Again, with plenty of rocks underneath, but still soft and fluffy snow to play in.
The lifts weren’t spinning yet, but we went for a skin up, and a ski back down again (as soon as we hit the alpine, where the wind was blowing).
Category: snow
After getting up unfathomably early, we headed out into the cold (well it seemed cold at the time, it was below -10oC at any rate) and drove down into K-Country.
To Highwood Pass, and then to ski up to Elbow Lake, on very marginal coverage. There was lots of rock dodging, and finding bits of gear that needed adjusting after not having been used for six months or so. And it didn’t really warm up a lot, especially as we kept skiing in the shade.
Up at the lake we decided there wasn’t much motivation to go any further, so we skied back to the car and went and drank hot chocolate.
We spent Monday enjoying the free snow at Lake Louise. They’ve stayed open an extra week because the snow is so good – and it really is! There’s still snow all the way to the lodge, even if it does get a bit mucky towards the end. And thanks to their (as Brendan put it) either random generosity or attempt to deviously poach pass holders from other resorts, we got to ski for free (thanks to having passes to Sunshine Village).
The extra week of skiing lasts until this Sunday, but was gorgeous on a warm and sunny weekday. No crowds, and lots of slush all to ourselves! And very nice slush it was too. I even forgot my gloves, and didn’t get cold hands – ahhh, Spring skiing.
We wandered up to Lake Louise afterwards, which is looking less than inspiring at the moment. Still covered in snow and ice, with hoards of tourists tromping back and forth across it. It will be a while before all the lakes have melted properly, and we have the hiking trails back again. I’m beginning to wonder if I should buy some snowshoes, or just invest in a little more patience.
A spur of the moment trip, and we spent a night up at Sunshine Village. Once all the lifts had shut down and the people had (mostly) gone away, it was time to tour out to Rock Isle Lake. Well, meander. It doesn’t take much more than half an hour, even if you are taking your time about it.
With the sun setting so late these days (it’s about 9pm now), we weren’t anywhere near sunset, but it was still lovely out there.
We were wondering how long it would take for the path through to Mount Assiniboine to clear though – we hiked it a week into July last year, and had a few snow patches to wade through. This year the snow pack is so much deeper. And what do the ground squirrels do while they’re waiting for the snow to melt? Do any of them run out of food?
Anyway, Rock Isle Lake, it’s nice – oh, and they’ve got a groomed trail all the way out there at the moment from the Village, so if you had skate skis, you could skate out there.
Categories
Ross Lake Circuit
Another day, another ski trip. This time to Yoho National Park, and with the Moosling in the Ergo rather than in the Chariot.
Around the 9.5km Ross Lake circuit, the route description runs as follows:
From the Lake O’Hara parking lot, follow Highway 1A until you reach the Ross Lake trail head sign on your right. The trail climbs gradually for 1.3 km to this small lake bounded by a great rock wall. Turn west at the lake and continue for 3.2 km to the Lake O’Hara fire road. Turn north (right) at the fire road to return to the parking lot. There are some narrow and fast sections on this circuit.
The trail up to the lake through the trees is quite cute, then we chilled on the lake in the sun for a while, before heading out.
They were right about the narrow and fast sections, the trees from Ross Lake back to the Lake O’Hara fire road were all sorts of fun. I was glad not to be towing the Chariot (and also wishing I’d remembered some Glob Stopper, but you can’t have everything – unless you’re better at remembering things than I am).
If the snow is going to last forever, at least the skiing will be warm now.