Five of us completed the fabulous traverse across Taylor Lake up the col between Panorama Ridge, down the other side to Consolation Lake and out along the Moraine Lake Fire Road.

After a few hiccups - we were originally six, but one of the group forgot to bring skins and so had to return to Calgary - and because, the turn off for Taylor Lake is not clearly marked, Terry M. and Shirley ended up in Lake Louise but thank goodness for cell phones. Rick C. dropped off Carmie and me and we started up the trail to Taylor Lake at 9 am. At 11:30 Rick and Shirley joined us but no Terry. As a group we decided that Carmie, Shirley and me would forge ahead acorss Taylor Lake and up the headwall at the end of the Lake while Rick went back to find Terry.

Luckily, there had been extreme skiers who had set a very steep track up the left side of a very narrow and steep gulley. We ascended one at a time. Once past this short, steep section, the ground levels out in a snow bowl. I cut a trail up towards the right hand side and would have preferred to stay in a group of trees but because of the steepness I had to move back across the gulley and up towards the lip of the bowl. At this point Shirley took over and punched a trail over the lip to a wide bench which led up to the final gulley. (We were trying to catch the sun which kept moving away as it was quite chilly in the shade).

Following animal tracks, Shirley kickstepped besie a rocky outcrop and took us to the top of the pass.

At this point, we were joined by Terry and Rick.

We had a quick snack before contemplating the ski down. Very steep, rocky, and not much snow. We decided on a diagonal route down towards Consolation Lake. The snow varied from two or three centimetres over ice, to powder (very nice) to avalanche debris covered by snow. This made for a very bumpy and uncomfortable ski. We got down to Consolation lake and found a track which took us to Moraine Lake Road at 6 pm. By now, we were all feeling somewhat tired and now we had 8km along the Moraine Lake road. This road seemed to go up and on forever. A moonlight ski. Terry skied ahead and heated up the truck. The rest of us reached the truck at 8 and woke Terry up. This was a spectacular trip - one worth repeating.

In total 27 km elevation gain of 3200ft and 11 hrs of skiing.

Christine

A great trip - varied terrain and wonderful views.

Thanks to Carmie, Shirley, Rick and Terry for a great trip.