It was a 10 out of 10 day in the mountains - sunny but not too hot, little or no wind and great views. It was the usual pleasant hike up to the meadows in Arethusa Cirque, with large numbers of glacier lilies at the start of the trail.

From the meadows the group headed up to the upper basin directly below Mount Arethusa. In order to gain the col to the right of Mount Arethusa we were able to utilize two large snow patches, which allowed us to eliminate about 80% of the steep scree/talus between the upper basin and the col.

Once at the col we took a long snack break to admire the views. From the col, we headed up the West ridge of the Outlier on talus and very low angled slabs.

The views from the top of the Outlier were superb. The group took a long lunch on the West high point of the Outlier - great 360 degree views!

We then traversed the Outlier ridge over to the East high point and enjoyed another good look around.

Just West of the East high point we descended some amazing scree, which we followed down to the elevation of the col. The scree was deep and fine probably like Yamnuska used to be 30 years ago. We didn't take the snow down from the col, instead following a combination of trail and scree to the upper basin. Since it was such a beautiful day and it wasn't a long or difficult trip, the group decided to traverse along a bench over to the South edge of Arethusa Cirque below Storm Mountain. From there we descended along a creek back to the meadows and out to the vehicles. Even with the numerous long breaks, we were back at the vehicles at 2:45 pm.
Thanks to Katrin, Arnold, John, David and new member Patty on her first Ramber trip, for their great company and for joining me Kevin (S/C) on an amazing day in the mountains.

Total distance 7 km and total elevation gain 650 metres