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Details

Distance

13 miles

Elevation Gain

7867 ft

Route Type

Out-and-Back

Description

Added by Emily Haggar

Mt. Currie Trail is a newer trail, which takes you to one of the most dramatic mountains in the Whistler / Pemberton area. Steep, beautiful and uncrowded, this will take a full day (21km round trip to the lookout over the Pemberton Valley).

Mt Currie is the giant mountain that sits above the village of Pemberton BC. It soars 7800 vertical feet from the valley floor to the summit in sheer cliffs. (The mountain itself is 8517ft high.)

Before 2014, the only way to reach the summit was to bushwack the entire 7800ft climb (we did this two years ago, it's a challenging way to get up there, to put it mildly!). You could also hire a helicopter to take you there, and drive golf balls off the top, like some of the wealthier folks choose to do.

Now, it is possible to hike up the south side of the mountain via a steep trail, which was built last year. To reach the trailhead, drive north on HWY99 from Whistler for about 15 minutes until you see the Green River Motocross Track on your right. Turn in here, and follow the dirt road to your right, which crosses a bridge and turns into an active logging road. 2WD cars will need to park fairly early on this road and hike up to the trailhead, as this is one mighty steep drive. 4WD high clearance vehicles can drive part way to the trailhead, staying left (about 3.5kms from HWY99). Park anywhere you see space on the road, and walk another :15 minutes up the road to the trailhead, as it is no longer possible to drive all the way up. The trail is on your right, marked with a large wooden sign board.

The trail climbs up and up, until you see the one and only fork in the trail, marked with a small handwritten sign. The left fork takes you to a lookout over Pemberton, and the right fork continues on to the alpine. There are 3 camp areas (Camp 1, Camp 2 + Camp 3) as of 2016, each one a little further up than the last. Camp 3 sits at nearly 7000ft and is incredibly exposed to the weather (trust me, our tent nearly blew apart here in a storm!), so head up there on a nice calm sunny day. A good set of knees are required for this trail, as it's long and steep (you'll be climbing almost 6000 vertical feet to Camp 3 from the trailhead).

Looking up from both the viewpoint and the higher trail, you'll see the peaks of Mt. Currie towering above you. If you've got scrambling and route finding skills, the true summit of Mt. Currie is to the southeast, and requires an overnight, unless your knees can handle a 14 hour+ round trip. This is a very wild and untouched mountain, rarely visited by tourists or locals. You'll really feel like you're on your own up here, even with Whistler so close by. Camping is incredible around the Camp 2 area. 

There are no facilities of any kind on Mt Currie, so pack out everything you bring in. Enjoy!

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Features

Camping
Backpacking
Hiking
Forest
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