Mt. Webb

Another gorgeous sunny weekend, another perfect Saturday to be out in the mountains....or so I thought! The forecast looked promising, so Ben and I decided to hike up to Radium Lake, then up to Mt. Webb, and if time allowed, up to McDonald peak. We started at 10:00 in the morning, and it was blazing hot out! I was sweating bucket loads within the first couple kilometres. We reached the lake in a little over 2 hours and stopped for lunch and some pictures. Beautiful blue sky, excellent views! Apparently there is supposed to be flagging tape leading the way up to Mt. Webb, which we couldn't find, so we just took the most direct route....straight up the mountain....it was pretty intense....I had to stop for a breather every 10 steps...but it was well worth the effort as the view of the surrounding mountain peaks increased with each step. As we were ascending the mountain, I noticed some dark clouds rolling in which created beautiful lighting excellent for pictures. I just assumed the clouds would blow over, but they started to settle down. We reached the peak, had just a few minutes to take some pictures of me hanging off the cliff (of course) when a very ominous rumbling filled the sky! Without any warning, the thick storm clouds rolled over, and hail the size of gravel (no joke) attacked! The rumbling thunder was incredibly loud and I was actually afraid that lightning might strike us as the storm was directly above our heads! I did not fare well in my shorts and t-shirt...within moments I was soaking wet, freezing, and with no cover on the rocky peak, I soon had purple welts all over my body from the hail. We started running down the mountain to find cover in the trees, but the hail was coming down so hard the trees couldn't offer any protection. The "trail" was slick and slippery and I feel several times. I couldn't feel my hands! It felt like I had stubs at the end of my arms. After about 1/2 an hour the hail turned to rain, and I stopped to put on a sweater as the chills had set in and my teeth were chattering! I must have been quite the pathetic sight as it literally took 15 minutes to open my backpack and put on my sweater, my hands were completely useless! In fact, it's two days later and my fingertips are still tingling! Hopefully that goes away. After quite a miserable descent, we finally made it to the parking lot at 6:00pm....8 hours later! I immediately cranked the heat and headed for subway for a footlong roasted chickent sub!!! Well I now know what it means when they say that mountain weather is very unpredictable!!! Needless to say I'll be much better prepared for my next hike. I was even debating whether or not I should bring my winter jacket before I left because I knew we were going to gain quite a bit of elevation, but it seemed like unneccessary weight to lug around on such a gorgeous day. Well, lesson learnt!

Notice the blue sky!


Radium Lake...again notice the blue sky!



Forging our own route to Mt. Webb



The snowshoes were a bit of a concern as lightning was illuminating the sky directly above our heads!!!



Some clouds rolling in...



Some more clouds...



Threatening storm clouds settling in!



A very brief photo op at the peak before the hailstorm attack!





Webb is on the left and McDonald peak is the far right.



The after effects of the hail later that night.