Elevation Gain: 2,007m
Distance: 25.94km
Total Time: 8 hours 14 minutes
Date: December 11th, 2024
There isn’t an official “classics of SWBC” list out there, but if there I was, I would guess that Mount Hanover’s south west couloirs fall squarely onto the list. Hanover itself is an aesthetic and somewhat rugged summit just behind Mount Brunswick, Hat Mountain and Mount Harvey in the North Shore Mountains. In the summer time the couloirs are a fun and somewhat popular scramble route, while the winter time ushers in those seeking steeper snow. There are two main couloirs, but the right side seems to be the most popular in the winter. It’s not steeper than 35 degrees for the majority of the ascent with one short section of perhaps 45 and all packed into about 200 meters. I have wanted to do this route on and off many times over the years, but it was always deprioritized for something else. Alex finally put it back on my radar this season as he was fired up to finally get up there as a winter line. We set aside one day last week to do it but avalanche conditions never lined up. Luckily for us another window would open this week and after a last minute vacation request, I had my schedule freed to get it done.
With the time set aside, now we had to pick our approach. There’s quite a few options and I’m not sure there’s any one “standard route”. The first two involve an approach from Lions Bay where one options goes up and over Hat Pass and the other takes a steep and exposed line across the south east face of Brunswick Mountain. The latter has the least amount of elevation gain/loss but significant exposure to avalanche terrain. Meanwhile the Hat Pass option has a bit less exposure but does take you through a “known contributor” area where avalanches seem to occur at a more regular cadence and took the life of a man in 2020.
A third option, not often considered is to hike in from the Deeks Lake trailhead. This adds an extra 8km, of mostly road walking, but avoids traversing big avalanche terrain. There is still overhead hazard as you travel around the lakes, but you’re largely in the forest until you reach the base of the couloirs. No matter what, you shouldn’t be in this area without bomber snow conditions. I floated this third option to Alex, because we both had e-bikes and could eliminate that boring road walk without any hassle. We both like to avoid unnecessary exposure to avalanche terrain wherever possible, so this was an easy decision.
I picked Alex up from his place around 4:30 am on Wednesday and we made the short drive out to the Deeks Lake trail head. There is a gate blocking the first part of the road, but this early in the morning we took the risk and just hopped over it with our bikes. We were quickly out of the problematic zone and making strides up the rest of the road. Unbeknownst to either of us though, this road was worse for wear with numerous new washouts and challenging rocky sections. It proved to be the most challenging e-bike session to date and I had to walk on numerous occasions. The latter half was a bit better, but just 50m before the end of the road, my bike suddenly died and I couldn’t power it back on. I walked up the rest of the hill and we stashed the bikes to be dealt with at a later time.
We made good time hiking through the forest and arrived at Deeks Lake before sunrise. The snow wasn’t all that deep so we didn’t bother with snow shoes and travelled unhindered all the way up to the emergency hut at Brunswick Lake. By now the sun had finally risen and the steep rugged landscape filled every corner of our eyes. We spotted a tame route through the forest ahead and finally put our snowshoes on. After a short slog we reached the base of the couloirs at last. They didn’t look all that bad in person; even with a yet uncovered band of rock blocking progress to upper 2/3rds of the route.
After a quick switch to cramp ons and ice axes we marched up the couloir and reached the bottom of the rock band. Alex took the left line through it and I find a palatable rock and ice ramp that brought me above the band at the same time Alex finished his section. From here on up we had stellar snice and front pointing conditions all the way to the top. At the top of the couloir there was just a short ridge walk to reach the summit and the ascent was complete. The sheer faces of Hanover fell below our feet on all sides of the summit save for the couloir we had ascended. It was amazing to peer down at the forest far below; a big draw to climbing any of the peaks in this area.
Once it was time to head down we were able to face out for a few sections in the upper couloir, but mostly faced in until the rock band. Alex took ascent my line down while I went all the way skier’s left through some alternate mixed steps to get down. Now the angle toned down and we downclimbed a bit further before walking the remainder of the couloir to our gear stash.
All that’s left is a sunny meandering back through the forest and I thoroughly enjoyed the hike back along the lakes. We reached the bikes with plenty of daylight to spare. While my bike wouldn’t power on still, the remainder of the route is downhill and we made a speedy descent back to the car. I was home 2pm or so with the rest of the evening to relax.
