And so we did our bit to contribute to halting the spread of the deadly green menace.
Category: general
A day out at the Crowfoot Glacier Glades. We hit the slopes early and got to ski a lot of un-tracked chutes, hoorah!
The snow kept falling all day, and the powder was lovely to ski (even if it was heavier than usual for the Icefields Parkway).
And so we skied down, and skinned up, and skied down, and skinned up. The way these things go.
A short wander up Mount Lady Mac, as neither of us had much time, or a desire to stray too far from home. The start of our hike was slowed to toddler pace. Not just toddler pace, but the pace of a toddler having trouble hiking up a steep snowy path.
Eventually he gave up, and started to get sleepy, so he was transferred to my back and we started to slog uphill. There was more and more snow, and eventually the pre-packed trail diverged from the summer trail, and we gained another hiker who was happy to hike along with us in an attempt to follow the summer trail.
We managed to get to the ridge, but then the huge drifts of snow were too much for us. The crazy wind blowing along the ridge line were downright unpleasant too. And the Moosling woke up and was very unhappy. And we had run out of time to make it to the summit and back down again anyway. So we took some photos and high-tailed it back down the mountain again.
Just a taster of a few shots of biking in the snow in November – all on the Highline.
Since these photos were taken, it’s snowed enough that it has been a bit tricky to ride up the Highline, although the G8 and other trails around town are nicely packed for biking or running.
Nothing quite beats the Highline for the sensation of imminent collapse on the way up, and mind-exploding joy on the descent though. And the views along the traverse in the middle aren’t bad either (I am wondering if I can justify buying a proper compact camera for taking out biking and running, so I’ve got something nicer than phone photos).
Pigeon Mountain has been hovering on our radar for a long time – it sits just next to Skogan Pass, so we’ve travelled past it plenty of times, but have never quite made the turn up towards the summit. It was a warm day for November, and without too much snow on the ground, we thought we may as well use this trip as a good shoulder season excursion.
After cheating and driving to the trailhead, we unloaded the bikes and Chariot, and started the slog up alongside the power-lines. There were a couple of other random hikers about, but the carpark had been overwhelmingly full of hunters. We passed a few on the trail; bow hunters who had bagged a bighorn sheep.
We managed to cover 3.5 km or so before the snow on the trail started to make traction impossible, so gave in and stashed the wheels in the trees.
Another kilometre or so and we reached the turnoff, taking us up single trail, climbing a spur until we were spat out above the treeline and into the wind. From there on the trail wasn’t so well defined. There was a fantastic choose-your-own-adventure set of trails to follow through the snow though…
Follow the sheep trail. Turn to page 63. You have fallen into a wind drift and can’t get out. You starve to death before summer comes.
Follow the lower human trail. Turn to page 48. The trail disappears over the edge of a cliff. You fall to your death.
Set your own tracks across wind slab. Turn to page 38. The wind slab holds for the first twenty metres, but suddenly gives way, and you are trapped in postholing hell.
We managed to make our way through the perilous choose-your-own-adventure section, and reached the ridge, where the wind had kept the snow pretty thin on the ground. Surprisingly, the wind swept ridge was also rather windy.
It was easy walking to the summit and after snacks and photos at the summit cairn, we shook our fist at the sun, which had just disappeared behind a bank of clouds that had been hugging the mountains to the west of us, and then we scarpered back down the mountain.
Thanks to the bike-stashing effort, we made it back to the car a full five minutes before sunset (with the added benefit that we weren’t driven insane by having to walk down a road next to a power-line for a full five kilometres).
Oh, and as an added bonus, here is a link to the song we both had stuck in our head all day long.
Distance: 16.5km
Elevation gain: 960m
Summit altitude: 2394m