Elevation Gain: 1,704m
Distance: 35km
Total Time: 14 hours 43 minutes
Date: February 6th, 2026
The Garibaldi Lake area is surrounded by many unique and somewhat iconic peaks owing to its volcanic nature and glacial activity. Perhaps the most famous of all is The Black Tusk, but Phyllis’s Engine, Mount Garibaldi and Panorama Ridge certainly rise to a level of their own. From many vistas throughout the region you can also see another icon of the area: The Table. This mountain has a foreboding reputation for being a technical and dangerous climb and its seldom climbed compared to any other summit in the area. The Table is a special type of volcano known as a “tuya”. Tuyas are formed by sub-glacial volcanos which erupt under the glacier and eventually break through and result in a flat-topped surface. There’s a few examples nearby including Ring Mountain and Little Ring Mountain.
The first ascent was in 1916 by the prolific mountaineer, Tom Fyles. He soloed up and down and made a second ascent in 1922 with Neal Carter and Bill Wheatley. Since then there have been a surprising number of ascents and attempts for such a rotten and challenging route. The East ridge is the only successful route to have been climbed, but attempts have been made from the distinct “tea-cup handle” on the other side. I have read that the route has changed drastically since the first ascent with the arete getting much steeper and more technical. While the amount of rock that cleaves off with each ascent is staggering, I don’t know how much stock I take into the route becoming significantly harder. I feel it’s fair to say that Tom Fyles was simply an elite level mountaineer and climber; doubly so to climb up and down solo in the pre-climbing shoe era.
Despite all of these recorded ascents there was still a bit of mystery around the mountain. Scant details existed on what the route looked like and subsequent climbers probably didn’t leave much of a record on account of it already being climbed. That changed just a few weeks ago when Lukas Fournier made a lead rope solo ascent of The Table and shared the details around the internet. From the photos, the rock looked better than expected and lower angle. It seemed plausible that an ascent might go without exceptional danger.
Fast forward to the first week of February and Steven reached out to see if I was free on a Friday. In my current work circumstances that would be a no-go, but for an attempt on The Table, I made it happen. The party consisted of Noah Macdonald, who I had done Nursery Peak with and his friend Nick Ayers. Three of us would be able to lead the crux pitch if needed, so it was as good of a team as any. There’s only one other “pitch” which is supposedly a knife edge traverse to the summit.
Steven suggested we hit the trail by 4am and Nick and Noah on skis would start one hour later. That’s a long day with little sleep, but sometimes it’s worth the slog. I met Steven in North Vancouver and a coupled of hours later we were ascending up Rubble Creek by head lamp. Our timing had us catch the sunrise right as we started across Garibaldi Lake. I had never been across yet, but I’ve heard from many others its a downright slog. By some luck, the lake was in shape to be a skating rink and we were able to glide across large sections making for a more entertaining approach.
As we neared the base of Mount Price, we could see Nick and Noah reach the start of the lake. It looked like we might all reach Table bay around the same time. We pressed on at our own pace and once we reached the bay we donned snow shoes and booted up the forest. A few steep sections of elevation later and we were on the final ridge to The Table. Seeing the arete in person was intimidating. I could spot a reasonable line, but the exposure was phenomenal. Certainly a wild climb.
Nick and Noah reached us 10-15 minutes later and we spared no time racking up. Noah was to take the first pitch and the second pitch was still up in the air. I offered to belay Noah and we set off up a short section of snow to the base of the route. I found an overhanging alcove that would provide shelter from the impending rock fall and settled in. With a quick check of the gear, Noah set off.
After an hour of endless rock showers and delicate committing climbing, Noah reached the anchor near the end of the rope. Nick offered that I second up which meant I could take the second pitch and with that I headed up with a tagline in tow. The first section was low 5th and overall quite solid. That took me to a notch where the angle picked up and the rock became quite loose. This was probably the crux section and required a careful sequence of compression moves and plenty of floundering in search of something solid. The feet were atrocious and I had at least one foot hold blow on route. I was careful to kick check everything, but one way or another you’ll have to rely on at least one loose hold to get up.
Above this crux section the angle eased off a bit, but the rock continued to be much looser than expected. One more near vertical section required some thinking and soon after I reached Noah at the anchor. A proud lead for Noah to say the least! We setup a fixed line for Steven and Nick to follow and I set off on the ridge to finish up the leading. The ridge proved to be a bit more complicated than it first appeared with several loose sections requiring careful negotiation. I don’t think it ever exceeded 4th class though. I reached the snow capped plateau and built a dead man anchor and belayed Noah up.
We did a tour of the summit and plateau while Steven and Nick worked their way up and followed the fixed lines across the ridge. Everyone was standing on the summit by 2PM. Later than expected, but not surprising given the nature of the climb and getting 4 climbers up it.
The next task was getting off. I went first and used the fixed line all the way back to the anchor where I started setting up our double rope rappel. Noah joined me at the station and we double checked everything including another examination of the 4 pin anchor. Satisfied, I cast the ropes over the face and headed down. The wind unfortunately snarled the ropes and I had stop several times to untangle them. I unexpectedly ended up in an over hanging rappel at the bottom being spun by the wind while trying to further remedy the mess of ropes. It was quite a relief to finally reach the ground after that!
Everyone else made it down safely and we packed up for the descent. It was 3:30PM now and looking like we’d be returning in the dark. Thankfully, the return is quite trivial. Noah and Nick departed on skis while Steven and I made our way down on show shoes. We leap frogged past each other multiple times.
As we neared the end of the lake, a bout of rain and snow rolled in and threatened to drench us, but it’s sporadic nature offered some reprieve. Once we were in the forest, the precipitation subsided and we reached the car just after 7PM.