An old post, on BCMC, about biking up Round Mountain, in the Diamond Head area of Squamish, to southern Garibaldi Park.

As this was car-free, I took the Squamish Connector shuttle from Vancouver to Squamish, which also carried my mountain bike. Upon arrival, I biked up Loggers Lane’s bike-path towards Mamquam Road. At the latter’s end, the FSR towards Garibaldi starts. (Next time, I will try the Quest University route, via Garibaldi Highlands, for a bit more paved-road.) The steep, gravel road is as difficult to climb on a mountain bike as one would expect! Locking the front fork’s suspension hardly helps; the rear suspension partially defeats my periodic attempts at stretching my legs every time I stood on the pedals.

Several parking lots are passed, used by downhill cyclists. Being a Saturday, there was a fair bit of traffic, though they all were considerate of cyclists, giving you plenty of room and slowing down. Though not really rainy, there was enough moisture in the overcast conditions that the gravel often had a thin layer of mud on it, adding to the difficulty of biking up a heavy, full-suspension bike. Tacking (ie zig-zagging up the steep sections) became increasingly necessary.

The scenery is gorgeous, though someone told me, at the top, that the road is 26 km! The final parking-lot is at about 1000 m, which is tough enough of an elevation gain on a road bike and asphalt, let alone on gravel and a mountain bike. The low riding-position of a full suspension bike adds to the discomfort.

Unsurprisingly, the snow is very consolidated. It started at, perhaps, 2 km after the final parking lot. In a hurry, I’d selected my _trail_ crampons, as I had no intention of carrying heavy mountaineering boots. I wore these under water-sandals and Gore-Tex socks. I often use the latter two for such days, but the trail crampons are used for only walking. On _this_ day, I did more running, which showed that the combination does not work: the crampons’ rubber-bindings kept on slipping off, partially; thus, another solution is called for. TBD.

The downhill trails were a great way of turning into fun what would otherwise have been a boring descent.