The Armchair Traverse is a scramble along the ridge between Mount Cook and Mount Weart in the Wedgemount Lake area near Whistler, BC. It’s so named because the ridge resembles an armchair when viewed from below (in fact, Weart used to be known as Armchair Mountain). This trip had been on our radar since Rio and I visited Tim for Castle Towers in September 2022, so when we planned another weekend trip to BC this summer it was an easy decision to go for it.
Mount Price is a small, dormant volcano rising out of the south/west side of Garibaldi Lake. Some interesting geo-history: when Mount Price erupted 8-15 thousand years ago, the resulting lava flow cooled against an ancient glacial ice sheet. After the ice sheet melted away, it left a huge volcanic cliff called “The Barrier.” The Barrier acts as a natural dam, and the pooled snow/glacier melt behind The Barrier eventually formed Garibaldi Lake.
For this year’s Labor Day long weekend, Rio and I drove up north to Vancouver to visit Tim and explore some mountains in British Columbia together.
It’s often hard to know where to look when researching a new area. My usual method is to start “from first principles” by looking at the topograhic maps, zooming into interesting-looking alpine areas, then searching for route information and photos.
I started doing this for BC, but quickly got overwhelmed by the vast number of mountains.
