The Armchair Traverse
Ridgeline scrambling above Wedgemount Lake
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.
The approach to the Armchair Traverse starts with a 3700 foot forested slog up to Wedgemount Lake. The lake is in a lovely setting and quite developed for camping, with lots of wooden tent platforms and a couple huts. Apparently the rangers even make pancakes for the campers - which we learned when some outgoing backpackers told us we could have theirs. A tempting offer, but we still had a long day ahead opted to move along.
We hiked up increasingly loose scree and talus slopes up towards Mount Cook, doing our best to follow the cairns for the path of least resistance.
After summitting Mount Cook, we walked another short stretch of loose rock before starting the scrambling. The rock on the actual scramble is fairly solid (though there were occasional loose holds) and was pretty engaging for me. I would call it mostly class 3 with some class 4 moves. The crux step for me was downclimbing a somewhat blank face after an intermediate highpoint on the ridge.
Me descending the crux. Another option is to downclimb the ledges on the right side of this picture. PC: Rio
The final section of ridge is super scenic, with awesome exposure on both sides. The climb up Weart looked a bit intimidating from afar, but we found good ledges all the way up once we got there.
When we popped up Weart we met other people for the first time on the traverse. They had come up from the other side (our descent route). We stayed to chat for a bit and enjoy the awesome views before starting down.
The terrain again became very loose and slow-going, but Rio did a great job of finding the least-bad route down. One steep dirt slope above “Tupper Lake” was particularly precarious.
Back at Wedgemount Lake, lots of folks were out and about hanging out or swimming. It felt like an alpine beach! I can understand why campsites at Wedgemount Lake get booked out so far in advance. We then hustled out the steep trail back to the car, eager to get back to Vancouver for some good Asian food.
In total I recorded 12 miles and 7500 feet of elevation gain over 12 hours.