Bluebird powder day on Crowfoot Glacier: A Little Piece of Heaven

On Sunday, February 5,  Ryan and I experienced some of the most stunning views we've ever seen as a reward for a long climb up the Crowfoot Glacier.

We began our day in Canmore, at the office of Yamnuska Mountain Adventures, where we met our guide, James Madden.  His expertise in selecting a route, helping us to understand our avalanche gear, guiding us up the mountain and glacier, and finding us untouched powder for the descent was amazing.  The office staff at "Yam" were great too - helpful in determining an objective for the day, and matching our physical fitness and ski abilities with a guide that could help us achieve some cool stuff.

James suggested the Crowfoot Glacier backcountry skiing trip.  The guide book says it's a 14km round trip with approx. 850m elevation gain, but my Garmin tells a different story (18km with over 900m elevation)!  We loaded up extra gear that, thankfully, we didn't need to use, stuff like a collapsible shovel, probe, and climbing harness for crevasse rescue.  That said, we still had to carry everything!  I managed to put all of those things, along with a hearty lunch, down jacket, fleece, extra gloves and hat, sunscreen, camera and other accoutrements into a 40L bag that ended up weighing in around 20lb.  I need to work on carrying less weight around!  We loaded the gear and skis into the car, then set off on the highway bound for the parking lot at Numtija Lodge on the Icefields Parkway.

We arrived at the parking lot in -20C.  The hoar frost made everything extra pretty, and the ice crystals in the air shone in the early light to create beautiful rainbows (I'm sure there's a technical word for this).  It was a crisp morning.

We skinned across the lake, staying in the sun most of the way.  James called a halt to our progress, in order to give a brief tutorial on the use of our avalanche rescue gear, and how to use the beacons to locate a buried person.  (note to self: time to sign up for an class on avalanche safety)

With our beacons operating at full battery power, we finished crossing the lake, and entered the gravel flats area, leading to the river bed of the Saskatchewan River.  Despite the cold temperatures, we could see rivulets of water in some areas,  surrounded by thick hoar frost.  We continued a gradual ascent to a slot canyon, where the snow had blown into thick drifts.  Finally, we emerged out of the canyon in an alpine meadow.  Another thirty minutes of climbing, and we stopped to fuel up in a picturesque picnic area.

 You can see the Crowfoot Glacier, along with acres upon acres of awesome ski terrain; James was getting giddy at the thought of it all!  He could see plenty of untracked routes, and we were all anxious to get moving again.

At this point in the day, the temperatures had substantially risen to a balmy -2C.  We shed some layers, donned our sunglasses, and eagerly set forward.  The balance of our climb was quite exposed, and we were fortunate not to have any wind.  The views were stunning, I had a permanent smile on my face in spite of the burning in my legs.  Three-hundred and sixty degrees of splendour.

The view from the top makes all the effort fade into bliss. 

This is the view from The Bump overlooking Crowfoot Glacier, with a view of the Wapta Icefields for good measure!

And yes, the ride down was blissful, too!

We rode down the gully on the left of the photo, skiers right.

To see more of our photos from the day, check out the album at: http://graphixdiva.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Crowfoot-Glacier-AT-Skiing-Feb/21354286_nBhVpW

I wonder what our next adventure will hold?  Stay tuned.....