Brunswick Mountain, Mount Harvey

Unable to find a partner, and with a beautiful day forecasted after a few days of rain, it seemed like a good time to go bag a few of the North Shore peaks. I had originally been looking at the South gulley on Hanover, as it seemed like a fun route and was probably still mostly in, but I decided that it was a pretty big day and a bit too technical to solo in these conditions. I spent the night in Brittania Beach and managed to drive to and park at the Lions Bay elementary school and get a 7:35AM start. The parking lot was pretty much empty. I hiked up the road and made it to the Lions Trailhead, which only took 10-15 minutes. The Trailhead was also still quite sleepy, but I just blasted on through and started knocking off the ascent. The first part of the trail is more of a road, and carries on for quite a while before there is a fork in the road. Right goes to Mount Harvey and the Lions, and Left went to Tunnel bluffs and Brunswick. I took the left trail and followed that road a little further until it crossed a log bridge, then soon after became a trail. Some switchbacking on a quite eroded but simple to follow trail kept the elevation gain consistent and quick through the green tunnel. Eventually at around 1500M the Brunswick trail intersects the Howe Sound Crest trail, so I kept on route to Brunswick, finally I ran into a few people after a shockingly quiet morning. The vegetation changes soon after crossing the HSCT, and becomes more sub alpine. There are a few crumbly rocky sections of trail that take you up to around 1720 M, where the summit is finally visible. At this point there was a bit of a patch of snow to cross and to access the final ridge to the summit. it was flat and non technical, although with a bit of a cornice to be mindful of. The final few hundred meters of distance on the ridge is quite chill without snow, but there are definitely a few sections with some obvious exposure and some class 3 scrambling to navigate. I didn't realize I was going to need to scramble on Brunswick at all, but I was pleasantly surprised. At the Top of Brunswick I was quite astonished with the unreal views in every direction. Being the high point of the North Shore mountains and a peak with over 1000M prominence definitely offers a good vantage point. I spent a good 15 minutes on the summit of Brunswick but was keen to go stand on the summit of Harvey, so I got a move on. I went back down the ridge and the same trail I came up, but at the Howe Sound Crest Trail junction I took the South direction toward Magnesia meadows. Half an hour later I was at the Magnesia emergency shelter. The trail was far more snowy than anything on Brunswick, and in the meadows I was consistently walking on snow until I reached the beginning of the ascent for Mount Harvey's North East ridge. From here to the summit the trail was still very easy to follow, but definitelt steeper than anything else I had done today. There were definitely quite a few hands on moments and some shrub aided climbing, but nothing every felt sketchy or exposed. 

Fork in the trail with a deer

Log bridge crossing

Eroded trail

Looking up at Brunswick

Corniced snow patch and first actual view of summit

Brunswick Mountain summit

Hanover and Brunswick lakes below, Hanover peak on right with the South couloir visible

East and West Lions (left) and Mount Harvey (right) with the end of Howe Sound 

Mount Garibaldi and Atwell peak (background) and the craggy looking Sky Pilot massif

Zoomed in on the Tantalus range

Across the sound is Gibsons and Mount Elphinstone which I went up last week

Some exposure on the Brunswick ridge

Harvey looks awesome from this angle

Harvey from Magnesia meadows, reminds me of Tom's Thumb in Qathet

A bit of steep bush to reach Harvey's summit

Mount Harvey summit

Panorama with the Howe Sound crest and sound itself

looking back at Brunswick Mountain

Unreal views of the Lions from Harvey's summit

Looking back up Mount Harvey

Brunswick Mountain and Mount Harvey route (red)