Tantalus & Serratus
July 15 – 16, 2023
A full year ago, Francis asked me out during the Markhor-Needle traverse. We now had the very important task of planning how we’d celebrate a whole fantastic year together! We easily settled on Mount Tantalus: a peak I’d had on my radar for a long time, and a pretty epic one at that. We’d wanted to do it earlier in the season via the cable crossing but a bout of covid ruined our plans then. We decided this time around that we’d truly treat ourselves, and take a helicopter into the area- saving us both time and energy.
We enjoyed a very leisurely start on Saturday the 15th, with the earliest helicopter departing at 8am. Black Tusk Helicopters was the only company running public flights with every other company seemingly out fighting wildfires, so we counted ourselves very lucky to even get a flight.
When we showed up at the small airport outside Squamish, we had a short orientation on opening and closing the doors before our pilot, Emily, had us in the air and flying to the Haberl hut.
Francis & I in the heli!
Views under my feet in the heli
The heli flying off after dropping us off
The views were absolutely epic, and I was giddy during the whole flight, barely able to talk from smiling so hard. As the helicopter flew away I realized I’d already peaked during this trip and it would be genuinely hard to top that experience!!
We settled into a campsite just near the hut, and stashed our food before setting off to climb Tantalus around 9am. It was a fairly easy walk up the glacier with only a few crevasses hanging below us. Before long, we’d found the first gully we were supposed to ascent, and began scrambling up some 3rd-4th class terrain.
Me coming up the first gully
Me descending a short snow patch back onto rock
From the gully, we traversed a couple more sections of snow and rock, before finally Tantalus was in sight ahead of us. Crossing the moat on the upper glacier was easy for the time of year, and we were able to stash gear there before beginning our climb. I found the first few moves a little difficult (too steep to comfortably scramble) and had Francis drop a rope to me. Other than that, we mostly scrambled the route, following a line under the witch’s tooth and then rapelling into a gully. In the gully, we roped up and climbed about 3 pitches to the final knife edge. After pitching that out and then a final scramble, we were standing (or rather sitting) on the summit!
The views were some of the best I’ve ever seen in the coast range, since few mountains are as tall as Tantalus. I felt a little bit like I was in a dream, with the stoke for the day being so high, the company, and the views being so good. Because it was so early in the day still we were able to enjoy the summit for awhile, basking in the incredible views of our home range.
Me coming up to the top of a rocky section
Me coming up a section of scrambling toward Tantalus
Francis belaying me up under the witch’s tooth
Silly looks as I come up from the glacier
Me sitting on the little summit block
Views from the summit!
Once we began the descent, it was fairly straightforward to retrace our steps. We did a couple rappels before reversing the scrambling we’d done earlier. We passed a few parties at this point who’d smartly opted to rope up due to exposure, but we continued on very carefully. We did one final rappel back to the edge of the moat, gathered our things and then began traversing the snow again.
By the time we made it back onto the Dione glacier, the sun was beginning to set. For ease of walking, we started tracing another party’s steps, but quickly regretted this. It seems as though they’d probed the glacier with their legs! Because we weren’t roped up on such a small glacier, we walked very carefully around all these foot holes, with Francis using a pole to probe for soft snow. Thankfully we made it across this funky section without incident, and were back at camp for a beautiful and I mean BEAUTIFUL golden hour.
Francis leading the way back on the knife edge
Francis starting the first rappel
Myself on a slightly overhanging rap
Traversing back down on some scrambly terrain
Happy and tired me, back on snow after the climb
Back on Dione glacier
Happy and tired me, back on snow after the climb
Back on Dione glacier
Happy and tired me, back on snow after the climb
This light was some of the best I’ve ever seen, and Francis made the evening even better by surprising me with fresh pasta and a small box of tiramisu! What a wonderful perk of taking a helicopter for our anniversary dinner! I leaned into his shoulder as I ate, enjoying the absolute perfection of the day. I later joked to my friends that my life peaked right there, and it’s all downhill from here!
Francis at camp
Happy faces for golden hour 🙂
The next morning we were up early, wanting to do a second peak before the helicopter picked us up again at 5pm. We packed our bags so we’d have a full day with everything ready to go, and then set off, briefly crossing the Serratus Glacier to start our scramble up its peak.
The terrain looked steep in all directions from here, and I admittedly had some hesitations starting out up this wall, but with careful footing, it all went really smooth. The terrain was probably 3rd or 4th class, and we climbed in silence as we focused hard on our foot and hand placements, making extra sure not to dislodge any loose rocks.
Approaching Serratus on its glacier
Starting the scramble up from the snow
As the views opened up to reveal Lake Lovely water on the other side of the mountain, the scrambling also became more fun, following a nice ridgeline right to the summit. As we ascended, we noticed a comical amount of rappel stations, even on sections where downclimbing would be so easy. We took note of this descent route though, since it seemed to follow the path of least resistance straight down the mountain.
The summit was awesome! There were so many beautiful views with the huge lake, and also views of Alpha – a peak I’d love to come back and climb one day.
My favourite little succulents on route
Francis starting the first rap back down
Me on a rap back down
After a short snack break, we began our descent off this peak. I rapped the whole thing, while Francis mostly scrambled down beside me to save time. Some of the raps were so horizontal it was entirely silly to have the rope out, but putting it away at that point would have taken more time.
We reversed our route back to camp so quickly that we had hours before our heli was due to arrive. A nice flat rock in the sun and out of the wind, provided us a nice spot to cozy up and nap while we waited. I would note that for an alpine trip, this was probably the most relaxing and enjoyable adventure of all time, and that taking the heli is more than worth the money if you’re able to spend it. It’s not something I’d do often, but man was it ever a treat.
The heli coming to get a group just before us
A treat – we flew over lake lovely water on the way back to Squamish!
Gear
- 60m twin rope (doubled over)
- Double rack of cams, a set of nuts
- 9 alpine draws
- Ice axe & crampons
- Snow picket (didn’t use but might be nice for crossing some sections in earlier season)