Warm-Up

Sat. 5 February: McConnell Ridge

The Passionate Hiker is back on the trails, after a five week break.

Today was a warm-up exercise, but given the time which has passed since my final trip of 2010, today was hard work.

Not that January was wasted. The author completed his account of his 2010 adventures – a 394 page bound volume – and has also created another small account of adventures in the mountains, which is now at the book binders. Also, in January, the Passionate Hiker has developed a nine page listing of potential hikes for 2011, comprising 59 new routes. Not that I expect to cover them all this year!

M wanted a ride to Canmore to pick up her car, so we combined this with my first trip of the year. Joining the skiers rush-hour, we sped west to the snowy Rockies, and were soon in Canmore. We had a nice breakfast together before I returned east on the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) and south onto Highway 40 down the Kananaskis Valley.

Today I would snow-shoe up the popular zig-zag trail from Barrier Lake to the McConnell Ridge viewpoint. I was first in the car park. There had not been anyone on the trail since the snowfall earlier in the week. Barrier Lake was of course frozen over, and a cold westerly wind blew across its surface. It was mostly cloudy today.

The Chinook winds had blown the snow off the pathway over the dam, but as soon as I headed up onto the hillsides, the snow was lying, and it was soon time to put on my snow shoes. This is a great trail for a warm-up. There are twelve switchbacks leading to the top of the ridge. Zig number three and the final zag number twelve were quite long, and the latter steep, but the other switchbacks were fairly short. It was just a matter of slowly shuffling up the trail, getting back some of the stamina I used to have before my recent break. Higher up the trail, the snow had drifted over since the last person had come this way, but this was ideal for my ‘shoes.

Finally I reached the site of the old Pigeon fire lookout, removed in the early 1980’s. Despite the cloud, it was still a superb view down to Barrier Lake and the Kananaskis Valley, and the mountains all around.

To reach McConnell Ridge, one has to climb a steep trail up through the cliffs, onto the summit. The snow had really drifted here. I removed my snow shoes and put on my MICROspikes, as the gradient became much steeper. Reaching the cliff, I could hardly gain any grip, even with my ‘spikes. But I heaved myself up the steepest bit and came out onto the summit. The snow had drifted deeply on the ridge-top. This is called Prairie Viewpoint, as one can also see east across to the distant prairies.

This was enough for me today. The extra few hundred feet to the fire lookout would most likely be engulfed in deep snowdrifts and I wasn’t sure I was up to that final push. So after admiring the stunning views, I very carefully returned down the cliff, making sure not to make one little mistake – which might have been costly. Now with my snowshoes back on, I ploughed happily downhill, even taking some of the steep shortcuts between the switchbacks. Here I met a guy hiking up the hill with his dog. Much lower down the hillside I passed a man and his son with their dog, but that was it.

Out on Barrier Lake, a couple of ice fishing tents had been erected, its occupants protected from the cold westerly breeze.

This had been an ideal place to declare the 2011 season open. Returning to town, I saw a winter storm sweeping westwards over Moose Mountain. Just a couple of hours later, M told me that the TCH was engulfed in the snow and cloud, making it a very tricky drive home for the ski crowd. But I was already back home, and enjoying a long, hot shower.

I wonder what adventures 2011 may bring? My list is ready!

6 pm Sat. winter storm warning:

An Arctic ridge is continuing to push cold air into the Mountain Parks against the foothills. Unstable and moist airmass combined with upslope flow will be generating heavy snow fall amounts in the Kananaskis, Okotoks, Crowsnest Pass and Cardston regions tonight. 10 to 20 centimetres of snow is expected to fall by Sunday morning in these regions. Another low pressure system will develop by Monday morning located just south of Alberta border. This system will continue to generate upslope flow over the foothills. Another 10 to 20 centimetres of snow is expected to fall by Monday morning in the Banff, Kananaskis and Jasper regions. The heavy snow fall is expected to end by Monday evening.

Statistics
McConnell Ridge
Sat. 5 February

Total Dist. 2.2 km (hike) + 7.6 km (‘shoe) = 9.8 km
Height Gain 1,640 ft.
Max. Elev. 6,150 ft.
Time on trail 3 hrs. 40 mins.