Golden Ears-Blanshard Needle Traverse

Golden Ears-Blanshard Needle Traverse crosses Golden Ears, Edge Peak, Blanshard Needle, and Alouette Mountain in Golden Ears Provincial Park. It is a long alpine outing: a documented single-day completion covered more than 25 km with over 2,000 m of elevation gain and took just under 12 hours, from West Canyon parking lot to the road near Mike Lake.

This is a mountaineering traverse rather than a standard climbing crag. Expect bushwhacking, scrambling, exposed ridge travel, steep gullies, rappels, and technical climbing, including climbing up to 5.6+ PG13 and an easy fifth-class chimney. Loose rock and gravel are recurring concerns around Edge Peak and Blanshard Needle, with steep bushy notches and drops on both sides of some ridge sections.

Route-finding is demanding. Beyond Blanshard Needle, cairns are sparse and the continuation may appear only as faint trail, flagging, or occasional rappel anchors. Parties have used a 60 m rope, helmet, harness, belay device, slings, webbing, and carabiners for rappel anchors.