Our first hike up in British Columbia - with the recent snow, cold weather, and our unfamiliarity with the area, we decided to try the Howe Sound Crest Trail out of Cypress and see how far we could get towards the Lions. The road up to Cypress was nicely plowed and we arrived at the parking area just as people were pouring in on a bluebird New Year's Eve Day at about 7:50 am. Some other people saw our snowshoes and chatted us up, which was nice, since they notified us that we had to self-register and carry tags, and also let us know how to access the trail via the "winter route" by the ski lifts. The winter route takes the Baden Powell and Yew Lakes trail before hooking up to the actual Howe Sound Trail. The route is well beaten down, and we didn't use snowshoes at all (although many were), and the path just follows a deep trench through the woods and up to the ridge. Definitely some recent avalanche activity on the Western slopes of the ridge line around Mt. Strachan. We made it up to what seems to be the winter lookout area for St. Marks in about 2 hours, with only a few other people making the trip that far. Definitely enjoyed the stunning, clear views, with the water adding a picturesque element that we don't get in Washington.

Since we made such good time, we decided to start towards Unnecessary Mountain after getting some information from 2 others who were heading that way. The path was definitely much less worn here, so we strapped on our snowshoes and continued on the path, which almost immediately heads down After a couple hundred yards we called it, due to the amount of snow, and figuring from the looks of it, we wouldn't be able to summit Unnecessary, and
would just end up down in the woods slogging around in snowshoes without any views or sun. We headed back up and decided to go to the true summit of St. Marks to make it official. Definitely glad we did, since we got great views of the Lions to the north, but once up top there are no real views to be had - it is pretty clear why people stop where they do on the trail. On the way down, we scoped out the Mt. Strachan Trail for a possible summit, but clearly too much avalanche danger to give it a go. We went over to the Baden Powell lookout on the way back and called it a day.

Very impressed with the number of mountains and trails in such close proximity to Vancouver and always happy to achieve a new summit, even a relatively well travelled one, in the winter. Looking forward to coming back and doing more...