the first hour or so to get to the ridge of Thar. I was glad to finally be a follower and not worry about whether we were on the right trail or not. It felt nice to not have to be the one to continuously look at my map and phone to make sure we were not getting lost. I tried to engage with the rest of the group who were people I didn’t know. I wanted them to like me and not think I was holding them back or slowing them down. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears - how were they all so fast?
We quickly gained elevation and reached Thar. Once we got to the snow line, I realized with embarrassment that I didn’t even know how to hold my ice axe properly. Nick noticed this and very kindly taught me how to hold it and what to do in case I started to slip. I tried to suppress my insecurities and focus on how amazing it was to be doing this incredible traverse with such confident people.
After Thar, we hiked along the ridge and enjoyed the foggy views of the following peaks we had to get to. We think we saw a wolverine although it was very far and since I’m practically blind, I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. When we got to the base of Yak, we put on our microspikes and donned our ice axes to prepare for the steep snow bank. Again, I felt a bit nervous but the first hill ended up being fine and not as steep as I thought.
Throughout our traverse, I noticed that I was keeping up and doing just fine but I continued to be in my head about my insecurities. I know this is something I need to work on because what I express outwardly does not always match how I feel inside and I am getting tired of the insecure version of me holding me back. There was one point during the hike when I was ‘leading’ everyone up a snowy hill and felt I was going too slowly. My mind kept telling my body to go faster because somehow I thought my teammates would resent me if I was going slower than their usual pace. Yet, in my inexperience with the ice axe, I stumbled and slid down the snow into Nick. I tried to self-arrest just like Nick taught me but I think I reacted too slowly. I tried to brush it off and make a joke but before anyone could say anything, I walked across to the rocky slope (where there was no snow) and clambered up the hill that way instead. I felt much safer on the boulder field but knew that if I wanted to do more mountaineering, I would have to overcome my insecure mind and, of course, let go of others’ opinions of me.
We ate lunch on the Zopkios ridge. By this time, it was near 3pm and the sunshine was dissipating the fog. As we looked back at the summits we had hiked that day, we couldn’t believe that we did it all on our own two feet (and hands, I guess!). The rest of the hike did not seem too complex to me but I was definitely wrong about that. Just because there is no giant peak to climb, it does not mean that the route is easy to traverse. We spent over an hour trying to down-climb from Zopkios. We realized that many paths were dangerous and lead to a drop off. Therefore, with much thoughtfulness and trial and error from the entire team, we eventually found the best way for us and used a hand-line to climb down the trickiest part of it.
After all that, we realized it was getting late. It was 6pm and we were not sure if we would make it to the last peak. We discussed two options: bushwhack down from Zopkios to the lake, which would be around 3.5kms or continue with the original plan of hitting Zoa knowing that there would be a well-worn path down from Zoa (5.5kms). The second option was longer and also involved some unknowns but seemed more favorable since none of us wanted to spend the last few hours of our traverse bushwhacking. Fortunately, we picked the best option as after our discussion, the route to Zoa did not involve complex problem solving. Some light bushwhacking and slight uphill (which I could hardly handle since I was extremely exhausted by then) eventually lead us to the final peak just as the sun was starting to set. It was warm and beautiful but I admit I could hardly enjoy it as my body was so tired from not only physical exhaustion but mental exhaustion as well. However, my energy picked up again as we made the fast descent down a marked trail from Zoa.
They say you get one final burst of energy right before the finish line and that is what I was definitely riding all the way down to the parking lot. Ariadna and I even raced to her van the last 10 meters and ended the long day in laughter. We were tired but elated from the day’s events. I personally could hardly believe that we achieved all five peaks in 13 hours; I was sure that we would be out there for at least 15 hours. I felt thankful to be with such a committed, confident team of people who maintained a positive attitude the entire time. The trip that day kept me on a high for days afterward and is now giving me a new drive to learn more about mountaineering and summiting more peaks.
