We spent a glorious day beside and on Upper Kananaskis Lake enjoying a spot of snowshoeing. It was a cloudy day with a chill breeze which fortunately wasn't in our faces all of the time otherwise it would not have been so much fun! Fourteen of us gathered at eh Peter Loughead Centre to assess the trails and also to take any extra information about avalanche conditions. We had three possible routes but only one stood out for its length, location and the possibility of sunshine, if there was any to be had. The ladies of course visited the washroom prior to the short drive to the starting point.
Our four vehicles were the only ones in the car park, no one had really taken the rangers words seriously - " you will be the first group out and may have to cut trail". We donned our snow boots and snow shoes, set our poles to the correct length and looked at the map to find the trail head ... and that's where the fun started we followed i8n line, crocodile style, past the locked washrooms, to find the start of the trail. Our leader, Chuck, disappeared up to his thighs in snow, by the time Bill and I reached this point twelve pairs of snow shoes had plodded over the trail and the deep hole could not be seen. We were the first snowshoers out on this pristine white snow. We made our way to the front and helped cut trail, not necessarily in the right place but the scenery looked magnificent in its winter cloak. We stopped for lunch by the Lake, well actually we were on the Lake. As we left our picnic spot we heard a thud as fourteen pairs of feet started on the ice. In the distance some folk were ice fishing and we decided that behind the fishing tents some hot toddies or vodka or a combination of the two were being imbibed, after all what else can you do whilst waiting for fish to take a bite?!.
Neil informed us that snow shoeing helps you use over 600 calories an hour and up to 1,000 if you are cutting trail, well I never!
After 5 kms or so we decided it was time to head back and as we turned to look at our tracks other people were walking in them! A fine trail we were told as we passed by. Back at the car park we treated ourselves to hot chocolate mm Green & Blacks - what a treat. We declined stopping at the Centre to sit by the log fire and as it turned out a very wise decision. We found ourselves in a blizzard not far from the Nakiska ski resort turn off and remained with limited visibility until almost at the City limits of Calgary and then it just disappeared!
Last Sunday night to Monday morning we had over 15 cm of snow; we were shovelling for well over an hour to clear the drive in order to get the vehicles out for work. We shovelled again when we returned from work in the evening. Now we are basking in Chinook winds, it is a lot warmer (plus 6C) but very windy with gusts @ 100 km/hr.
