Seven years after his death in 2003, a mountain has been named in honor of John Clarke.

The Squamish First Nation will hold a celebration for the naming of a mountain in John Clarke’s honour on Saturday, August 28, 2010 on Squamish Nation land at Sims Creek [map 92 J4]close to the start of the John Clarke trail. John’s trail winds up through the ancient forest to Bug Lake at in the sub-alpine, and the route continues along the ridge to the glaciated, rocky summit of Mount John Clarke; see attached map and image of Mount John Clarke showing the route [courtesy of Dwayne Himmelsbach].

After the celebration on Saturday morning folks have several options. They may:

1. Return home
2. Camp on the sandbar on Sims Creek [Mile 52 on the logging road] and return home the next day
3. Ascend Mount John Clarke: camp on the ridge Saturday night and climb John’s peak the next day and return to Sims Creek
4. Ascend Mount John Clarke on the Sunday and continue for an extended trip [ie. traverse to Princess Louisa Inlet, climb Mt Tinniswood, chill out in the tarns, etc]

We will meet in the parking lot of St. David’s United Church, 1525 Taylor Way, West Vancouver at 7.00 AM on Saturday, August 28, drive to Squamish and proceed from there up the Squamish valley logging roads to Sims Creek.

Lisa Baile [lbaileATshaw.ca] is coordinating the event and Sandy Briggs will ‘lead’ the ascent of Mount John Clarke. Please contact Lisa if you:

1. would like more information
2. will attend the celebration
3. will participate in the ascent of Mount John Clarke

For those ascending Mount John Clarke you should be fit, have basic mountaineering skills and will need to bring overnight camping gear, an ice axe and crampons.

Update on Logging Road access [July 10, 2010]

The Sandbar where folks will camp is at MILE 52 at the confluence of Sims Creek and the Elaho River. It is possible to drive a 2WD vehicle along most of the logging road. However, at about MILE 51 there is a rough section of road with water-bars, rough, bumpy surface in parts, and it is somewhat overgrown with alder. There is room to park before the section of rough road starts. Those with trucks and 4WD vehicles can drive all the way to the sandbar.

We are now able to accept online sign ups to the BC Mountaineering Club!  This is something we’ve been working on for a while, and is now available!  We’ve had online renewals available for members for about the last year, but now new members can also join up online.

The process involves entering your membership information, then making a secure payment via PayPal, using a Mastercard or Visa, with no PayPal account required.  All members must still submit a signed and witnessed waiver form, but this can be done by mail, at a club social, or even when meeting for the first club trip.

We hope that this will simplify joining the Club, and be a great benefit to prospective members!

Click here to apply for BCMC membership online!

Fresh after the return of a bunch of BCMC members from the slopes of Mt. Logan, we have another group of members on their way to Peru!

Club members Bill Maurer, Sabine Decamp,  and Andrei Smertin are departing for Lima just a few hours from now - on Sunday June 20.  They have a number of beautiful peaks planned for their journey of over a month.  That’s right - they’ll be gone until July 22!

You can view their plans, and keep up as Bill updates their journal here: http://everest.millsoft.ca/maurer/2010/Peru/

All the best to the whole group - we’re sure they’ll come back with some amazing memories, and we look forward to a great presentation at an upcoming social!

Isn’t it sometimes difficult to find a partner? Club member Werner Grzimek is putting together a Partner List for Climbers, Scramblers and Hikers - for BCMC members only!

Via his list you can find:

More about the list:

• Members will be advertising for what specific routes they are looking for partners.
• Last year participants of our Alpine Climber List advertised over 50 alpine routes they search partners for.
• Now this list is extended to find partners for all different above activities.

There is a section where Hikers/Scramblers/Climbers can look for partners for their climbing/hiking vacations e.g.; Rockies 2 weeks in August -or- 10 days Kayak/Climbing trip up Desolation Sound in early July -or- what ever you want to do as a private trip.

Werner currently puts the technicalities for the list together and plans to get the first list out in May….likely via Google Docs.

Keep in mind that while this list is for BCMC members to connect with one another, none of the trips are BCMC sanctioned or part of the Club’s schedule.

If you want to be on the Summer Partner List contact Werner now via his email  wernergr@shaw.ca

At the end of this month, community organizers in Pemberton are putting on a sports festival - multiple mountain sports assembled under one umbrella. The festival takes place from May 21-29, in (obviously!) Pemberton. The organizers are planning to include activities from paragliding, to kayaking, to bouldering and climbing, to mountaineering.

You can find more information here.

A group of 6 BCMC members is on their way to Whitehorse, to begin an adventure that will, hopefully culminate in a successful summit bid on Canada’s highest peak - 5959 m tall Mount Logan.

You can find out what’s happening, and follow the continuing adventures of Gerry, Radmila, Dave, Dan, Diana and Bob at: logan2010.com.  Mary Hearnden plans to update the blog there as often as she can (if she’s not getting updates from Dan by sat phone, she’ll make stuff up - sure to be entertaining.  You can also track their progress on the Spot page.  Enjoy it all vicariously from your armchair!!!

The Annual General Meeting of the Fed is coming up soon!

The meeting will be held Saturday, 5 June 2010, in Port Alberni.

This is a full weekend event to be hosted by our member club, the Alberni Valley Outdoor Club, who can provide various options for accomodation, such as billets, camping etc.  Usually we meet for a potluck social on Friday night and the actual AGM is all Saturday morning.   After lunch there are planning workshops followed by dinner and a presentation. There are options for various hikes on Sunday for those so inclined.

Rides can be arranged for those who are interested in attending.   Come to learn about the FMCBC’s projects relating to recreation and conservation matters and meet members from our 20 member clubs.

For more information, contact Brian Wood - bjwood [at] telus [dot] net

Hi all,

The Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia (FMCBC, or “The Fed”) will soon be sending out the Spring/Summer issue of its newsletter “Cloudburst”. They are looking for submissions from members (all BCMC members are members of The Fed as well) as soon as possible - by May4 is the goal.

If you have anything you’d like to submit, please contact admin.manager@mountainclubs.org

You can start watching for the next edition of Cloudburst in your mailbox or your inbox around the end of May, or start of June.

As of Tuesday morning, March 30, the Essential Climbing program is full.  Only one spot remains in the Lead program, and 5 places are still open in the Basic Climbing program.

We will still be placing names on a wait list, in case people have to drop out, so make sure you contact us as soon as possible to get into a program, or on to the wait list.  Click here for program descriptions and contact information.

The BC Mountaineering Club is pleased to offer club-based, mentor-organized climbing programs for new and current members!  These programs are offered ONCE per year.

This year, we are offering three levels of instruction, beginning with Basic Top-roping, for those looking to get comfortable with climbing outdoors.

Next is Essential Rockclimbing, for those who have done a little bit of outdoor climbing, and want to familiarize themselves with setting up a top-rope anchor, rappelling, and following a lead climber.

Finally, we offer Lead Climbing, available to current club members only, for those who have solid outdoor top-roping skills plus a season’s experience.

Click here to view more information, including contact information for the organizers.