It was a sunny morning. From the highway our objective, Rockbound Lake’s cirque was clearly visible, bathing in the early-morning sun.


Rockbound Lake's Cirque in-between Castle Mountain and Helena Ridge, both ~2,840m. The Bow River is running in the foreground.

We started hiking at about 10AM. The snow on the trail had been compacted by previous hikers and skiers. Therefore, we could hike up to 1.5km South of Tower Lake before we needed our snowshoes. After strapping on our snowshoes, we hiked through a stand of spread-out pines to avoid the avalanche run-out David mentioned in his trip report of a week ago. By that time the sun had slipped behind the clouds. We had lunch on the NE shore of Tower Lake (2,124m alt.). We continued on at quarter to two towards the ledge above Tower Lake leading to Rockbound Lake. The snow-pack was very firm, and there were no signs of recent avalanche activity. Just below the ledge, we had a beautiful view of Eisenhower Peak, towering above Tower Lake.


Eisenhower Peak 2,640m, seen from just below the Ledge up to Rockbound Lake

We climbed the steep ledge reaching its summit approximately 100m above Tower Lake (2,225m alt.). From that point it was an easy hike to Rockbound Lake (2,214m alt.), which lies in an austere cirque. A few spread-out stands of mature tamarack trees line southerly shores of this lake. We took the compulsory Rambler’s group-picture at the lake.


Cornelis, Jeannine, Susan and Bill at Rockbound Lake (2,210m alt.)

During our trip of April’06 the snow had been too unstable to reach Rockbound Lake, forcing us to turn back after severe “Whumping” just below the steep ledge. Cornelis, Jeannine and Susan were pleased to reach Rockbound Lake this time. We started back at 1:30PM, and had fun slide-shoeing down the steep ledge. Hiking back past Tower Lake was quick and easy. We got rid of our snowshoes at the point we had strapped them on and hoofed it down, arriving back at the trailhead at 4:45PM. We skipped a detour to the Silverton Falls after a unanimous vote for coffee and hot apple crumble at Storm Mountain Lodge. The picture below shows us indulging at the fireplace!


Cornelis, Jeannine, Susan and Bill relaxing at Storm Mountain Lodge (1,720m alt.)

Thank you all for the wonderful day!

Participants: Susan, Jeannine, Bill, Cornelis (Coordinator, scribe, photos).

Trip Statistics: Distance 17.4km, Effective Elevation Gain 790m, Total Elevation Gain 810m. Temperature: -8’C.