Pendant Lake in Tricouni

---

May 6th, I set out to finish my splitboard season at Tricouni Peak—accessed from the Squamish Valley side. I know it’s hard to justify a long approach for just a few minutes of alpine riding when the valley offers endless fun, rock climbing and mountain biking on dry rock and through lush green forest. But I’ve learned that closing out the season properly sets me up for a strong summer. Tricouni felt like the right place to draw that line this season.

I’d explored this approach before and really liked it, which is why I chose Tricouni again this year. It’s close to Squamish and accessible without too much fuss. The alpine lakes and ridgelines around Tricouni are stunning, so it felt like the perfect way to wrap up the season.

We took Branch 200 from Squamish Valley—easy to find on a map—and reached the highest point accessible by car around 10:30. That’s where the road is washed out, and it’s as far as you can drive. From there, it’s about 3.3km and 500m of elevation to the original parking lot. It’s an extra push, but the overgrown road was straightforward—just a few downed trees to navigate.

Starting at 10:45, we made it to the parking lot in about an hour and 15 minutes. The lot was buried under 20cm of melting spring snow, but we realized we wouldn’t need to walk the dirt patches: the forest trails had enough snow to put skis on and skin up immediately. The coverage only gets deeper—likely due to slope aspect. The approach road is south-facing, while the trail ahead faces west, which holds snow much better.

The Climb to Pendant Lake

From the parking lot at 1180m, it’s mostly a gentle uphill to Pendant Lake—except for the last 1km, which steepens noticeably. The first 2km follows the east side of a creek that flows through the main valley. We had to unstrap our splitboards a couple of times to cross smaller creeks and dirt patches, but this initial section was easy and enjoyable—the sound of rushing water and birds.

By 14:00, the trail steepened up through the forest. This was the final push to the lake. We opted to climb straight up the hill toward the north instead of staying close to the summer trail that hugs the main creek. Neither route was particularly easier—both have steep, challenging sections with icy kick turns that would test anyone new to skinning.

The gradient eased, and soon Pendant Lake came into view. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating—no sun, no views of higher areas—just a hole of open water in an otherwise frozen lake. We stopped for a snack and talked about whether the effort was worth it. Being in the mountains with friends is something special. Before heading back, we couldn’t resist a short run onto the frozen lake and slashed through some beautiful blue water. Why not, eh?

At 1400m elevation with snow in every direction, there were lots of skiing opportunities.

The Descent

At 16:00, we started heading back. This time, we took a different route on the steep section—following the summer trail to avoid some of that icy terrain. Good call. The trees were less dense, and we had better flow, though we had to stay cautious around the creek. You don’t want to fall in. The water was raging, and getting out would’ve been impossible.

After the steep section, we basically retraced our uphill tracks and arrived back at the upper parking lot at 17:30—an hour and a half from the lake.

As we were skinning down, all we could talk about was our dinner plan. Backcountry Brewing was on our minds—well, mostly my mind, since it’s my tradition to end the final backcountry tour of the season with a local beer there. We weren’t sure what time they closed, so we decided to just run for it! Magically, we managed to run all the way from the parking lot to the car in just 45 minutes. From there, we quickly threw our gear in, hopped in the car, and drove out!

We jumped in the car, drove back for pizza and beer, and got home to change. We rolled into Backcountry Brewing at 20:10.

Really fun day!