To start this off I will educate my readers that this is more of a personal journal entry rather than a guide. I want people to know this is not a mountain that anyone should do if they aren't prepared or have the right gear. Physically and mentally this is a challenging mountaineering adventure. I really cannot stress that enough by sharing certain things, I trained all summer long before I was ready to do something like this. I have had years of hiking experience to now finally getting into climbing more with friends who know what they are doing. So in that regard please do your research and be mindful of your abilities.
I kept daydreaming about this climb - Elkhorn Mountain, the name even sounds scary "horn"comes to mind. Elkhorn is a true matterhorn and I think that's what makes this mountain so captivating. I couldn't tell you how many videos, blogs, pictures I was looking at before to get a feel for what I was about to embark on. The itch and nerves slowly began - like a spider slowly inching it's way up my entire body, I knew in this moment that this was the beginning of the adrenaline rush I was going to feel from this mountain.
I met up with my friend Brodie in Campbell River and a girl we had met Jess that he was climbing with the previous day. We camped nearby the Elk River Trailhead and got up early around 6AM I want to say and started gathering our things for our epic overnighter on Elkhorn.
SEPTEMBER 19TH 2022:
It was a beautiful sunny day - perfect I was thinking this day is going to be great, maybe we will even attempt the summit today or perhaps I will get nervous and I won't be able to. No I will be fine, this is amazing, I've been training hard, you got this Alyssa. First we had to cross a river by a log with our heavy backpacks on, I kept thinking DON'T FALL! WHOA WHOA ok! Safe, nice one. Crossed over the Elkhorn River - first obstacle course done, next up bush whacking. Who doesn't love some bushwhacking with a heavy pack on? The amount of spider webs I had on my face was a delight, have I mentioned I love backpacking? Can you tell? (heavy on the sarcasm) OK but really I love it, you feel so god damn alive.
Everything felt so fresh out here, the smell of the trees, wild blueberries and my sweat - now that was ripe. Good conversations flowing through the wilderness of hiking, enjoying being alive and well it doesn't get much better than that. Sometimes you even forget you have such a heavy pack on. I'm just kidding I felt every step of this incline getting up the shoulder of this mountain. I just kept thinking in my head it's not so bad, but my knees were SCREAMING! I've done some pretty steep things in my past but this was a GRIND, and I was living for it.
A couple hours pass and now the hiking turns into some spider-man climbing as we like to call it. A rock wall how exciting, billygoat time BAAH, yeehaw! The first roped section was easy peasy lemon squeezy however the second now that was slippery - I was really focused on this one. Trying to climb this rope with this pack just thinking - please don't fall backwards, please. Safe phew, onwards and upwards.
We came to this rock bed and that is when I knew we were getting close to camp, we could now see peek-a-boos of Foster and oh man that was exciting. My blood is pumping and I just feel my body ignite - IT'S GO TIME BABY! We get to camp once we are out of the trees and find a perfect flat area for our tents. Holy shit my legs are on fire, I felt like that was never going to end - I think we were hiking for 5 hours or longer at this point.
I wish I could write exactly my thoughts of my first initial encounter when my eyes met that summit in the distance from camp. I have never felt something so powerful like I was truly meant to be here, right in the thick of it. We decided to push for summit, as for now everyone felt good.
We got camp set up as September it gets darker quicker, we still had lots of daylight left but after an hour of hiking more, Jess wasn't feeling to sure and right then we made a group decision that tomorrow was summit day. No sense of pushing when we are all exhausted and not 100% and plus tomorrow's forecast is blue sky, no worries. All good here, we wanted everyone to successfully get that summit and safely.
Hiked back to camp and just enjoyed some dinner and those views, we got in a ton of steps this day, and we were all beat. Time to rest up and get ready for our big day tomorrow. I even got a chance to really practice repelling of this rock and it's beautiful. I couldn't get over the quality of what this rock felt like - just solid. I'm really glad we did it like this, I felt so much more confident in getting my first ever Island Qualifier now.
SEPTEMBER 20TH 2022:
I'm not sure I got any sleep, it was incredibly windy & I thought Brodie and I were going to fly away in my tent lol. I kept thinking about my son Graeson. I will be strong and safe for him, I will make my family proud that I will listen to my body and know my limits. I set off and said a prayer - I appreciate this mountain, I respect this mountain and please keep me safe.
5:30AM came fast and we started making our way to our approach to the climb at 8:30ish. Foster looking absolutely stunning with Berg and Landslide, no more hiking Alyssa this is where you will now climb. Brodie and Jess in tow every step of the way with me. You got this.
Geared up and started climbing, I'll admit getting to that approach I said to myself Brodie is crazy we are climbing that? THAT!! but in the distance it looks much more intimidating than what is reality. Getting closer eased my nerves, ok this isn't so bad heh. (palms a sweaty)
Here I was free-climbing with no ropes, exposed like crazy and I was doing it. God dam-nit I was doing it. Boo ya, this is wild, this is crazy, this mountain AHHHHHHHHH. I felt on top of the world, I really did. I felt so freaking strong, the way my body synchronized with this mountain like I knew the way somehow. Being a newer climber I like to hug the rock and I got some pretty bruised legs due to this - it's all about trust and I'm working on that with my body still. My arms want to do all the work, climbing is so different in that aspect, it's really about embracing your entire body to achieve such an art.
Some times it was hard to look down, I kept thinking oh my god I'm a mother, I have someone to live for - please don't slip one wrong move and that would be the end. I tried not to think about it but I am only human and still a beginner. Jess on the other hand she was a freaking mountain goat and I'm really glad I had not only Brodie to see that with but a female as well doing the dang thing. It was very motivating for me to see that, she had such grace doing it and Brodie is just bad-ass.
Climbing the open book corner, now this is a section I heard was the hardest and I'm not sure if it was really for me - I think it's just a very exposed section and I had studied this part a lot before I came with the Youtube videos and etc. When we got here, I said you know here it is, this is the part you've been waiting for. It was very exposed and I just said you are brave, you are a warrior and I felt good passing it. Brodie was right behind me to make me feel secure. We got around the gendarme, (btw if anyone is interested in the route we took it's the NW ridge the classic route) and not to far off from the summit now. Just over an hour was the summit, we were so close. I could almost taste it, like I can't even describe it, we just pushed and gave it everything and made it to the summit at 9:50AMish.
Climbing up the rock to the summit was crazy, just rocks EVERYWHERE, I've been on summits but not one so rocky, a true alpine summit. The blocks of rock were what made up the point of the matterhorn. We all hugged at victory, with this being myself and Jess's first IQ achieved. These were happy times and probably a moment I will never forget. Pure satisfaction of wow, my body is incredible, this is living, I am alive and I'm so grateful I have ever witnessed and felt this feeling. (Also please note my helmet did not fit me properly, hence why it is so far off from my forehead.)
We all called our loved ones and marvelled in the views and shared the success of our summit. We were high on life, we knew the adventure wasn't over yet we still had to get down, but we just took in the views and this was the moment I had been dreaming of. Everything lead to this moment and it was breathtaking, seeing 360° mountain views. I got to repel down by myself- going down was so much easier and fun. I didn't worry like I did going up - going down let my nerves rest a bit more.
Repelling at first feels so unnatural to trust this rope with your life even though everything is secure and safe - still it just feels crazy but after a few times I got really comfortable and started to not have such an insane grip lol. I don't know what time it was once we got back to the approach but I did feel some sense of relief it was over, but sad at the same time. I wasn't ready to leave this mountain just yet. We got back to our camp, which btw was a couple hours away still, and we had to hike back to the truck. We had quite the day cut out for us still. We had that summit glow though so we were on fire, we got our camp packed and took off. I looked up at that mountain once more before going in the trees and I thought to myself "thank you."
I learned a lot about myself on this climb and hike, I think you do every time you do something like this. It makes you realize how small you are, how big the world is and how little your problems are. Everything makes sense out here and my mind had never been so clear, it's that mountain air - I'm telling you, it's therapy.
I was not looking forward to those spider man ropes, but I knew this is all part of it - embrace this mountain girl. Give it everything you have and we just sent it down. The sun was setting and we wanted to get to that nice groomed trail which was lovely for that last 3K. My legs honestly felt like they were going to fall off and I had this strange cramping on my side, we chatted and laughed which helped take my mind off it. Seeing Brodie's truck was the best feeling, relieving our backs with taking the weight off finally was pure bliss, omg it felt so good. I sweated so much, my lips were cracked lol. I kept imaging a burger and being in either an ice bath or some type of heated bed.
We still had to drive back home it was roughly 7PM I believe once we got to the truck, we got into Campbell River - the first thing Brodie and I did was hit up a Wendys. God damn that spicy chicken burger was AMAZING! Got in my car and headed back to Nanaimo, this felt like the longest 1-2 hours of my life. I was exhausted and fuelled by adventure, I was buzzing like a bee.
Looking back on my VLOG - (which I will link for you here if your interested in watching footage of a little video I put together of this climb) I still can't believe I did something like this and it has only spiked my soul to get more objectives of other IQ's in the future.
When I am old, grey and fragile I will look back on this adventure and be proud that I accomplished this. It was a very proud moment for myself and just knowing you are greater than your fears, anxieties and so much more. You can push and accomplish anything you put you mind to, I really believe that. I hope you get to experience something in your life that does that for you. The mountains will always teach you something and it's up to us to protect them and to respect them. The mountain will always win, it's an intoxicating yet soothing, wild yet serene, intensely primal yet patient and unpredictable within the shifts and rhythms. Mountains keep us on edge - they wrap us in the sensation of safety all at once and I don't know of anything sweeter or more magic.
I hope this drives you to go after your dreams, passions and life. I hope you wake up everyday and think about the opportunities that lay ahead and crave more. For there is nothing more beautiful than a world such as this.
See you on the trails and thank you so much for reading.
Alyssa
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