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canada general moosling snow trip reports

Easter at Wheeler Hut

*** First up, the disclaimer… I’m finally updating here after months of no posts. I’ve been dealing with some pretty nasty fatigue issues for most of this year, which have turned out to be related to a reactivation of mono/glandular fever in my system. So adventures have been few and far between, and I’m still not feeling great, but I’m going to try and catch up on telling some stories and sharing photos.***

So, although I wasn’t feeling great, we had a family hut trip booked at Easter, and I figured I should be able to manage the ski in. It’s only about 1km from the road in to Wheeler Hut after all.

Roger’s Pass was fairly warm, and after getting all sorted we set off up the steep climb up from the road. Once you’re up this it’s basically flat the whole way. The first bit is definitely pretty steep though.

We were trying out new AT conversion attachments on Finn’s skis. They clip into the downhill bindings on a pair of kid-size skis, converting them into something that lets him lift his heel. But – they also end up being fairly heavy, and he’s quite high off the ground. He was also in a bit of a cranky mood. And so the attempt to get him to try them out didn’t go so well.

In the end we took them off and he did just as well just using his downhill skis with climbing skins on the base. Adorable tiny climbing skins that Alex had made by cutting down an old pair for skis he didn’t own any more.

I struggled more on that 1.2km ski in than I have on 50km trail runs. Finn wasn’t having a great time either. But we made it – slowly, very very slowly!

Once we reached the hut, everything got better. Most of the crew we’d met before on previous Tanya trips, but there were also new people to meet. I was feeling exhausted though, and curled up in the corner and read, and napped, as around me games were played, pokemon cards were battled, drawings were coloured, snow balls made, people went skiing…

Finn convinced people to play Settlers of Catan…

toboggan tracks were built…

and crafts were made, meals were cooked, brie was eaten (I definitely helped with that), fires were stoked, and the kids played and played.

It bucketed down snow.

The Easter bunny got busy and there were eggs hidden everywhere surrounding the hut. On Easter morning the troops assembled and ready to hunt for eggs first thing, mostly still wearing pyjamas under down jackets.

Kids climbed onto the roof of the hut…

And teamed up to try and get to the top…

By the last day the roof had melted off a lot.

We skied out on a beautifully sunny and warm morning, and discovered that the flat ski in was one of those pernicious slight uphills. It was much more pleasant in the other direction, and with company to boot.

And Finn’s years of skiing are apparently paying off – he flew down the sketchy icy descent and had a blast

Although not as much fun as he had afterwards, playing on the snowy cliff by the trailhead with the other kids. They would have happily played there all day. Who needs to go skiing when you have a snowy slope to play on?

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canada general moosling snow trip reports

It’s yurterrific!

Thanks to the excellent Tanya at Canadian Rockies Family Adventures I won a stay in the Mount Engadine yurt! I might have a thing for yurts. I’ve spent more time than strictly necessary browsing yurt websites and looking at photos on pinterest. I’ve only stayed in one once before though, in Bend, Oregon.

Winter yurting was a bit of a different experience – this yurt is tucked away 100 metres or so past the rest of the Mount Engadine lodge accommodation. A little packed snowy trail winds through the trees and deposits you at the little yurt.

The outside was all piles of snow and exciting icicles. But inside was cozy, snug and warm (although not so warm we weren’t wearing our down booties). There’s a little propane heater that runs to keep it nice and warm inside.

With just two bunk beds and some chairs, this was smaller than the other yurt I’d stayed in – a bit small for comfortable full-time yurt-life, but great for a weekend.

The boys loved playing on the bunks, and in the yurt, but then it was time to get outside – and attempt to get a toboggan run happening in the ridiculously deep fresh snow.

In the end we gave up on tobogganing and just cavorted in the snow.

And then it was off to the lodge for afternoon tea! We decided to take the low way along the meadows to get there. Which seemed like a great idea until Kat and I started post-holing up to our thighs. I ended up crawling/swimming up to the lodge. Swimming through snow is a great workout.

In the lodge we set the boys down with some lego, and enjoyed the delicious charcuterie. This is where I admit this trip was as much about the food as anything.

Which is where I also break down and admit I turned into one of those people who take photos of food. When it came to dinner, I was so distracted with eating it that I got half way through before thinking to take a photo. My mouth is watering again just looking at this photo. Suffice to say it was delicious.

A late dinner, we sat around and chatted, the boys played with cars and watched some videos. I reveled in the little station with tea.  Then we wandered slowly back out to the yurt. The snow had stopped falling and it was a beautiful clear starry moonlit night.

The yurt was warm from the heater, and we had a cozy night’s sleep. The only tricky thing about the warm yurt was the ice that ended up building up in the door frame sometimes, making the door tricky to close well.

Waking in the middle of the night at one point, I wandered out to take a hand-held night shot. Thanks to the bright moonlight, this was actually possible. Downside? When I went to quietly sneak back into the yurt, I just couldn’t get the door to close well. Worried about making a noise, I just stealthily tied the door knob to the wall, so at least it would stay roughly closed.

The next morning I took more photos of food, and we put in our orders for our packed lunches.  As we ate breakfast, the packed lunches appeared on a counter, with our names written on the bags (aww, adorable).

Back at the yurt, Zion napped while we finished our game of Catan. Kat had never played before! Finn was astonished.

Then it was off to ski at Mount Shark, in the gloriously warm inversion. In fresh snow. All in all it wasn’t a very successful ski (we managed 2.4km in two hours), but no children were strangled, and the sun was out and it was wonderfully warm.

Sadly, we discovered that it was about 15oC colder in Canmore. Always sad news. But the Engadine yurt is awesome!

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bikes canada general snow trip reports

Lake Minnewanka bikepack overnighter

Last October I attended (and presented at) the Canmore Bikepack Summit – which I still need to write about, but that’s another story. But that led to meeting a lot of very awesome folks who were keen to get out bikepacking, and to me volunteering to host a couple of local Bikepack.ca overnighters, throwing the invite open to whoever wanted to come.

And that is how I came to be preparing to go bikepacking when there was a snowfall warning, threats of 20cm or more of snow, and a likely overnight temperature in the vicinity of -20oC.  Despite the weather forecast, it looked like the five others who’d registered an interest were still keen. We kicked around the idea of shortening the ride, camping somewhere else, but in the end, decided to just go ahead with it.

On Saturday morning Kat and I accepted the very kind offer from Guy for a lift up to the Goat Creek trailhead. Lazy? Yes. Cheating? Sure. But we’d both been feeling a bit like we were coming down with colds, it was very snowy, and the road up the pass can be very busy on a Saturday morning. That’s our story and we’re sticking with it.

This was Kat’s second time on a fatbike – but what better way to learn how to ride one?

And so Team Canmore set off at around 10.15am from the Goat Creek trailhead.  We’d meet the Banff guys up ahead, and Dean was going to be chasing after us from downtown Canmore (after finishing his second breakfast).

There was quite a bit of snow, and it just kept coming down! It was pretty light and fluffy though, and although riding conditions weren’t fast, they were still pretty good.

At one point, miracle of miracles, it even stopped snowing! And there was blue sky! This wasn’t to last though.

Likewise, the freshly groomed perfect corduroy also only lasted a few kilometres. We definitely enjoyed it while it lasted though!

We found Neil while out pedalling the fresh corduroy, and headed on together on the east side of the Spray River.

And then we were five! Rounding up Jeff not too long before getting to Banff Springs Hotel. Well, not that we actually went up there. We cut across below, past Bow Falls and then over the new(ish) pedestrian bridge and into town.

And to Wild Flour Bakery! I swear I need to get a sponsorship from this place. It’s amazing. We refuelled, warmed up, and waited for Dean. Then wandered down to the bike store, browsed, then returned to Wild Flour for our second visit, this time with Dean. There were six of us then, and we were ready to roll!

Biking out of Banff towards Lake Minnewanka, the stretch with all the traffic isn’t the most fun, especially when the shoulders are coated in slushy snow. But before long we were onto the Minnewanka road, the traffic died down, and riding conditions improved.

I was even feeling pretty good about the speed we were moving along at, until a runner starting overtaking us. It was just on the uphills though. Mostly.

But finally, we’d made it! We were at Lake Minnewanka, with over two hours until sunset up our sleeves. (And I clambered up a snowy bank to take the below photo, post-holing through snow up to my thighs, and narrowly avoiding slipping to my doom).

The good thing about being overtaken by a runner, is that you can then accost him and demand request politely that he take a group photo of the bunch of mad fatbikepackers.

Thanks to some very lovely snowshoers (we didn’t actually meet them, but they could have done their own grandmother in for the life insurance and I’d still think they were lovely, snowshoers do such a wonderful job of packing down trails)… but as I was saying, thanks to some very lovely snowshoers, we had nicely packed trail to ride for the first few kilometres.

Although things got a little wobbly on the descent down to the lake. Well, I wasn’t paying attention, pedal struck on a rock and fell down the hill a bit. Snow is wonderfully soft though. Although whatever banged my knee? Not so soft.

Still, it was mostly lovely riding through the forest after that, getting gradually less travelled the further along we rode. The last few kilometres to camp required a lot more concentration to stay balanced on that thin white line, and we were leaving bootprints in the loose snow beneath the bottom of our pedal stroke as the pedals spun around.

Only a couple of deadfall trees to lift the bikes over, and then, the bridge of peril.

After watching Jeff walk his bike across, Dean was considering it dubiously. The bridge never feels terribly solid at the best of times. But in the meantime, Kat happily wandered across the frozen creek below the bridge, and we all followed her lead instead of risking it.

After a final push through deep snow to get down close to the shore, we were clearing tent pads in the forest at the LM8 campground. There was not much more than a few inches of unconsolidated snow there, which was easy to clear. However it was not so easy to drive tent pegs into the frozen ground. And if you could get them in, it was in some cases damn near impossible to pull them out again afterwards!

My little Macpac tent finally got it’s first proper outing in snow in Canada, after being accustomed to lots of ridiculous Australian snow adventures. And our little bikepacking village in the snow was finally set up.

We then spent what seemed like hours melting snow to rehydrate dinners, make tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and prep water for the following day. There was talk of creating a fire, but we were lazy/perspicacious cavepeople and decided the warmest course of action would be to retreat to our tents.

At which point I realised that the patchy cell reception I’d been using entirely disappeared at ground level. After giving up on futile attempts to gain reception by holding my phone to the roof of the tent, I set my phone into airplane mode and settled in for the night.

I was in an old Kathmandu Rumdoodle sleeping bag. I’ve no idea what temperature it was supposed to be rated to. I think Kathmandu was always cagey on that kind of thing, and just called it a snow bag. Well it’s enormous, and very warm if not necessarily very light, and it’s stood me in good stead on a lot of snow camping trips. This one was no exception. I had my Thermarest Ridgerest, and Thermarest Neoair, then the Rumdoodle, and a whole pile of layers of clothes on, and one handwarmer clutched in my hands, and I was cozy and warm sharing the tent with Kat. A small window of skin was exposed to the tent air, and I could feel the cold biting at my nose, but the rest of me was snug and warm. And so I laid and read, and then daydreamed, then slept, then listened to a podcast or two, and somehow it was morning, and I’d had a lovely night’s sleep.

Hearing the others starting to get up, I reluctantly emerged from my sleeping bag, and started the morning routine and the packing up of camp… after first eating the two bars I’d shoved in my sleeping bag so they’d be nice and warm for breakfast (they were).

Eventually we’d all had hot drinks, packed up, and somehow convinced frozen tents to reattach themselves to our bikes. It definitely wasn’t a warm morning, around -22oC according to group thermometers. I was glad there was no wind. Even gladder we managed to avoid having any mechanical issues. There are few things less fun than having to fix a bike at those temperatures.

After the initial push up from camp at LM8 to the main trail, we found it was basically rideable most of the way out. Six idiots had ridden their bikes along the trail yesterday and packed it all down for us.

It was a beautiful still morning, and I was actually feeling nice and warm, without even using any hand/toe warmers. Maybe I’m finally getting the hang of layering for fatbiking?

The one part of the ride that of course wasn’t rideable – that final climb up towards the end of the lake.

It was very definitely not rideable. Not for us, not that morning.

But it wasn’t a very long push, then we were back on our bikes and cruising downhill, flying along and maybe giggling just a little.

The ride out was pretty uneventful (thankfully?) – things went smoothly, no wolves, no mechanicals, no freezing to death. And then we were all back in Banff! And it was time to eat lots of food, and then have a lovely warm shower.

Thanks crew – it was a great weekend!

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canada general moosling snow trip reports

Elizabeth Parker hut trip (Day 3)

Day Three of the hut trip was mostly about the toboggan run. Ok, some of it was about eating, and there was the small matter of skiing out somehow, but other than that, it was a toboggan run day.

Small children – they really do come in handy for hauling even smaller children around.

By this stage, the run was well worn in, and so aside from a few small adjustments, it was mostly just about trekking up the hill, and then sliding back down it.

And so we slid down…

And down…

And down…

And sometimes the whole family went at once…

And other times the kids just paired up…

But then, sadly, it was time to start thinking about heading home.

Thankfully a few responsible adults had been back at the hut doing most of the cleaning and tidying while the rest of us were off playing, and so it didn’t take long to do the final pack up and hit the road.

The Moosling was very motivated by a desire to catch up with his friends who had already left to start walking and sliding out down to the road. It didn’t take long though, and then he lost all interest in skiing, and was busy running and jumping onto a toboggan most of the rest of the way down.

Until it got too flat for that to really work, and I ended up tying one of the toboggans to my pack and towing him along on that. Whatever works.

We all met up together one last time at the lunch spot for a group photo. Thanks Team Awesome! It was a great weekend. Booking out the whole hut and filling it with families you know really is pretty fun, and a great way to spend a few days – and the kids have an absolute blast.

We definitely didn’t make record time on the way out, but I got to experience the thrill of having a 6-year old sliding down a hill beside me on a toboggan, screaming with joy (as I tried to not ski into him). Great fun.

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canada general moosling snow trip reports

Elizabeth Parker hut trip (Day 2)

And so the second day dawned beautifully.

After breakfast, and the requisite sitting about, we decided to get out and build the Epic Toboggan Run. (The Moosling thinks everything is epic these days)

After a fair bit of digging and compaction, we started sending down some sleds. And then a whale, in a short-lived return of alpine whaling.

It turns out whales don’t handle cold temperatures very well, they’re better suited for spring conditions. The toboggan run was a hit otherwise, with constant laps up and down the hill.

Back in the hut, it was time for snacks, lunch, and hanging out with cute babies.

The kids spent some time playing games and reading.

And then a few of us set out for a wee ski tour.

Up behind the hut, and out across the meadows to McArthur Pass.

Hurrah, it’s fluffy snow!

Conditions weren’t actually all that enticing, but the guys found a rock to climb on top of.

And to ski off again.

And the run back down to the hut was actually quite fun. Lovely snow!

A few of us went out to offer a hand to some of the crew who were skiing in. Then the kids were back at the games, playing Settlers of Catan like fiends.

And the grown ups? We sat around and ate even more food. Of course.

And then, after dinner, it was time for the devouring of the birthday cake! Rainbow style.