Tent Ridge (Winter)

Name: Tent Ridge
Activity: Alpine Touring/Backcountry Skiing

Distance: ~7 km

Altitude: ~2,500 m

Elevation Gain: ~800 m

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Valley)

Crew: Bennett

Time to Summit: ?

Trailhead: Parking lot on the right side of the road halfway to Mt. Shark Trailhead

Getting There:
Head south on Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40) from the Trans Canada (Hwy 1). Take the turnoff toward the Kananaskis Lakes/Smith-Dorrien. Take the Smith Dorrien and then turn at the Mt. Engadine Lodge turnoff. Continue past the lodge, and up the road. You will come across a parking area on the right.

Additional Info:

Summer Hike/Scramble

We were on our way back from Canmore for the weekend and were trying to decide what to do. We cross country skiied at Pipestone Loop the previous day and wanted to go for a tour. We were debating between Burstall Pass and Tent Ridge and decided to do Tent Ridge, as the avi forecast was quite low this day and there wasn't much risk of solar warming as it was cloudy. We were planning on staying in the trees if the visibility remained poor but with good conditions, we made our way a little ways up the shoulder on the left and did two laps. We got a few very brief bouts of sun, the day mostly consisted of clouds moving in/out to obscure visibility. There was another group on the mountain this day, skiing the same left-hand side of the bowl, as well as 2 groups skiing the right-hand side.

 Staring to clear up

 Our turnaround point

 Cool shots in the clouds

 "Bennett take photos of me tooooo"

 Can you spot Bennett among the trees? (Probably not because he blends right in with his black outfit...)

 Best snack ever.

 Snowwwww

Heading up through the trees.

Pipestone Loop

Activity: Pipestone Loop X-Country Skiing

Distance: 15 km 

Area: Banff National Park (Lake Louise)

Crew: Bennett

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Bennett and I booked the Rundle Cabins in Harvey Heights for Saturday night and decided to pack up the vehicle with all of our different types of skis and head to the hills. We settled on cross country skiing the Pipestone Loop just past the Lake Louise Ski Resort. It was a beautiful day and we both had tons of energy. We later ate at the Blake (not the Drake) a new restaurant in Canmore, which was unbelievably delicious!

 Goon 1

Goon 2

Narao Glades

Name: Narao Glades
Activity: Alpine Touring/Backcountry Skiing

Distance: ~7 km

Altitude: ~2,500 m

Elevation Gain: ~600 m

Area: Yoho National Park

Crew: Bennett

Time to Summit: ?

Trailhead: Lake O'hara Fire Road

Getting There:

From the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1), head west past Lake Louise. As you enter Yoho and begin descending, take the left turn towards Lake O'hara and park in the parking lot.

Additional Info:

Bennett and I were looking for something to do on a good avi day with low visibility (I'm writing this at a later time and I can't recall what the forecast was). We debated between Crowfoot Glades and Narao Glades and were bouncing back and forth between a few options (Purple Mound was thrown in there too). We settled on Narao Glades and just had the best time! Only 2 other groups there that day and the snow was absolutely unreal - it was dumping when we got to the parking lot. Plus I got to try out my new alpine down! woohoo!

We loved it so much we came back a few weeks later on another low-vis day.
And again...

 Black panther

  Black panther

 Black panther

Elk Lakes Cabin (Overnight)

Name: Elk Lakes Cabin

Activity: Backpacking / Ski Touring

Total Distance: ~25 km

# Nights: 1

Date: February 24 - February 25, 2018

Area: Elk Lakes Park (BC) / Peter Lougheed Park (AB)

Crew: 13! I'll shamefully say I don't know everyone's names, but Bennett and I joined Jordan and Shannon, Andrea, et. al.
Trailhead: Elk Pass Recreation Area Trailhead

Route: 
Day 1 - Trailhead to Elk Lakes Cabin (10km), tour around the area, up the Viewpoint Trail (~5km).
Day 2 - Return to the trailhead


Bennett and I were invited to join Jordan, Shannon and a huge crew of their friends to spend a night at the Elk Lakes Cabin. We met at the trailhead and headed out on the x-country trail system for 6km to Elk Pass. There was a Cross Country Ski Marathon happening on the same day so we did our best to stay out of their way.. Once we hit Elk Pass, we dropped down the other side into BC, along the power line for another 3-4 km. Its a pretty shallow downhill for touring skis (but pretty decent downhill for cross country skis!), so we kept the skins on for most of it as there were some flats and uphill sections. We skinned off for the last maybe 400m of distance to get a bit of skiing in.

After eating lunch at the cabin, we headed out to find some more skiing, and decided on the Viewpoint Trail which took us maybe 60m up to a gorgeous view, and skiied back down & across the lake to get back to the cabin. Bennett and I had our dehydrated chili from our cancelled Bow Hut trip (Special Avalanche Advisory was posted that weekend. Heartbreak.), dark chocolate, and red wine. Perfect combo.

The next day we had our classic dehydrated eggs and salsa (+a pack of bacon this time) and skiied back out the way we came in.

 The cabin!

 Skiing along the lake to find some tuuuurns

 Bridge Crossing

 Up the Viewpoint Trail

 Again.

 The Viewpoint

Making dinner back at the cabin.

Moraine Lake (Winter)

Activity: Moraine Lake Road X-Country Skiing

Distance: 16 km ?

Area: Banff National Park (Lake Louise)

Crew: Steph, Mark

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

After many -30C days this winter and many cancelled cross country ski outings with Steph, we finally decided that it was no longer an excuse to not go on a bluebird day. Mark joined us as we skied up the Moraine Lake Road in the wintertime - truly a beautiful trail and a great view of the Valley of the Ten Peaks at the end! To go all the way to the lake, there are a few avi slide paths to cross. Hearing a few avalanches around us as we skied, we decided not to venture any further.

 Temple, baby.

 Valley of the Ten Peaks

 The crew!

Me & Steph

Elk Pass

Activity: Elk Pass X-Country Skiing

Distance: 16 km 

Area: Kananaskis Lakes

Crew: Bennett

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

After some new snow, we parked at the Boulton Bridge Trailhead and were the first ones in (& surprisingly when we got back, there were only 2 other vehicles in the lot). We had a gorgeous x-country ski up along the trails: Boulton Creek, Elk Pass, then came down Hydroline, Fox Creek, and Moraine. We got some fresh tracks on the first trail (Boulton Creek), and my gooooodness it was gorgeous out! Surprisingly little people for a warm-ish day with new snow.
Another day here

 First out!

 Fresh tracks 

Bean  

selfie #1 

Selfie #2

Healy Pass

Trail Name: Healy Pass
Activity: Alpine Touring/Backcountry Skiing

Distance: ~19 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,300 m

Elevation Gain: ~700 m

Area: Banff National Park

Crew: Bennett

Time to Summit: ?

Trailhead: Sunshine Village Gondola Parking

Getting There:

From the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1), take the exit to Sunshine Resort and park in the lot (there is a backcountry lot past the hoards of resort-ski-vehicles, if you get there early enough there may be space).

Additional Info:

Bennett and I really wanted to get out on this weekend so we chose some simple terrain where we could just get a solid hike in/a beautiful day outdoors. The approach is quite long but we enjoyed it immensely!

Single photo day.