Lake Louise Pipestone Mountain Trip February 1-3, 2013
Trip Leader: Richard Townell
Participants: Lorna, Dianne, Sarah, Trudy, Shannon, Dave, Deb, Dion, Marilyn, Nancy, Frank, Marg, Sally, Sheila, Karen & Philip, Walter & Dianne.
The group arrived at different times on Friday and easily settled in by relaxing at the local pub and enjoying a campfire at the hostel’s courtyard. The weather was clear and warm making easy driving conditions for the drivers, thank you to the drivers!
Sask Toe Feb 9 & 10
Joining our group of 8 were 7 vets and one rookie, me Phil and that is why I am writing the trip report. The 7 vets were trip leaders Debby & Jeff, Sandy & Steve, Barb, Pat and Neil.
The group first met at Sandy & Steve’s house Feb 5th to go over plans for the trip. The first half hour was spent discussing the iitenary for the trip and dispensing safety advice for the rookie which was appreciated. The remaining hour of our meeting was to discuss what I quickly learned was the most important topic, dinner for Saturday night and who was going to bring what. On the recommendation of co-trip leader Debby, the theme was Italian which was quite a challenge having gluten free, lactose intolerant and vegetarian diets requirements of our group. There were no diet concerns when we were discussing what wine to bring for the meal. Funny that.
By Derry
On February 1st our merry band of backcountry skiers set off across Bow Lake enroute to Bow Hut and distant Mount Gordon. The ski across the wind-swept lake was more like skating, but snow conditions improved once we got into the trees. We proceeded carefully through the narrow creek canyon and up into the snow covered alpine. Bow Hut looked so close across the Valley, but it still took us hours to make the steep climb. A warm fire and good food quickly improved our moods.
Dave watches as Debby crosses some open water on the Howse River on the trail towards Glacier Lake
By: Jane
Departing Ramparts Hostel the temperature was -23 at 8:30 am. 30 mins later as we began are climb up to Wilcox Pass the temperature had risen to -8. It remained a cloudless sky for the full day with temperatures reaching around +5. The snow through the trees was good, but once out of the trees there was little snow and lots of bare areas for a while. We lunched opposite a gently slope which became a ‘play area’ for a few people, the others choosing to languish in the sun. We skied to the far end of the pass and contemplated skiing down Tangle Creek. (Its definately not only women who have difficulty making decisions,it seemed the pros and cons were tossed around for ages by the gentlemen in the group!) We returned the same way and floundered down the trail for a while before finding the good snow in the trees.
Tour leaders, Richard and Marilyn took nine of us on a beginners’ tour of the trails near Lake Louise, January 28-29. The skiers were: Frank, Trudy, Sally, Lorna, Dianne, Karen, and three new members, Sheila, Marilyn and Robert. The camaraderie and support for each other was evident in our group throughout the weekend.