On Dec 30^th we met up at Lake Louise just before 10:00, everybody made it into the lower parking lot, although Carl scored the primo spot close to the washroom block we were meeting near.

We assembled and then re-assembled at the trailhead for the Fairview trail, the snow conditions were good, although not yet track set. The trail runs through some wet thin spots and there were some holes that were not an issue on skis but enough to prevent grooming. On the return we met a parks person with a shovel working on some of these problem spots, so hopefully it will be groomed soon.

The sky was blue and the delicate surface hoar was sparkling making for a wonderful aesthetic for our day. The snowpack was supportive enough for 70mm skis off the track, but stepping off the skis resulted in boots going to ground. So better touring than last year… but stability probably won’t be much better.

Surface hoar and sunshine

Several hundred meters before the Fairview trail meets the Moraine Lake Road, the trail passes the Paradise Valley Trail, and we stopped, Jenny and Gordon put on the Kicker skins and we started up the Paradise trail.

At the junction with the Moraine Lake/Highline trail the Paradise trail swings uphill and away from Paradise trail… you can do that…. but it is much more scenic to follow the Highline for a couple hundred meter until is crosses Paradise Creek on what I think of as Bridge 0. Zero because it keeps the number system for most of the Paradise descriptions consistent, and also being an ex IT guy starting at 0 just seems normal.

Lower Section of Paradise Creek

The next section up the valley meanders a bit as there is not a summer trail, it crosses Paradise Creek a couple of times. Technically this could make the trip off trail, but we had a fine ski track to follow. In past trips I’ve seen a lot of snowshoe and even post holing on this route, but the track was in excellent shape this year (possibly due to the pack supporting skis well, and nothing else).

Sim lead out on this section, moving well on her waxed skis, those of us with our kicker skins trailed behind.

We passed by (not over) Bridge 1 where the summer trail rejoins and continued on the now straighter route to Bridge 2 and on to the Junction with the Paradise Trail and the Lake Annette trail. Taking the turn to Lake Annette we continued to the fourth bridge of the day and stopped for a quick bite and skin up for the last remaining holdout. It was about 12:30 at this point, so plenty of time to climb the less than a kilometer to the lake and be heading home in reasonable time (2pm was the turn around cutoff this time of year).

Paradise Valley

It can be windy up at Lake Annette when you come out of the trees… but this was not one of those days, it was calm, although a little cool. We had some more lunch and tea and started back down to bridge 4 where we re-grouped.

Lunch part deux, Lake Annette

lunch in a forest of glove trees Sim

We retraced our route on the way out, making fast time. Gordon and Gerald shared a safety beverage when we were back on the Fairview Trail which added somewhat to the technical difficulty of climbing some of the steeper sections of that trail.

In spite of the full lower parking lot, it was mostly ice skaters heading to the lake and apart from a few cross country skiers on Fairview trail, we saw not another soul all day. It was a great day out, Paradise Valley is one of the more scenic tours with such easy access, and the company was as pleasant as the scenery.

The new year approaches

Participants: Sim, Gerald, Carl, Gordon ,Jenny.