Start and Finish Instructions

Start: The VK course begins at the fence of the Mt Seymour road crossing shortly after the first major horseshoe turn on the road. Bear in mind that there is no parking here - and especially in winter there is likely to be snowplow banks along the road. The best place to park is at the Baden Powell crossing of Mt Seymour road and then you can take the Baden powell trail and turn right on Old Buck to climb up toward the VK start. This will be a nice warm-up before you start the VK. Bear in mind that the return trip to pump peak and back will be about 20km, so give yourself plenty of time to complete this VK.

Finish: The course finishes before the summit of Pump Peak as sometimes in winter the peak is not accessible or safe to summit. Instead the VK course finishes around the first climb from the bowl below the summit (this is typically where the Mt Seymour winter trail markings end with a sign saying end of marked trail). You may of course continue to summit Pump Peak if conditions allow it but it is not necessary for this VK to summit the peak.

Description

This course is a true challenge as you experience the extended version of the Mt Seymour winter trail including the Old Buck and Perimeter trails. Depending on the time of year, you may have parts of these lower trails snow free. When the snow is heavy and packed down this trail is an absolute delight to run up and down as the snow covers all the technical roots and rocks. Therefore, to set a good time on the first half of this VK is very much picking the right conditions. As you exit the Perimeter trail you will continue through the Mt Seymour resort snowshoe trails to the resort and then up the Mt Seymour winter trail towards pump peak. As described in the start-finish description, you are not required to summit Pump Peak to finish the VK. The VK ends in the bowl below the summit.

Map

View course map at Caltopo: https://caltopo.com/m/QQQTA

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