Canadian Rockies

The Columbia Icefields are located 90 miles north of Lake Louise and about 80 from Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. From them flow many glaciers like the Saskachewan and the Athabasca. From there flow rivers to the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Our objective on this trip was to ski up the Athabasca glacier and camp for four nights on the icefields at 10,000ft. From there we would make ski ascents of the surrounding mountains which were up to 12,700ft. The rest of the trip would be spend day touring and downhill telemarking. All weather permitting of course….

Day 0. Flew to Chicago. Went down-town. Blues Brothers (4 fried chickens and a coke..apparently). Flew to Calgary and picked up the GMC Jimmy; 4.3L 4x4 beast for £15 per day plus insurance.

Day 1. Downhilling at small local resort. Nice snow, good weather, horribly twisted knee on moguls.

Day 2. Skied through the trees and up to a high pass. Our first skiing on powder and we liked it a lot. Wax worked well.

Day 3. Left precious whiskey and back-up underpants behind in chalet. Skied Sunshine at Banff. Six inches of powder on the slopes which was very nice but not good for the icefields part of the trip. Cloudy and snowing all day. Paul decided he liked moguls. Arrive in Lake Louise. Ate a lot.

Day 4. Cirque Peak. Mike’s skins caused him much grief and he turned back. Paul and I continued up to a high lake. Sluffing on nearby slopes and local advice made us think twice about the summit. Back to the Lake Louise doss, as we might like to call it. The waitress warned us that we’d ordered too much food, but only after we’d ordered it. Ate a lot. The icefields trip was being pushed back because the weather was not good. Most days it snowed and visibility was variable up high. The forecast was a bit better though.We decided, over our mountain of food, to pack tonight and start the trip the next morning, our reasoning being that even if the weather was pretty poor we would be able to get down again fairly safely but very slowly. We knew though, that the chances of getting anything done up there were not high.

Day 5. Snowing early and poor visibilty. Eat breakfast and set off on the 90 miles to the end of the Athabasca glacier. It snowed for much of the journey but for the last 10 miles or so it looked better and the sky was sometimes blue. We stopped the car within a kilometer of the glacier but a 40-50mph wind kept me in my seat. This was a katabatic wind. They flow off glaciers and are similar to the air pouring out of a fridge when the door is opened. The glacier could not be seen through the spindrift but we drove closer and got the skis on. Going all the way was out of the question since we would have been skiing blind but we went to have a look anyway. The wind straight into the face was often strong enough to stop us in our tracks. Good wind assist on the way back to the car though. According to a park warden two men had been up on the icefields a few days earlier and had come down two days later having been unable to do anything. A good place to be if you like white apparently. Drove to Jasper, Mike went shopping for some more skins. Camped and drank wine. A two day trip was planned in the Jasper area starting the next morning. Jasper is surprisingly snow free; it’s quite low and there’s lots of grass showing but the mountains are still white of course.

Day 6. Drove to the start and skied along a road for 6km (“it can’t get much better than this”). Crossed the river and then skied uphill for 7km to Shangrila hut which is were we weren’t staying. No, we were camping just up the valley in the Snow Bowl area. We pitched the two tents in 1.5m powder having dug down 1m. Mine was the bigger tent and so became the cook tent (“oh, you simply must come round for dinner”). The guests sat scrunched up on my nice soft snow and consolidated it into uncomfortable lumps of all shapes and up to 9 inches high. Whiskey would have been nice.

Day 7. Snowed heavily. Skied part way to Big Shovel Pass to pass the time. Did some snow building and experimented with arches sawn from slightly consolidated snow. Stared at stitches on tent inner fabric. Guests came round for dinner and we scrunched up again. Floor less comfortable than the night before.

Day 8. What a nice morning it was. Ate breakfast, packed up camp and skied to Little Shovel Pass and from there down through the trees with big packs. Paul and I were on super wide Tua Megas and they generally supported our weight pretty well. Mike was heavier than us (not in total) and had skinnier skis so he sank in more. Falling into 2m powder with a big pack is not funny (well, it is if it’s someone else) and takes ages to get up again. Thought we might have to eat Mike. Excellent face plant by Paul when he was least expected it; face into snow followed by 50lb pack just to make sure it went in well. Fought through really thick tree cover with no obvious line and onto tracks and back to the car. Drove back to Lake Louise and past the Athabasca glacier which had no wind now.

Day 9. Downhill skiing at Lake Louise. They boast about all their powder and then they flatten it! Very disappointing snow conditions on the piste but good and powdery over in the back bowl. Paul decided that I needed facial surgery so had a go with his nice new sharp ski edges. Skied a bit more and went to get sewn up. Ate a lot to replace lost blood.

Day 10. Drove to Calgary and flew back to the U.K. Payed £130 for the airport parking at Heathrow which we all agreed was very reasonable.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Canadian Rockies

Trevor Cousins