"Best hut trip yet, in terms of relaxation,locale,conditions and camaraderie" Guy Ayers.
Day 1 Lower slopes of Observation.
Since the shoulders of the Highway were not plowed we parked at Bow Summit.When we got into the alpine all the slopes North of the big gully had been skied out so we skied the fall line into the gully on mainly good snow but some wind affect and sun crust. Then we ascended the slopes on the south side for two laps on good powder . The return to the cars involved skiing beside the road and walking on the road for a couple of km.
Guy, Terry and Ed above the big Gully on Observation
Gary smoking the bottom of the gully on Observation
Guy , Ed and Gary gourmet meal at Hilda hut
Day 2 Hilda ridge.
A good uptrack was followed into the alpine. Some wind affect in the alpine but good snow in the shelter of the trees . For the first lap we skied a narrow drainage all the way to the Hilda moraines .Then we set an uptrack through glades back to our high point for a few more laps in the upper glades on good snow.
uptrack on Hilda Ridge Ed, Ulli , Terry
Guy and Ulli descending the gully on Hilda
Gary ripping em
Ed , Terry and Gary on Hilda Ridge
Guy cranking turns on Hilda
Day 3 Parkers Ridge
A typical Parkers day with wind and some sun. 2 to 5 inches new on a hard wind crust . It skied remarkably well because of the 2 inches of new in the alpine. The ever ready bunnies on the A Team skied up to the summit of Hilda for a lap in the better snow while the B team broke for lunch in the Hut followed by another quick lap on Parkers.
Terry, Ed, Guy and Gary on Hild Ridge
Ulli and Ed on Parker's Athabasca and Hilda in the background
Guy starting down Parker's
Day 4 Crowfoot Glades
Ulli suggested we ski the glades on Crowfoot. And what an excellent suggestion that was. Again since the shoulders of the highway were not plowed, we parked at the Crowfoot Glacier viewpoint. It was a balmy -17C with a light 40 km breeze .Fortunately much of the 2 km way in was sheltered in the trees. The uptrack was steep in places but the snow was excellent . No wind affect . We skied an open steep line directly to the moraines .The excellent snow quality made the steep line a lot of fun. The A Team did a second lap while the B Team headed back to Calgary.
Gary, Terry, and Ed on Crowfoot glades
Special thanx to Ulli for the excellent photos and to all the A team for breaking a lot of trail .
Participants: Terry,Ed coordinator and scribe, Ulrike,Gary,David.