For a group of 15 hikers, their trek Saturday morning up the Comox Glacier involved not only slick rocks, snow and the occasional wasp, but mountainous matrimony.
Comox Valley Record advertising consultant/runner Liz Tribe (now Royer) and her fiance/runner Steven Royer tackled the hike as part of their weekend wedding which spanned ocean-to-mountain, covering 20 kilometres each way and spanning an altitude of more than 6,430 feet.
The couple began their wedding weekend Friday evening, as the pair travelled by canoe to a small group of friends and family near the Courtenay Estuary who, along with the blessing of their wedding commissioner, wished them well on their journey.
“I wish you good luck as you depart on what must be one of the most gruelling and yet romantic wedding marches that any couple has ever undertaken,” said B.C. Marriage Commissioner Judith Round.
Royer noted it took the group about six hours to reach the summit.
The group left the trailhead at 9:30 a.m., and reached the top around 3:30 p.m.
“The rock faces were quite slippery because of all the rain and the hike was a challenge,” she explained. “Six people out of the group of 15 made it to the final summit and walked us across the glacier where we exchanged vows.”
The ceremony had two witnesses and was videotaped for the wedding commissioner to view and officially declare the pair married during a reception Sunday evening.
“We signed our names in a book at the cairn on the summit and set up our tent and slept on top of the glacier.”
Sunday morning, Royer explained, it took about 4.5 hours to return to the trailhead, along which she added she got stung by a wasp — triggering an allergic reaction.
“I just ran to the car because the adrenaline would help stop the reaction,” she said, and added the couple had just enough time to quickly change and arrive at their reception.
