Four Ramblers put in a ski track over Sundance Pass today (with a little help from our animal friends). It was necessary to do a car shuffle since the trip starts at the Cave and Basin and ends at the Banff Springs Hotel. We were on the trail by about 8:45 am the ladies having warmed themselves at the hot springs while the guys did the car shuffle.


From Cave and Basin

The first part of the trip is easy with a ski down from the Cave and Basin and along the river to just before Sundance Canyon. A bypass trail avoids the Canyon and heads up to the pass. The first part is moderately steep and then it is a fairly gradual uphill from there. After about 3 hours you come to some meadows where there are limited views.


Sundance Pass trip

This pass is long and all at pretty much the same elevation. We stopped at the meadows for lunch in the sun.


David and Bob in the Woods

After about 1/2 hr. we proceeded on, where we encountered another smaller meadow with no trees. From here the trail winds down through a drainage which is easy at first.

There are three short sections of OT-6 on the way down. The first one we were able to zigzag and sideslip down. The second one actually climbs up over a low ridge and we took off our skis and kicked steps up this one. The last one was down and perhaps the most challenging (coming down off this ridge we had just climbed up). We again zigzagged and side slipped this one to easier ground. From here it was a really nice easy downhill ski out to the Spray River Forestry road. Once we were on the forestry road travelling was much easier and someone had skied up to within a kilometer of our entry point to the road. Therefore, trail breaking down the forestry road to the Goat Creek trail became fairly trivial.

Once we reached the Goat Creek Trail junction it was just a matter of slogging back to the Banff Springs on a packed and groomed trail. We even saw a couple of people out working their skating technique. We returned to the cars about 5:45 pm, the last 1/2 hour by moonlight ski. Fortunately Dave was able to squeeze all four of us into his car for the trip back to the C 'n B. This meant we didn't need to leave our ladies "hangin' out" at the Banff Springs entrance while we repeated the car shuffle.

You might be asking about our animal friends. Well, it turns out that this trail is a fairly popular transportation corridor up to the pass for animals and it made trailbreaking up to the pass reasonably easy. Coming down the backside it appears a couple of elk had been out for a romp over the pass and we used their tracks reasonably often to make trailbreaking easier down the back of the pass.

Although the views were extremely limited, it was a good day out in a winter wonderland of snow covered trees. This was the first time over this pass for all participants except the coordinator, but I think no one will be rushing back to repeat this trip soon. I like to call it our after Xmas turkey fat burner trip or in Dave's case an after Xmas spaghetti burner. (you'll have to ask him about how mother nature rained on his Xmas parade when you see him next). Thanks to participants Sim,Christine, and David from Bob C/S for another great and exhausting? day in the mountains. Chris took some photos which she will insert on Sunday.

Happy New Year to everyone and here's a toast to many interesting and challenging trips preferably into new areas in the New Year.