A
fter about 1 4 kilometres and 1,100 m of elevation gain, I was
at the base of Panorama Ridge, which was covered entirely in
snow. I was on a tight timeline, and I didn’t want to get my shoes
completely soaked on the first day so I opted to skip it. But a part of
me just couldn’t resist, and so up Panorama Ridge I went. After a
long climb to the summit of the ridge, I fell to the ground, and all I
could hear was my heart racing. This was my first real break on the
run so far, and taking the backpack off felt better than I could have
ever imagined. I didn’t plan to stay here for long. I wanted to have
something to eat, drink some water and keep on my way. For this trip
I packed extremely light, and my main source of food was bars – they
taste good, are high in energy and extremely packable. Part of me was
really wanting to eat something a bit more wholesome, but part of me
was also thankful I wasn’t carrying anything heavy.Before heading down, I went for a quick run along the ridge,
and then made my way down. Since the entire ridge was still
completely covered in snow, except for a small portion at the top,
I was able to slide down the entire ridge on my feet, which made
for completely soaked feet. But I covered 300 m of vertical in what
felt like seconds. On my way down through Helm Creek there
was more snow than I had expected, so I chose to do some route-
finding around it, and link back on to the trail farther down. This
was the first time on the trip that I had the chance to run down-
hill for a significant distance, and let gravity carry me instead of
having to constantly fight it. While I was running through the
open meadow, a cool breeze came down the valley at my back. It
doesn’t get much better when you’ve been cooking in the sun
all day.W
hile I was running down through the
forest on my way to Cheakamus Lake,
I lost the sun behind the ridge, and right
as I made it to Cheakamus River, the sun
made a warm return as it popped out of
the trees to light up the river. From here, it
was completely f lat as I made my way to
Function Junction, and on to the Flank Trail.
This section was meant to be one of the
easiest parts, but after a long day in the heat,
and wet feet that had more wrinkles than I
thought were possible, my body was hitting
its breaking point for the day. I decided that
when I found a spot that looks like a good
place to hunker down for the night, I’d take it.
After another 45 minutes or so, I came across
a spot that looked perfect, and I set up my
sleeping pad, sleeping bag, put all my layers
on, and drank some water and ate a chicken
wrap for dinner, with some gummy bears for
dessert. Feeling the temperatures dropping,
and the clouds rolling in, I knew I was in for
a cold night.
The next morning I woke up to a frosty
sleepi ng ba g , t he cold c reepi ng i nto my bones.
I ate a bar and some beef jerky, sipped some
icy-cold water, and packed up in a hurry so I
could start moving and warm up my limbs. I
had about an hour or two of running before
I reached the Skywalk trailhead. The only
problem was that I didn’t quite know exactly
where it was. Spending the morning on the
Flank Trail was a good way to warm up, as
it’s a very smooth trail, with very gradual
slopes. By the time I found the Skywalk Trail
entrance, I felt great, warmed up, and excited
to make my way into the alpine for the after-
noon. When I started up Skywalk, the forest
was incredible. I would stop every 100 m to
just look around, and enjoy my surroundings.
This made the run take slightly longer, but I
just couldn’t help myself. To add to it, this
trail had to be one of the most enjoyable runs
I have ever been on.40 Canadian Running November & December 2016, Volume 9, Issue 7