Elevation Gain: 1,823m
Distance: 17.62km
Total Time: 8 hours 23 minutes
Date: July 26th, 2025
I’ve tried Mount Brunswick twice in the past few years, both attempts were made as winter ascents and both attempts ended quite close to the summit. The last attempt with Jacob was a real sting, as we had just a short walk to the true summit but were driven off by impending lightning of some kind. After that I just resolved to save this one as a summer hike.
My opportunity to make a third and hopefully final attempt would come this summer when my friend Kyle asked if I wanted to do a hike with him. He and his wife Zlata and their friend Jordan were all planning to go up Brunswick and that sounded perfect to me. We all carpooled together from Vancouver and Kyle even managed to find a free, but rare, parking spot in Lions Bay.
We geared up and started the familiar approach up old logging roads for Mount Brunswick. As we ascended through the trees and into the sub-alpine it was looking like we might be stuck in the clouds all day. Nonetheless, it was warm and we were having fun so we pressed on. I tried my best to pick out various features I had seen in the winter and contrast with their summer counter parts. There’s a few extra steep sections that were a no brainer now in the summer time.
Soon we reached the summit ridge and we were now running into several large groups. Even in these conditions Brunswick was a popular outing. From the ridge we started the scramble up the first false summit and then down a loose section of rock to a small notch. Above this notch is what I believe most consider the crux of the route, but it proved to be quite simple to scramble through with nice ledges and holds and no real exposure if you stuck climber’s right. After that it was an easy walk to the true summit.
We waited around a bit for the sun to appear, but it never did so off we went. Just as we reached the end of the ridge Kyle realized he didn’t have his poles. I volunteered to go with him and find them and this proved to be a blessing in disguise! As we re-ascended the ridge the clouds finally cleared and we had a brief showing of the terrain around. Shortly after we found Kyle’s poles and then dashed back to the end of the ridge. Then I realized that I had also left my poles on the false summit and now made a third run back up to grab them.
With that out of the way, we returned down the trail without any issues and made it home for a perfectly reasonable time!