The Tantalus Range

The Tantalus Mountain range is an easily recognizable chain sitting behind the Squamish river, just past the town. Perhaps the best word to capture the identity of this range is simply “massive”. Whether down below driving the Sea to Sky highway, hiking on the Sigurd Creek Trail or from Lake Lovely Water, this is how it could be described.

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After seeing some pictures of this range back in 2025 I knew that someday I’d have to make my way out West to experience it first hand, I didn’t realize that day would come so soon.

Growing up in North Western Ontario, mountains look a little different around here. The difference is truly immeasurable but that wasn’t going to stop me from using them as an opportunity to learn and train. I find myself incredibly fortunate that Thunder Bay has such an incredible rock climbing scene with so many experienced climbers who are always willing to share some knowledge; and with that knowledge in my quiver, I began recruiting a few like minded friends who might be interested in an adventure through the mountains!

Fast forward to July of this year, myself and Oscar embarked on a several week long road trip around the West Coast, Coastals and the Rockies. During this time we’d made plans to finally visit the Tantalus Range with hopes of completing a full Tantalus Traverse but our sights set slightly below with the prospect of simply gaining some experience on glacier, building proficiency in mountaineering systems and efficiency working as a rope team.

The approach on the Sigurd Creek Trail

On July 14th we finally got the weather window we’d been hoping for, and so, with days of bright blue skies in the forecast we started out early in the morning from the Sigurd Creek Trailhead making our way up, with hopes of summiting Mt. Pelion and camping high up on a glacier somewhere that night. The Sigurd Creek Trail is the perfect example of a challenging trail in the Coastals. Featuring plenty of elevation gain, some loose scree near the top and some beautiful granite steps the whole way up it’s a trail well worth it for someone seasoned in the outdoors. Despite the warm humid weather early in the morning, we were grateful for it to cool off slightly as we got up to higher elevations and quickly found that we’d climbed higher than any of the local peaks back home in Ontario unsurprisingly.

The first stretch of this trail is well traveled and maintained, however about ⅔ of the way up there's a point where the brush suddenly becomes far thicker and the trail is quite overgrown. At this point it's a good time to double check that your bear spray is easily accessible as there are so many blind corners it’s very easy to startle unsuspecting wildlife.

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After a bit more climbing you finally find yourself at Sigurd Creek. The trail does continue just across the creek however if you're not planning on making your way up and onto the glacier I recommend avoiding the frigid water and not crossing! The river flows directly off of a glacier some ways up and so it doesn’t tend to heat up, once again coming from North Western Ontario it reminded me of the water in Lake Superior just after the spring melt. We opted to refill our water bottles here and get hydrated as the water was nice and chilly. It seemed like a good place to stop.

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Just past the creek is where you finally get your first taste of the alpine. The trees thin out, rocks get bigger and the mountains get closer.

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Finally clearing the trees was such a rewarding experience, the cool breeze passing through and the sight of snow suddenly made the previous 12km very worth it. This is really the first point on the range where you start to feel the magnitude of your surroundings! We had hoped to take a bit more time here than we did and explore some caves we’d heard about that sit just below the base of Pelion but because of how long it took to get to this point we thought it best to keep moving.

The air got cooler and cooler as we moved further up and it was a nice change from the humid heat we’d had for the last few hours. The feeling of being on a glacier in July after all the climbing to get there is so rewarding and an absolutely surreal experience.

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We felt invigorated again preparing our technical gear at the first stretch of climbing as we approached Pelion. The sheer volume of snow and ice underfoot was incredible and the decay of the glacier was something of note. There were these gigantic columns of ice off to our right as we moved up the glacier, standing around 100ft tall. They emulated the deepest blue colour that could only be formed by years of highly compressed water being frozen. Between them massive waterfalls flowed thousands of liters of ancient glacial water down into the valleys below. We were fortunate enough to find a few streams to replenish our water bottles and enjoy what we thought to be some of the best water in the world.

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At this point we decided to stop for dinner and a brief rest. We were nearing the summit of Mt. Pelion and wanted to fuel before the final push. As I boiled water for our dinner, Oscar began playing some music off of his phone. The first song that came on was “ Can’t You See” by “The Marshall Tucker Band”. As we listened to the careful words “Gonna climb a mountain, the highest mountain” while enjoying our dinner we really got to appreciate the vastness of where we were and the journey that had led us there. It is a memory I will certainly never forget and we often find ourselves talking about this very time, as we sat, in the vastness of the Tantalus Range, in a land unknown to us with nothing but the music as a reminder of the world.

Following dinner we made the decision to push to the summit of Pelion and then quickly descend back to the glacier for the night. Just before the push over the summit we got to enjoy the most incredible sunset over the mountain tops from just above 7000ft.

A glacier camp below Mt. Pelion

After safely making our descent back to snow using the last bits of light in the sky it was time to set up for the night. We were fortunate enough to be testing a new tent we’d brought along with us. The WindQuester Horizon Lite 2 Pro. We’d used all sorts of tents in the past for a variety of activities, including the previous generation of Horizon tent and so it was fun getting to review some prototype product! We pitched on a glacier ridgeline at about 7000ft, with a pretty significantly graded drop off on either side, completely exposed to whatever the mountains would decide to throw at us. Fortunately, despite it being quite a windy night, the tent held up great and we woke up warm and very dry the next morning!

I woke up once that night, briefly at about 430am to use the wash room and as I stepped out of the tent I was able to capture an incredible picture of the beginning of the sunrise off in the distance.

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After a view like that to begin the day we were eager to continue moving. We made some quick breakfast, packed up camp and soon after were back moving.

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The next move of the expedition was a few hundred meter descent into the valley below Mt. Tantalus and depending on how the day went that would act as our decision point for how far we’d continue.

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Though the descent went well, the conditions of the glacier surrounding us and in the distance were terrible. Throughout the day we saw live rockfall of all sizes coming off the South ridge of Pelion and plenty of exposed crevasses along our path as well as further along on the Tantalus glacier. We later found out that some unseasonably warm conditions over the past month had been the cause of the rather dramatic decay of our route and that several other teams had made the decision to turn around on the full traverse in the previous weeks.

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Turning back toward the Squamish River

As we reached the low point of the valley between Pelion and Tantalus we found ourselves at a decision point so naturally we took it as an opportunity for a proper rest and some lunch. After carefully considering our options, we came to the conclusion that the safe thing to do would be not to continue and instead begin descending toward the Squamish river, following Mawby Creek down before walking along the bank of the river to return to our car. Before leaving for the trip we had made sure to study our route and decide on a few dedicated bail out options in the event that conditions were unfavourable. Despite the fact that we were disappointed not to be continuing our traverse we both felt it best and were confident in our decision for the sake of our own safety.

With full stomachs and refreshed legs we began the highly technical descent from our position to the squamish river. Thankfully, because of our training and experiences back home we have an abundance of experience in rigging rappels in precarious places and navigation in thick bush. With no clear trail ahead but the thoughts of a warm meal in the future we kept pushing through, switching between the odd sections of glacier, dry river bed, thick bush and getting cliffed out and needing to rappel.

Throughout the day we found ourselves in quite a few situations where blind trust in each other was the only option we had. One in particular that keeps coming back to me is after I found myself sitting on a ledge, about 60ft above a stretch of glacier being eroded by the flow of water some 90ft directly below. I was in a position where I was quite exposed and the best I could do was to perch on this ledge and radio up the information to Oscar. After a brief conversation we devised a plan where he’d rappel 2/3rds of the way to me and then set a new rappel station, dropping the rope to me first so I could descend to the river bed below and then he’d follow. With blind trust in each other he rappeled, re rigged and after about 10 minutes he sent the rope back down to me again. I’ve never been more grateful in a teammate as I was in the moment I saw the rope come down to me and was able to leave the ledge.

Arriving at the riverbed the area was immediately cooler as we were sandwiched between the cliff face we’d just come down from and the glacier that loomed over us 30ft above. We recovered our rope and then began cutting steps into the side of the near vertical ice to get on top of it and after only one minor fall we made it back on top and continued down.

We spent the next 6 hours bushwhacking along the river, crossing where we could and rappelling whenever we got cliffed out. The change in the environment in the last 12 hours had been incredible from the high alpine into the lows of a dense rainforest. We followed gametrails and the sounds of the river when we could, unfortunately pushing through thick thorn bushes where we couldn’t and being left with thorns stuck all over us that I’m convinced we’re still pulling out of our hands and arms today.

Around midnight we were only about a kilometer from our car, however darkness had fallen completely and we were entirely cliffed out between two large waterfalls. Knowing that our only hope was another rappel we had to decide to stop and wait for daylight to properly assess the last bit of our descent.

That night will forever stand as the worst of my life.

Below is an image of where I slept that night, laying on my backpack, wedged between two rocks with my head on the climbing rope and a waterfall rushing just 3 ft to my right. Because of how little space we had we weren’t able to pull out our sleeping bags and were left layering with whatever we could as we waited for the sun to rise.

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Despite nature's best attempts to kill us that night between the cold and the rushing water next to us we awoke at 6 the next morning and finally made it back to our vehicle. The end of the descent was highly challenging but finally arriving back on the ground, we were able to breathe a sigh of relief and feel a sense of safety once again being back in civilization.

We started the truck and made our way back towards Squamish, playing “Can’t You See” on Bluetooth and as we drove along the Sea to Sky and made our way to a small coffee shop in Squamish we reflected on the last few days. We came to a few conclusions:

• The life of one that does is immeasurable to the one that doesn’t
• Mountains are scary
• Bring a friend
• Candy fixes a lot in the mountains

And most of all just enjoy it. Listen to the music, sometimes it's all you’ve got.

We’re by no means professionals, we probably never will be but what we are doing is building experience. More practice, more training, more time in the mountains. Sometimes things work out, other times not and decision making is always key because as long as you make it home safe, there can always be a “next time”. This wasn’t our first adventure, and it certainly won’t be our last. Cheers!