Downton Creek Guided Trip

Aug. 28, 2008 - Hike to explore the Alpine
l-r Kaleb, Luke, Cody, and Alan

Aug 29: Horrible weather gets even worse on an unnamed summit attempt - 50 ft short of the summit.

Aug 30: Hike to 8400 ft summit north of Camp.
Top to Bottom: Misty Morning, Cody looking off the edge of the summit, a giant scree slope descent, four very happy hikers.

Aug 31: Flying out. Nice weather when we awoke that deteriorated as the morning carried on.
Top to bottom: Looking NE down the valley, Dalton's Pond with unnamed mountain reflection, me hooking up the long-line to the cargo net, the group flying out with Scott.

I had agreed to guide one trip this year; a trip for Alan and his friends. Alan took part on the Athabasca Pass trip I guided last year. This year he brought along Cody (also present last year), Kaleb, and Luke. I was glad to guide for Alan again; he and the boys know how to have a great time in the mountains, and were game for just about any terrain I threw at them. They kept their spirits up despite the cold weather... they also ate my food with glowing praise!

The Party was flown in by Helicopter from Lillooet, the helicopter (piloted by Scott Taylor - great guy and pilot) also slung gear in for our base camp.

Between August 27 and 31st we experienced some pretty foul weather, but at times, amazing scenery. This basin, including Dalton's Pond, was a hiker's heaven, with accessible peaks and vast alpine meadows. Out of the many places I have seen and guided in Western Canada, this is definitely one of the most beautiful places to date. This was a great place to set up a base camp, given better weather we would have reached at least one more summit. I don't know if you could ever run out of things to do in this area, so much that is so accessible... I can't wait to return! Already I'm planning for the groups return... however, this time it will be in late July.