Chuck and I went for a ski in Manning Park in early January and ate the rest of Terri's New Year's Eve chicken cordon blue for supper. Thanks Terri :-) We camped on the knoll just to the west of the end of the road on the way up to the Three Brothers (beginning of the first burn). The knoll could be a windy spot but it was a great spot that night. Powder snow and a friendly trail finished off the trip.
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| Keith Akenhead |
Lobsters Randy and Ryan had a dandy trip into the dark outer reaches of the Three Brothers area this past weekend (Feb 19-21)...
There was a huge "Rover Quest" jamboree in progress (Scouts, Guides, Rovers,Explorers, Teamsters, etc.) in the Cambie Creek parking lot when we arrived about 0930 hrs on Saturday. As usual, Ryan had some sort of connection with one of the organizers and before long we were sipping java in a heated tent and going for our BS badges. Apparently the temperature hit minus 20 the night before. Ryan said that it would likely be even colder where we were going and if it hit minus 30 our survival would be dependent on us sharing a sleeping bag. He was smiling and I was scanning for some insulating cirrus clouds.
Eventually we headed up the well known Lobster winter migration route towards the Three Brothers. Fine, sunny skies. Firm, not crusty snow. Large, heavy packs. Like some form of terrestrial, winter salmon we arrive at old lunch spot. Whilst basking in the mild February sun we went through the time tested (and pathetically transparent) Lobster ritual of trying lighten our loads by "sharing" food with each other. We chatted up a cute French couple out for a day ski. Aside from them, the only others we saw was a group of three guys planning to ski to Blackwall that afternoon. They did not realize it was not track set.
We pulled in to our campsite, on the ridge just below Big Buck, around 1530 hrs and feeling spanked. Glorious sun and about minus 10. Popped up the tent and Ryan got down to some serious cooking while I held the tent down. By sun set at 1730 hrs dinner was over, pipes with three year old no name tobacco fired up and we each had a couple of hefty rusty nails under our belts. As Ryan and I go back two and a half decades and have not seen much of each other lately we had a good time swapping yarns and free advice. We unfortunately underestimated our Scotch and Grand Marnier consumption and we made a serious dent into Sunday's supply. Ryan was very pleased with his new generation Thermorest. The temperature hovered around minus 15 so I was not required to try the new mattress. No wind, full moon - first class peescape.
We piled out of the tent around 1000 hrs on Sunday and by 1100hrs we headed off with day packs to check out the route to Blackwall. Another fetching day. Dandy ski down into the pass between Big Buck and Blackwall. Bushwacked around until we eventually reached the ridge just below Blackwall peak. It was a hot slog back to our camp. Soggy snow in the trees iced up our skins. It clouded over and started to snow around 1600 hrs. The second night was very mild. As it was Sunday and the Rusty Nail ration curtailed we partied less hardy.
Wet snow falling on Monday morning so we packed up a headed out with about 200 m visibility. We detoured directly down the valley below quinzee village to the lunch spot. We were pretty wet and as usual the final climb up from the creek crossing with no wax (and too lazy to skin up this close to the parking lot) sucks.
All in all, a fine trip.
Randy
Tonquin Valley Attempt - Jasper Area
apr. location of our campsite
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| Ken |
April 20, 2000 - Here I sit hunched over and cross legged sitting in Ken's tent with some spiced apple resting precariously on my thermorest. I have a slight headache and my leg muscles are uncomfortably tight.
We left Calgary at 5:00 a.m. mountain time and headed for Jasper. Our plan was to ski up Portal Creek and over Maccarib Pass and down the other side.
The trail started out awful. Giant bollards of ice that had formed from the melting snow higher up littered the trail forcing us to drag our soon to be abandoned sleds off into the bush. The sleds were worse than useless. They flipped over numerous times, and when we had to ski off the trail to avoid the class 3 ice, they were like bloody anchors, catching on branches, and of course, flipping over some more.
I was soon reminded by the trail I was in poor shape. I found things especially draining though, even for the shape I was in. Was I fighting something? Or was the fact that I was 50, overweight, and out of shape all there was too it? After 2 or 3 kilometers I realized that there was no way I was going over Maccarib Pass, some 12 kilometers up the valley and 2400 feet higher. I felt frustrated. I talked to Ken about my state and felt badly about lowering our sights. I decided to trudge on and camp overnight.
The last couple of kilometers were rather awful. I was running on batteries and going very slowly. You had to make sure you stayed on the packed trail, for if you got off into the fresh snow, you really wallowed in bottomless powder.
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| Ken |
Ken and I both decided that we should get a spot well in the trees and far away from any avalanche paths. As I came around a corner grumbling about why Ken had pressed on farther than I felt like going, I saw him stamping out a tent platform beside a thicket of trees. The bottom layer of snow was pure sugar. It simply wouldn't pack. It made me want to stay away from any steep slopes.
We put up the tent, threw the gear in, spread out our ground insulation, and I changed into warmer clothes. Ken, meanwhile, continued digging out our kitchen area and firing up the stove for a hot brew. We had beef stew with a dash of curry (sorry Ken, I couldn't resist), soup, hot chocolate, and a bit of scotch. :-) Tomorrow? I thought that with a day pack I could go up to the pass and get a view of the Ramparts.
Tuesday, April 21 6:55 - It blew hard all last night. It's snowing and still blowing. Ken got up, and without even a hot drink, headed up the valley. It is really uninviting out there. Most of the snow is flying horizontally, some of it is flying up, with only a small amount seeming to fall enough to stay on the ground. I'm in my sleeping bag and have little or no desire to get up.
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| Keith and Ken |
I got up around 9:00 and made myself some breakfast. I put together a day pack and headed up to Maccarib Pass. I was within about a kilometer from it when I met Ken coming down. He had been knocked down a couple of times by the gusts while going through the pass and hadn't seen anything of the Ramparts, even after skiing 3 or 4 kilometers beyond the pass in a gentle descending traverse to the north-west. When he had come back through Maccarib Pass, the gusts pushed him enough that at certain times he just had to keep his balance while the wind pushed him ever so slightly uphill!
Needless to say, without any view as an enticement, I turned around and skied back to the camp with him.
We decided to ski out and head back to Calgary.
Southern Rockies Loop
Chuck and Ken did a great bike tour this summer. They started from Banff and went south through Peter Lougheed Park and south to the Crow's Nest Pass. They then went to Sparwood and Wasa Lake, then north through the Rocky Mountain up to Radium and then back to Banff. Ken has a great write-up of their trip.
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