Tag: chariot

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bikes canada general moosling snow

Bike on snow

If you’d like to experience a nice long bout of self-conscious conspicuosity, there’s nothing quite so good as riding a snow bike around the Canmore Nordic Centre in the middle of a sunny Sunday, while towing a Chariot on ski runners. On a related note, the list of things which it’s appropriate to yell out at snow bikes:

“What wax do you use on those tyres?”
“Now I’ve seen everything!”
“You don’t see that every day!”
“I love your bike!”
“Nice bike!”
“Nice tyres!”
“That’s hardcore!”
“Nice work!”

I also got a lot more hellos than usual, largely thanks to the large number of skiers who were staring at me. Whenever I looked about and caught someone’s eye (not hard, as they were generally pointed my way), apparently they’d feel a little obliged to say hello. So it was certainly a very social ride.

It seems to be a little easier than trying to ski with a heavy Chariot, although getting up a steep incline is hard work no matter what (for reference, the Moosling is now just over 30lb, but there’s also the weight of winter boots and blankets and spare snacks and drinks, plus of course the weight of the Chariot itself). Definitely a fun kid-friendly jaunt not far from home, but one I’d rather be doing when it’s a little quieter on the trails.

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canada general moosling snow trip reports

Brewster Creek Trail

Along Brewster Creek Trail we skied, from the parking lot at the base of the Sunshine Village access road, and up to Banff Sundance Lodge. The trail was groomed all the way to the lodge, and we climbed and climbed. Finn skied for a while, and then ran for a bit, and then fell asleep in the Chariot.

After lunch on the verandah of the lodge, we headed back downhill, zoom zoom. The day never quite manage to be properly sunny with blue skies, but the overcast weather that threatened never really settled in either. A fun day out, that tempted us with ideas of connecting through to Fatigue Creek Trail, Citadel Pass and Sunshine Meadows for a long summer run.

Distance: 21km return
Elevation gain: 521m

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bikes canada general hiking moosling trip reports

Pigeon Mountain (lacking in pigeons since 1858)

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.

Above the treeline and trudging uphill, with an old-school toddler carrying device – shoving them in the space between your back and the backpack

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.

Lunch!

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.

Onwards and upwards

We were not alone – hoards of bighorn sheep around. The whole area will be under seasonal closure from December 1st, as it’s a breeding ground for the bighorn sheep.

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

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canada general moosling snow

The first backcountry-ish tour of the season

So, touring out from Sunshine Village doesn’t feel very hardcore, but when the season hasn’t started yet, and there’s powder everywhere (even if it does have rocks lurking underneath), well, it’s not such a bad option. There are even sleds zooming around at random to avoid, to increase the difficulty factor a little.

It certainly wasn’t the best of weather, as the sky closed in, and we were surrounded by nothing but white, with more white appearing from somewhere above. Our hopes of a lovely bluebird day were dashed against the rocks of despair (not unlike the base of our skis once we started heading back downhill – although no, it wasn’t actually that bad at all).

But we made it out a Rock Isle Lake. It always feels like a pointless activity, skiing to a lake in the winter. You can’t see the lake, all you can see is a large flat area. Then if you’re really lucky, you can try to ski across it, fall in and drown. I’m firmly anti lake-in-winter.

After eating lunch we quickly left the lake, and headed back to the village. Slowly and patiently, but with large grins, as everything was soft and deep and fluffy. The Moosling slept in the Chariot for the whole expedition; apparently there’s still nothing quite so soporific as being snuggled in a warm Chariot while you’re gently joggled back and forth to the swoosh of runners on snow.

I’m still not ready for the onslaught of winter, stealing all of my nice dry trails and mountains, but a day like today makes the whole thing seem a little more palatable.

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canada general hiking moosling trail running

Lake O’Hara: The latest in the crazy summer adventures series

Another summer day, another silly plan. This time we decided we wanted to visit Lake O’Hara. We’d been there a few times in winter, but never in summer. Paying for the bus was inconceivable however, so we fashioned a cunning plan whereby we would push the Chariot up to the lake. There we could leave the Chariot, and release the Moosling, hopefully heading up onto some of the higher trails (or just around the lake).

Lake O’Hara

We ran on and off to cover the 10km up to the lake. Sometimes the Moosling hopped out and walked, other times he stood up in the Chariot and made incomprehensible demands, and otherwise he just sat and read his choo-choo book (and asked lots of questions about helicopters).

The big push up the road to get to the lake (no bikes allowed – it’s either walk or pay for the bus)

Up at the lake we stopped for lunch, then set off a-wandering. We headed up towards Lake Oesa, after an initial false start (where the Moosling threw up on Alex, and they both retreated to Lake O’Hara for a quick clean-up). Then it was decided that Alex didn’t like the look of the exposed ledges on the high circuit path, so rather than trying to cover the whole circuit, we’d just retreat to the lake, and do the easy circuit.

Looking down on Lake O’Hara

Released from his Ergo, the Moosling thought this was a great idea, and happily ran around the lake. Even better when we found some snow up at the far end that he could throw at us.

Traversing the lake

Back at the day cabin, we picked up the Chariot, transferred Moosling into Chariot (where he promptly fell asleep until we hit the carpark). Then then run down the hill, taking it in turns to run with the Chariot (which is a bit of an interesting proposition when you’re running downhill and you don’t have the version with brakes). The kilometre markers all the way along the trail helped with equitable distribution of Chariot time, and we even managed to make it back down to the carpark at the same time as the bus, after seeing people sitting around waiting for it, and essentially deciding it was obviously a race.

Thoroughly recommended, although I’d really love to do the full alpine high circuit now.