Leaving the +14 Calgary morning and arriving at a trailhead just above freezing was perhaps not the most inspiring start to a day. But we were rewarded with a gorgeous hike in warm sunshine.

The trail to Elephant Rocks was well packed as expected, and the snow depth and trailbreaking increased after that. We conferred a couple of times about avalanche risk, and agreed that we were comfortable proceeding given the absence of cornices and quite insubstantial snow above us. After plowing through deep snow up the headwall past the first tarn, we ambled to a high point and had lunch on bare ground with a bit of wind but not as much as we had expected. Our second break of the day was at Chester Lake on the way down. We didn’t see anyone else past the packed trail, and only a few other parties overall.

Wildlife entertainment was provided by a family of 4 grouse in the forest, 4 ptarmigan making pretty tracks in the snow just before the lake, and inquisitive whiskeyjacks.

The Smith-Dorrien wasn’t pretty - icy ruts in the morning and a mix of snow, ice, mud, deep slush, and potholes in the afternoon. Apologies to everyone for the muck left on the cars!

Participants: Philip,Cristina,Michael, and coordinator Ingrid.

2 of the 4 ptarmigan

First tarn (photo by Cristina)

Gorgeous day

Interesting cloud creature

Lunch

Trying to roll massive snowballs downhill (photo by Cristina)

Whiskeyjack entertainment (photo by Cristina)