Rarely is the alpine within 5 min of the parking spot; the route to Cypress Peak offers just that. Not to be confused with Cypress Bowl on North Shore, this impressive peak in Squamish is a wonderful short outing with fun rock to scramble. The water levels in Roe Creek receded enough to let us pass without getting our boots wet, and from there on, it were boulder fields and alpine meadows up to the ridge.
We went around the base of the glacier and took a break, Chris and Jon killing time by playing badminton while waiting for the others in the group to pull up and have a snack. Views all around: Mnt Brew to the east, and Pyroclastic Peak/Mnt Cayley and Mnt Fee to the north. It’s all boulders until you get to the base of Cypress Peak. There are different ways to scramble up: the more difficult option is straight up, the easier option is traversing to the right and above the snow moat. It’s an enjoyable short scramble to the top.
Had great time relaxing on the summit with Tricouni in full view, and reluctantly headed down, dark clouds starting to gathering around us. The boulder fields seemed so much longer on the way back, especially after a 10 min downpour that caught us on the descent. The skies quickly cleared up again, but it must have taken us about the same time to get down as it did to come up, just over 2.5 h. A wonderful day outside with great company; thanks to Quirine and Chris for driving! Oh yeah, and no mosquitoes to talk about; though those in the company who got a couple of bites may disagree.
Aug 21, 2010
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