Snow-shoe Country

Sat. 26 March:  Upper Kananaskis Lake

If it’s foggy or snowy in Calgary, you can bet that it’s different in the mountains.  Today proved the point.  It was a miserable misty morning in the city, with light snow falling, but down at the Kananaskis Lakes, the sun was shining.

Nevertheless, winter was still in full force down there, with huge accumulations of snow everywhere, and the lakes frozen over and snow-covered.  People were still enjoying ideal conditions on the ski hills and on the cross-country ski trails.  Today J and I had decided to try a snow shoe trip around the Upper Lake.  Although we did not succeed, we had an awesome day snow-shoeing beneath the Great Divide.

We ended up doing two separate trips, the first along the south side of the Upper Lake, and the second trip above the  northern shore.  The lake is ringed by gigantic snowy mountains.  The southern skyline is the Great Divide and the border between Alberta and BC.  The clouds mostly hid the summits, but there was plenty of blue sky overhead.

The Upper Lakes car park was piled ten feet high with snow, but there was room for a few cars to park.  The two washrooms were almost buried by the drifts.  The trail around the lake was immediately scenic, with views out across the wide lake to the mountains surrounding it.  The trail was packed down, and so we made good progress as far as the footbridge across Sarrail Creek, and the junction for the Rummel Lake trail. 

After this, the trail became harder to navigate, and soon petered out.  Instead of a trail, there were just deep snow drifts between the trees on the steeply sloping mountainside just above the edge of the frozen lake.  We considered walking along the lake itself, but there was no trail and we were not convinced this would be a safe route.  It was clear that we would not be able to go much further, and we would soon come to a series of dangerous and steep avalanche slopes. 

So we turned around, and made our way back along the trail to the car.  It was a sensible decision.  We had hoped to reach Hidden Lake, but that would have been another four kilometres along an impossible route.

As we walked back along the trail, we heard the sound of a small engine, perhaps a chain saw.  We wondered who might be cutting down trees on a winter Saturday.  Then as we came around the corner, we could see a party of ice fishermen out on the lake, drilling through the surface to reach the water below.  They were setting up for an enjoyable afternoon of fishing out on the frozen lake.

Back at the car, we then drove around to the Interlakes parking area, on the north side of the Lake.  Here we would travel west above the lake, below the steep slopes of Mt. Indefatigable.  A couple of snow-shoers were preparing to head out, and a lone backpacker was just setting off up the trail with a heavy pack.  He told us that he was heading out to the remote Forks campsite, and he was loaded down with beer!  A very adventurous person.  He’d need to do a lot of shoveling of snow just to make space for a tent.

This was snow-shoe country today.  The snow had drifted across the trail, and despite several people having been up the trail in recent days, the snow was deep and the only way to travel was with a pair of ‘shoes.

We decided to take the higher route on the outward journey, and so we steadily ploughed our way through the trees, gradually gaining height.  We crossed two narrow avalanche paths, before coming to the start of the huge boulder field.  Here we were faced with a wide and steep area of packed snow.  The surface was hard and a bit icy, so we removed our ‘shoes and put on our ‘spikes.  This was a safer way to cross the slope. 

Above us the steep snowy mountainside rose up to the ridge high above us.  Ahead of us to the west were the spectacular peaks of Lyautey and Putnik, their peaks hidden in the clouds.  Below us to the left was the Upper Lake and the Great Divide behind it.  From here, we could see how foolhardy it would have been to force our way along the south side trail.  Several avalanche slopes descended vertically, it seemed, straight down across the trail into the lake.

So now we were at the junction with the Forks trail, high above the lake, with the boulder field spread out below us.  Except that it was actually a smooth snowfield, with the deep snow covering even the largest boulders.  We dropped down the hill, past the viewpoint bench, which was completely covered by the snow.  Following some earlier traveler, we snaked across the open ground, to another equally spectacular, but lower, viewpoint above the lake.  This was an ideal spot for a picnic lunch, in the natural amphitheatre of mountains.  A small avalanche thundered down Mt. Lyautey opposite us.

Before the lake had frozen, the waters had dropped dramatically, and the islands seemed to sit up by perhaps twenty or thirty feet more than normal.  But of course it was all a big frozen scene, with no sign of Spring thaw yet.

As we prepared to return  eastwards above the lake, a group of four young people passed by us on their way to the Kananaskis Falls, making good progress on their ‘shoes.  We followed the lower path, back through the forest.  This trail had been nicely packed down.  Snow-shoeing is perhaps one of the better ways of getting a good workout, and by the time we returned to the car, we had both done as much as we wanted to do.  It’s always tempting to keep going a bit further, sometimes underestimating the effort needed to get back again.  Today we had it figured right. 

A breeze had sprung up as were having our lunch, and it soon turned into a strong westerly wind.  It felt warm.  Perhaps finally, some Spring weather might be blowing across the mountains to unfreeze a wintry Aberta.  Or perhaps that is just wishful thinking!   

Statistics
Upper Kananaskis Lakes
Sat. 26 March
Total Dist.	1.3 km (hike)   +   8.7 km (‘shoe) = 10.0 km
Height Gain	200 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,800 ft.
Time	5 hrs. 01 min.