Tag: banff national park

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canada general moosling snow trip reports

Amazing Elizabeth Parker hut expedition

Expedition may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but everything tends to turn into a bit of an expedition when you’re doing it with small children – at least when it comes to logistics.

We last spent a winter night up at Elizabeth Parker hut when the Moosling was just seven months old – it was his first hut trip.

This time it was three families, each with one child, who set off from the trailhead. Only having one child each does certainly make it easier. The two wee ones travelled in Chariots, while the Moosling was supposed to be skiing.

He was definitely travelling on skis, but worked out early on that he could grab onto the back of a Chariot to hitch a ride. So when he wasn’t being towed uphill, he was often finding other ways to be assisted up.

We broke for lunch at the half-way picnic table. The offspring all roared and pretended to be lions, while the adults ate and rehydrated. Then all the kids were inserted into their ski cages (with some kicking and wailing and gnashing of teeth), and the towing continued.

The Lake O’Hara road can be a long haul when you’re towing Chariots, and have kids to keep happy. It went fairly smoothly though, all things considered. Occasionally travelling in one big group, then splintering and reforming. Sometimes singing.

The Moosling was released from his pulky prison when we reached the summer bus stop, so he could ski the final kilometre or so to the hut. But first he spent some time being an assistant ski coach.

The final section was a little steeper and twistier than I remembered it being, but still didn’t take very long to coax a 5 year old through (at one point he made the call it was easier to remove his skis than side step up a hill section though).

And then we were at the hut, saving ourselves spots along the bunk, and letting the kids run about while we had the luxury of enjoying whole place to ourselves.

It was great having a pack of us there – this was our first group hut trip, and it’s a fantastic idea. The divide and conquer approach means you can have people making a meal, people chatting and relaxing, and people entertaining the kids – instead of having to ineffectively manage everything between two.

The hut was fully booked, but a big group had already filled out the smaller hut, so we only had a small party to share our sleeping quarters with.

We had a pleasant evening of relaxing by the fire, chopping wood, collecting snow, eating chocolate, drinking port, reading books to kids, trying to convince kids not to pile up all the sleeping bags and jackets into one enormous heap and jump on them, and reading the logbook.

We even slept ok! As far as sleeping in huts goes, I’ve had far worse nights without kids.

And then it was morning, and time for breakfast (French toast – our meal!), hut maintenance, and snow adventures. Getting out to play in the snow with the kids was great, and we probably should have spent time doing it the night before too.

Children were thrown into snow…

It had been snowing overnight, and just kept snowing and snowing throughout the morning.

Holes were dug….

But then it was finally time to get moving. We finished packing up, and started the ski ‘down’. Because it’s not really down is it. It feels like it should be. Maybe it even is if you’re skiing on fast snow without overnight gear. But when you’re towing a pulk through a few inches of fresh snow (Alex), or trying to tow a 5 year old up all of the slight rises (me… and Patrick), it just doesn’t quite feel like it. That road is definitely in my top 10 list of trails that are uphill both ways.

But with all the fresh snow, everything was beautiful. Eventually the snow stopped falling, and the descent really is much quicker than going in the other direction, so it must be at least vaguely downhill.

We arrived back at the cars, got packed up, high-fived each other for such a successful trip, then went to drive out of the parking lot. There was a train. What? It had been there for about half an hour. What?! Phone calls to various bodies of authority ensued. We all ended up piled into the back of the minivan for 45 minutes, until finally, miraculously, the train started to move. We were free!

Ski in: 11.5km, 460m elevation gain, elapsed time 5hr, moving time 3hr15min
Ski out: 11.5km, elapsed time 3hr15min, moving time 2hr15min

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bikes canada general

Frozen lakes and Friday adventures

Alex and I had a day off together, so went riding on the Lake Minnewanka ice (as well as doing more renovations, but that’s neither picturesque nor interesting).

The lake was snow-covered for the first kilometre or so, before the snow began to give way to larger and larger sections of clear ice.

The forecast was for the wind to pick up later in the day, and as we rode further, the wind at our backs grew stronger.

Eventually we decided to be sensible, and made our way across to the shore, where we could pick up the snowy trail to get back home. Cycling across the wind was challenging even with studded tyres. The wind would lull and then gust, and try and sweep your bike out from underneath you.

As we neared the shore, we found methane bubbles frozen in the ice. I’d been hoping to find some, and so we entertained ourselves admiring them, and sliding around on the ice near the shore, where the ferocious wind was slightly less ferocious.

When I got back home, I found photos of people breaking the ice to let the methane escape, and then setting fire to the gas. It looks like the dangerous kind of fun.

After cycling homewards along the snowy trail for a few kilometres, we decided the wind had died down a little, and braved the ice for the final stretch of cycling home.

The sun came out for a moment, and the wind wasn’t too fierce, and we watched skaters playing hockey, and optimistic girls heading out with skates in hand, starting their trudge through the snow to find the clear ice.

Frozen lakes are beautiful and fascinating, although terrifying (what? there could be lake monsters). I’d love to go back and explore some more, but might wait until the temperatures have settled down to something a little less ice-melting.

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canada general hiking trip reports

Climbing the un-climbable mountain

Cascade Mountain isn’t so much un-climbable as un-climbed. It’s been shadowing my every move for years, continuously reminding me that I still haven’t scrambled my way to it’s summit.

So finally this autumn I proclaimed, enough is enough! I shall reach the summit of this magnificent mountain, even if I have to crawl there in a snow storm! (Or more accurately, wait until I finally have a day free with nice weather and not too much wind)

The levels of indecision were high in the morning though, and so by the time I hit the road with Lincoln, it was well after 11am. And we decided to bike to the trailhead despite this (on mountain bikes). And stop at Le Fournil Bakery on the way.

Then we rode the Legacy Trail, with Cascade Mountain sitting and watching us approach. But this time, we had a cunning plan. Also, this time we saw a grizzly bear wandering about below the trail as we got close to Banff – a lucky bear? It didn’t eat us, so perhaps.

After spending hours and hours riding up the Norquay switchbacks, we rode through the resort, then locked the bikes up at the trailhead and started out on foot at about 1.45pm. There really wasn’t a lot of running, more fast marching, as we gained as much altitude as we could as quickly as possible.

The Ampitheatre came and went, in an unimpressive blur. And then we were striking it out uphill through the trees, until there were no more trees, and we were adrift in a cairn-strewn field of talus.

I had a copy of the Scrambler’s Guide to Cascade Mountain with me. I may as well not have bothered, as the instructions were only obvious in hindsight. Between us both we worked out what seemed to be the most logical way to the top though. It’s not too tricky, so long as you pay attention and know roughly where you need to end up next.

There were plenty of the “inexperienced and ill-equipped” groups that are reputed to roam this mountain – they all seemed to be having a good time though, and none appeared to be in imminent danger of falling off the mountain, or taking any awesome shortcuts.

It didn’t take us too long at all to reach the final steep scree slog to the summit. And then suddenly – we were there! And the views were amazing, and there was barely any breeze, and the temperature was perfect, and what a good thing I hadn’t tried to do it on one of those windy days, it would have been miserable.

Following a suitable period for admiring the other mountains (Hello, I see you Assiniboine!) – and chuckling at Tunnel Mountain’s attempt to be a big mountain, just like it’s older brother Mount Rundle – we headed downwards again.

Glorious day, we even made it back to town just on sunset!

And now Cascade Mountain is no longer a taunting presence, but a pleasant reminder of a day well spent.

Distance: 17km on foot, 64km on bike (to and from the trailhead from downtown Canmore)
Max elevation: 3000m
Elevation gain: 500 on bike, 1560m on foot (there’s obviously some upping and downing in there, as we started at 1300m asl)
Round trip time on the Cascade trail: 4hr40min
Moving trip time on the Cascade trail: 3hr20min
Fastest known time for the Cascade round trip: I’m not sure, but I’m guessing under 3 hours total – maybe even under 2 hours? But I can’t find a record online.
Door to door round trip by bike and foot (including bakery stop): 8hr20min

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canada general hiking trip reports

Mount Assiniboine Redux: Day One

Many moons ago I was 34 weeks pregnant and hiked from Sunshine Meadows through to Mount Assiniboine and out to Mount Shark in three days. It was wonderful, although getting in and out of a tent was challenging, and on the last day my feet were so swollen I had to hike in sandals instead of hiking boots.

This time around we decided to see if we could make it more challenging by taking a 3¾ year old boy with us, and try and convince him to walk the whole way under his own steam. Because he really is getting too heavy to carry.

Fifteen kilometres per day over four days… what could possibly go wrong?

The forecast was for gorgeously sunny warm weather for the next four days. As we started out around 8.30am, it was already terribly pleasant out.

We climbed up the enormous hill from Sunshine Village up to the Meadows (disclaimer – hill not actually enormous, just tends to feel that way). And then spent some time loitering by Rock Isle Lake and waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. Which they did! Before we had been eaten by mosquitos. But that kind of set the tone for the rest of the trip. There are some very well fed mosquitos out along that trail.

Soon after we hit our only patches of snow, just before Lake Howard Douglas. It was the cause for much joy and throwing of snowballs.

And then the descent to the Lake. And look, we’re nearly at Citadel Pass aren’t we?

Getting from Lake Howard Douglas to Citadel Pass at small child pace takes a bit longer than one would expect though. This was another theme for the trip – readjusting expectations so that 2km/hour seemed like a pretty good pace.

Thankfully a dinosaur turned up to chase the small child most of the way to Citadel Pass. It took to hiding behind trees, and in dinosaur holes, and then leaping out at the small child. Yes, this is a valid motivational tactic. Shhh.

Above is a photo of small child hiding from incoming dinosaur, and below a fearful child running for his life as a slightly apathetic dinosaur pursues him.

Finally we made it to the Pass for a late lunch, only arriving a little later than the rest of the group. And there was much lazing around and swigging of champagne to forestall the effects of mountain lassitude. Meanwhile Mount Assiniboine hovered pointily in the background.

The descent to Porcupine Campground starts off beautifully, but then seems to keep going forever and ever until you’re sure you must be dropping into the very bowels of the earth itself in some kind of Verneian nightmare. But then you end up in a nice little busy valley with a freezing cold stream, and quite a few other campers.

It was much quieter last time we stayed here, but that may have been because camping fees were still charged then, these days it’s officially free to camp at Porcupine, which is a pretty nice deal.

So the small child spent time throwing rocks in a stream, and then frolicking in a mesh tent with the even smaller child, while the large people made food, erected tents, collected water and killed tigers.

And eventually they all went to bed, and were mightily relieved that mosquitos are kept at bay by tents.

Hiking distance: 14km
Distance covered by small child: 14km plus additional running to and fro and general gallivanting metres
The 2010 version: Here

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canada general moosling snow

Family Day ski

A little jaunt on Family Day, the Moosling and I headed out to Banff to ski up to Sundance Canyon.

We wandered around at the canyon for a bit, then I kept skiing out towards the Brewster Creek trail junction (thinking about skiing as close as I could get to the old trailhead at the bottom of the Sunshine Village access road). But by then my shoulders were getting a bit tired from carrying a great heavy toddler, so after a few hundred metres of winding through the trees, we turned around and skied back to the car.

The sky wasn’t quite blue, but it was nice out, not too windy, and we had 9km of skiing fun, with quite a bit of singing going on in my ear. I really need to learn the words to some Thomas the Tank Engine songs, so I just don’t get “Thomas the Tank Engine! He’s a really useful engine!” sung on repeat.