What a wonderful way to break out of the January 2020 Big Freeze! Seven Ramblers and 3 guests set out at 7:30 for the mountains. Yours truly wondered about the weather, as the Calgary temperature was still -20 C. By the time we got to the Kananaskis turnoff, the mercury was above 0, dropping back to approximately -10 C, under broken skies at the Taylor trailhead.

We had about 20 cm of fresh snow over the past week and although it was clear that others had skied off some of the cover, we still had some new stuff on the trail and, as we ascended, the snow just got more and more beautiful. After a late lunch in the meadows close to Taylor Lake (the mercury read -6 C), we continued up to near the top of the Panorama Ridge, where the snow was a little wind-affected but still nice. We were happy that young bucks had set the uptrack, which was not too heinous. We had a beautiful "buddy" descent back to the meadows, perhaps some of the best snow I've had in the area to date.

Thanks to everyone for making this a great day out. According to Bill, the distance was 17 km and elevation gain about 1050 m. Some of the younger folks wanted to do a second run but wiser (older) minds prevailed.

Taylor Lake-Panorama Ridge New Snow Nice

Taylor Lake-Panorama Ridge Lunch Break Happy People

Taylor Lake-Panorama Ridge The Sun Comes Out

Taylor Lake-Panorama Ridge Ray and Two Guests Ready to Launch

Taylor Lake-Panorama Ridge The View from Here

Participants: Sim,Bill,Ray,Chip,Carolyn,Katrin,Marianne.