Why start small when you can start big??? 
For my very first experience of leading a trip for the Alpine Club Vancouver Island I chose a 4 day adventure into the depth of Strathcona Park starting out at the end of Oshinow Lake and onto the Red Pillar Trail in hopes to summit Mount Harmston 2009m; Argus Mountain 1994m and Red Pillar 2034m.
Five intrepid troupers met early on Monday morning June 30th 2025 at the Coop south of Ladysmith with boats on vehicles and sleepy smiles on our faces in anticipation.
The day was HOT. I think the hottest yet for the summer with a high of about 31 in Port Alberni.
We arrived at the beach/boat launch on Oshinow lake after seamlessly picking up the key for Ash Main at Barbs place in Port earlier that morning. The roads in (Ash Main) were in good shape and clear as it was a holiday and there was no work traffic. There were a few other cars in the parking area.
After loading up, eating the last of our morning snacks the 5 of us clambered into our two canoes for the 45 minute lake crossing. The lake was calm and the weather was hot and clear. We crossed paths with a couple coming out who had gone in to summit Red Pillar. They offered some intel and noted another group was up there and also coming out that day.
At about 1130 we landed at the take out spot a little ways up the Ash River at the end of Oshinow Lake and within 1/2 an hour we had our loaded bags with climbing gear, helmets, ice axes, crampons camping gear and four days worth of food on our backs and ready to head on up the trail, our goal being somewhere along the ridge beneath Red Pillar.
Day 1
12PM-7PM (7 hours)
Red Pillar Trail to Ridge below Red Pillar
7 Km and 1086m elevation gain:
The first 2Km we gained very little elevation towards our goal of the ridge. The trail follows the Ash River. This trial, although lovely, meanders through a ton of dead fall- we dubbed the trail ‘the over over under’ trail. It’s like a jungle gym, awkward with a few spots where it is overgrown enough that we lost the trail- only for a moment or two.
At about Km 2, the trail starts to ascend. At approximately Km 4.5 and 590 M elevation gain (or 610M we crossed a water source. The only one until you reach the ridge. After the water source the grade of the trail steepens dramatically for quite some time. With small switch backs and a few spots of more level relief. Certainly wakes up the legs, and back and feet…
The trail goes mostly through pretty open forest and closer to the top it lead us through a blueberry forest where the trail can be sometimes tricky to follow- keep your eye open for flagging here.
After awhile, it levelled out a bit more as we gained the ridge.
We camped at the main water source right as we gained the ridge. The tarn was just starting to melt around the edges and we all found some land to pitch our tents. There were other snowless spots with water options along the ridge that we could have camped on if we had kept on but the heat of the day had slowed us down and exhausted us quite a bit, so we were excited to drop our bags and get set up in our spots we were to have as base camp for the next few days.
Day 2
5:30 AM- 11:15 PM
Basecamp to Argus Mountain summit and Mount Harmston Summit and back to Basecamp
18Km and 2400m elevation gain.
Longest (but great) day ever.
As we were moving at a bit of a slower speed we made sure to get an early start on day two knowing we had some distance to climb and the day was going to be hot. The snow conditions were good as we started off along the ridge to the base of Red Pillar. We skirted along the SW side of Red Pillar and onto the shoulder before the sun hit it that morning. Then we made the steep decent onto the upper Cliffe glacier as we headed up over to Argus Mountain.
We decided to summit Argus first as one of our group members had already been up Harmston in previous years and we wanted to make sure she got the summit she was aiming for. Argus was a fun scramble- class 3 with not much exposure. It was so fun to scramble up the block to the summit where we lunched and rested for a bit debating our decent route. It looks like you could descend on the NW side with a rap and maybe a snow picket or two but as we were leaving one of our group memebers on the ridge between the glaciers as we went to summit Harmston we opted to descend the way we ascended.
Back down to the ridge and leaving one of our members safely there to rest and wait, we descended slightly towards to lower Cliffe Glacier between Argus and Harmston. We decided (thinking it would save time, energy and elevation gain and loss) to not fully descend to the lower glacier but to sideline it to gain the upper ridge between Argus and Harmston instead. In the end we aren’t sure if this saved time… but we got to wander along a stunning water fall and fill up our water bottles (although a tad tricky in crampons. For me anyway).
Once on the ridge line we moved smoothly along to the base of Harmston. Then in the heat we climbed the steep snow and scree slope towards the top.
We gained the summit around 430 PM. As I have been wanting to climb Harmston for about five years this was an exciting moment for me. The views stunning and so neat to see Argus and Red Pillar and our route back from the top. We snacked, rested and started back.
Descending the scree/snow all the way into the Lower Cliffe Glacier this time. Along the glacier- no crevasses that we came across, the snow was soft from the heat of the day but relatively easy travel to the base of the steep snow slope that would lead us back to our waiting group member.
We gained the ridge around 7 PM to reunite and began the long and hot trip back to base camp.
Ending the day with our trail across the ridge to our camp lite up by the moonlight.
Day 3
Basecamp to Red Pillar
12PM-7 PM
Yes, a really late start. I am generally an early riser and starter especially when it comes to being in the mountains. But after the 17 hour day we had previously our group unanimously decided to sleep in and have a slower morning.
As a group we wandered back along the ridge towards Red Pillar, taking about 1.5 hours to get to the end of the ridge where it descends through a col and then moves upwards towards the snow slope under the summit block of Red Pillar. I was unclear if I was going to attempt the climb that day but decided to go at least as far as the end of the ridge to 1707.
By the time we reached 1707 I had decided to not climb as I didn’t think I had the mental power that day and didn’t want to hold up those who did.
As shared from one of the three that attempted Red Pillar: We went up the obvious line on snow from the base of the previous ridge-line followed earlier. We continued up some loose rock in the gulleys to an exposed spot 300 m or so from the summit. At that point we were able to sneak into the moat- it looked possible to climb on top of snow in the final gulley but with the exposure we would have had to set up a snow belay and with our late start at this point it was 3:30 and after yesterdays long day we were not feeling up to the challenge. So we turned around at this point, descending with 2 raps at the rap stations.
Can you see the tiny folks climbing the snow slope?
The remaining group member and I spent the afternoon played along the ridge, checking out a stunning water fall and meandered slowly back to camp.
Day 4
8:15-noon
Descending back to the boats
A beautiful inversion started the day and we were blessed by cloud cover for most of the descent.
A smooth and easy descent back down the steep forested slope to the more level jungle gym trail and back out to the boats. A quick foot soak (and one person fully emerging) in the cool Ash River and a beautiful 45 minute paddle (with maybe a little competitive paddling) along the Oshinow Lake brought us back all in fine and happy form- for a lovely dip in the lake and an easy drive back along the Ash Main to Great Central lake and out to Twin City Brew for a well deserved pizza and a drink.
This is an amazing and challenging back country adventure. We had a solid and strong group with good skills, great attitudes. We were lucky with good snow conditions and weather- if not a tad too hot on day 1.