Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

February 5, 2022

723m

Vancouver Island, BC

Big Sicker Mountain locates immediately to the north of Mt. Prevost with about 200 m prominence above the saddle. This peak is considerably more “dumpster” than Mt. Prevost as it’s logged right to the summit. There’s some views from the clear-cuts but nothing dramatic. I tagged this peak simply because I happened to be in the area. Earlier in the morning I had just ascended Mt. Prevost with a bike. The ascent of Big Sicker Mountain wouldn’t take more than an hour’s detour considering I had brought a bike in this trip, so why not.

The road beyond the Mt. Prevost Mainline’s junction became totally snowed in within 5 minutes of pedalling. Some truckers had attempted to drive further but all ended up backing out. I pushed the fatbike up the steep spur road on mostly compact snow and icy tire tracks and within 1 km distance I came to a locked gate. The road beyond that gate was totally untracked, but the snow was firm enough that I could easily ride the fatbike on. That was actually quite fun. There were still sections that were too steep/rough to pedal up but I did managed to ride as much as I could, especially on the firm snow. The summit was dumpster as expected, but open enough to provide at least some views.

I again, spent a long time playing with the timers on the phone to make sure I was satisfied with the photos. Once committing to the descent it literally took me 10 minutes to ride back to the truck. I especially enjoyed the sections of riding on the firm snow. Not doing much lingering I immediately started the truck to drive towards Maple Mountain which was about 20 minutes away.