Tricouni Peak - about 40 minutes from Squamish, British Columbia - has been on my friend Ty's bucket list for years. He's attempted the summit a few different times (on foot and skis) but told me that each time he was turned back by weather, conditions, snow or timing.
A few weeks ago he asked me to join him to try it again on what was probably the last non-rainy day of the season.
3D satellite image of Tricouni Peak via Google Earth Pro. The little lake in the bottom middle of the photo is one of the frozen ones in the image below.
Looking up at the peak across a frozen lake. This was a couple of hours into the hike.
Looking back across that same lake as we hiked a bit further - at this point, the "trail" was mostly frozen snow and loose rock.
Ty leading the way across frozen snow - we both had two trekking poles for most of the trip, but as things got steeper we switched to mountaineering axes.
Getting a bit higher up.
Ty on the summit - what a legend. Also a great chiropractor in Vancouver!
Summit view.
Me at the summit contemplating the gnarly hand-over-hand scramble we had to do to get here. I was pretty much terrified, but Ty's mountain confidence got me through it. Thanks, buddy!
Climbing down...this section wasn't actually that steep compared to some of the sections.
It was a long day, but definitely worth it.