Wedgemount Lake

Wedgemount Lake is a beautiful alpine lake just North of Whistler, located in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The area is best known for it's spectacular sceneary and excellent mountaineering. The most popular routes are the snow and ice climbs on the north side of Wedge Mountain.

Directions

Take Hwy 99 11.5 km north of Whistler. The turnoff is well marked on the east side of the highway (right if you are driving from Vancouver). You'll cross the BC Rail tracks and Green River. The road goes left after the river. At the next fork go right, and then left again on a logging road. The parking lot and trailhead are at the end of this road, about 2 km from the highway. A trail heads up wedgemount creek from here. It's a 2.5-4 hour hike to the lake, depending on your fitness and your load.

The Hut

There is a small cabin at 1900m on a rocky knoll above Wedgemount Lake. The hut is dark, only sleeps about 8 people, and is minimally equipped. There are many good camp sites around the hut, and it is a popular social gathering place for mountaineers in the summer.

Hiking

Most people just hike up to the lake for the day, then go back down, but there is much more to do. The area around the lake is barren, so there is not much use for trails. At the far end of the lake is the toe of the wedgemount glacier. Also, an ascent of Mt. Cook can be made without encountering any difficult terrain. Just start going uphill from the cabin through meadows, then trend left along a bench to meet the mountain's west ridge, and then follow the ridge to the summit. Climbing Cook would be an ambitous daytrip with a vertical gain of nearly 2000m.

Mountaineering

The mountaineering routes around the lake are excellent, with a good selection of easy to moderate snow and ice climbs. There are too many climbs to dicuss in detail here, but the must do classic route is the North Arete of Wedge Mountain.

Skiing

Not a lot of people go skiing in the area, due to the steep approach up the trail. The area can also be approached from Blackcomb Mountain via the Spearhead Glacier.

Wedge Mountain NW Couloir

The NW couloir of wedge mountain is probably the most popular ski mountaineering objective. The couloir is about 1500ft. It is mostly about 45 degrees with a couple steeper sections approaching 50 degrees. Unlike the couloirs on the north face of wedge, this one has no bergschrund issues.