West Lion — Local services in Electoral Area A

Incredible! But Very Dangerous ⚠️

I've been hiking, rock climbing, and mountaineering for several years now, and I want to warn people considering the final West Lion scramble/climb.

Near D3ath Shortly Before We Arrived:

We arrived at the base of the scramble to find two groups: one climbing the West Lion and another in a very dangerous situation. The first hiker had made it down to the saddle, but the second had fallen while descending and was saved from a 50m fall by a very luckily positioned tree.

I ended up helping those two hikers, and later, two others who were stuck after descending to the saddle.

After climbing the West Lion myself I ended up advising 3 hikers who were grossly unprepared for the dangers of the climb to not attempt it. Later two of them walked past our campsite thanked me profusely for telling them not to climb to the summit.

Worth It, But...

The hike to the base of the West Lion is absolutely worth it and I recommend it to any reasonably fit hiker. It's not an easy day walk, but it will push you in a positive way. The views are astounding on the ridge and pretty comparible to the views from the summit.

However...

Unless you have extensive experience on dangerous terrain and are comfortable with extreme heights, do not attempt the final West Lion scramble. Your life is more valuable than a climb. There should be signs warning hikers at the base, but unfortunately, there aren't any yet.

Happy hiking! Stay safe,...

It’s really hard hike. I started hiking at 11 AM from Cypress mountain parking lot in October 20 and came back at 11 PM exactly. I really wanted to reach the peak. I got there just before sunset and to get to the peak is no for everyone. You need such a experience and courage to literally climb there / always follow the orange signs not the white one / they are hard to see sometimes but they are there. I wished to spend more time on the top of the peek but I had to start going back before dark. At 6.21 i was coming back from the peak. I had my headlight ready and backup batteries which help you so much because you need at that time 5 hours to get back if you do not sleep over night. Don’t forget your power bank and gps map that you can see where did you come from and navigate yourself at night. I also had bear spray, emergency blanket, extra food, warm jacket, medical kit, whistle and the filter for water just in case. Anyway when i was 1 km before the parking lot i run out of the water. I had only 2 litters with me. Next time I will take 3. Thanks Coca/Cola machine in front of the Cypress, haha :-) Never hike alone or tell someone where you go and if you have to split i can recommend Walkie Talkie because of bad Coverage. Next time take your tent and enjoy the...

This was an awesome hike, although the approach via the HSCT (Lions Bay Trailhead was closed by the local community for reasons I won’t go into…) was VERY hilly making the descent just as much work as the ascent. There was no water at all on the trail mid-September and lots of sun exposure traversing from Mount Unnecessary to the Lions so be sure to pack a bunch (3L for a sunny day). Scramble was very well trafficked but route finding skills are required. It can’t be overstated how easy it is to get off route on this as every path looks like beautiful climbable granite. For reference, I studied YouTube videos showing the full scramble before the hike trying to memorize the right turn on each critical fork but still managed to get off route twice. Another thing to note is you must be comfortable with you-fall-you-die exposure. There is a lot climbing requiring concentration and thoughtful movements. Being fixated on the exposure will not help this. The views from the top were some of the best I’ve seen and rival other Vancouver classics like Golden Ears. Black Tusk, Sky Pilot, the Tantalus range, Robbie Reid, and some very remote Coast Mountain peaks were visible on...