I had to rewrite parts of this TR so I deleted my old post if the mods see this please remove the old post I was unable to figure out how to do it and then please remove this part of this report, pls/thx.
Jordon and I arrived at the TH at 9pm on Friday, taking my stock 4runner to the end of the road with no issues just maybe a little less clear coat along the sides of the wagon. We started hiking by head lamp and made it to the lake in 1:15 with a short stop for an animal encounter along the ridge we dont know what it was because all we saw was a pair of front facing eyes staring back at us, it was likely a bear but we never were able to identify it.
We had a casual morning start at 7:30am and started up the south ridge of Welch. The first 200m gain to the ridge is meh but the South ridge is some of my favourite scrambling in the Chilliwack valley. I was feeling a little bagged and it took us 2:45 from the lake to the summit. The clouds were moving in and out creating a cool mood and kept the sun off of us for good portions on the ascent. IMO the trick to the route is to stay on the ridge as much as possible and don’t get lured off to the SE face. There are a few sections you have get off the ridge to avoid some difficulties but always gain the ridge ASAP after. The route looks more difficult than it is other than one roped section but I think it is easier to ascend that area about 6 feet to climbers left, it is steeper but the hand holds are bomber and you can avoid the rope completely. Just passed the roped section I took a peak over the ridge to the West side and found a goat just taking a nap.
We made the sub summit and looked upon the route to the true summit. It looks daunting but the hardest part is getting out of the notch and starting the ascent to the summit. Once again staying as high on the ridge as possible is the easiest option only ducking around the toughest obstacles if you get stuck look to the other side of the ridge you might find an easier option.
On the way down we headed to the sub summit of Welch and took the South-East ridge route into the bowl. This route was much easier than last time I did it since there was no snow this time and we were able to use the easier gully systems and stayed more South than East when the ridge broadens out. As we we’re descending I slipped and dislodged a rock that started a small cascade of rocks and heard someone yelling “Rock” below us so we held up on a solid outcrop until we could make contact with the people below and let them get out of the danger zone. I apologized for the near miss and they seemed appreciative of us holding up until they could pass, I felt bad but it really brings home the idea of wearing helmets (which they were) in this type of terrain since you have to worry about others not just yourself.
We filled up on water at the outflow of the SE face snow field and pushed up the loose gully to the Welch/Foley col from there the route was pretty simple to the ridge. When we attained the ridge I was not feeling the elevation drop to gain the SE ridge of Foley but it really was trivial. This area seems to be more difficult to traverse without snow. We were really unsure about where to gain the Foley ridge and we were a little low when we spotted a small carin leading to a small gully that lead to a ledge system that zigzagged it’s way to the ridge with no real difficulty other than some mild exposure.
Once we attained the Foley ridge the scrambling was incredibly fun, the route jumps back and forth over the ridge to avoid anything beyond class 3. While looking over the ridge to find the route we spotted our second goat of the day just chilling on a little outcrop below us, the two goat day was great since Jordon had never seen one before. We made the summit of Foley 3hrs after leaving Welch with the safety and water breaks.
The decent back the lake was tedious and not very enjoyable, the last time I was up here the gully was full of snow and it took me less than 15min the butt slide the 350m gully, this time it suuucked. By the time we made it back to the lake the area filled up we counted 7 tents other than ours. We packed up and headed down to the vehicle and felt lucky to drive down the road vs having to hoof it out. I am glad to have tagged Foley the second time after bailing on it the first time, now all I need is the true summit of Baby Munday to have completed the whole Cheam range but I am not sure it is in the cards for me since it is a little technical and loose as hell, also another milestone tagging Foley put me just over 50% of the scrambles guide completed.
