November 30, 2019, Crystal Ridge
Distance: 8 kms return
Elevation gain: 720 m
After rather gloomy weather on our climb up Mount Roberta a week ago, the forecast was holding for perfect sunny, but chilly days the weekend of November 30th. While Sam was resting from a tiring work week, Nic was game for another mountain adventure. Even though the gates were closing in Kananaskis (Elbow and Peter Lougheed), Fred and I wanted to take Nicholas to the Icefields Parkway and trek up to Crystal Ridge, a snowshoe we had already done March 5th of this year. But Fred and I had a glorious day when we went because the views were so spectacular, and we wanted Nic to have a similar experience.
Getting to the trailhead involved a 2.5 hour drive and so once again, we rose early and were on the road by 5:45 am. The drive was beautiful as always and once we hit the Icefields Parkway, there were stunning yellows and oranges behind us and pink skies in front of us. We arrived at the Crowfoot Glacier turnout at approximately 8:15 am but opted to stay toasty in the car for a bit to see if the temperature would climb from the current minus 22 degrees C 😧. By 8:45 am with no change in the temperature, we decided to get dress and brave the cold.
The trek starts out on the Helen Lake trail – a wide path with a gentle incline. However, quite quickly it was time to dive into the forest and find our way up. When Fred and I went, some folks had gone before us just a few days earlier and so we had remnants of their footprints to follow. However, this time there were no traces of anyone that had gone before, and we ended up taking a route that was incredibly steep. The snow was super slippery so by the time we reached a less steep section, we were tuckered out and ready to strip off layers of clothes.
Following a fellow hiker’s GPS led us way too far climber’s left. To compensate, Fred and Nic broke trail straight up. But once we crested a hill just before the lower part of the ridge, we could see the error of our selected path as we couldn’t reach the ridge from where we were. But we were sufficiently high enough to have wonderful views.
Nic obliged my desire for photos but eventually got quite funny with his poses. Much fun was had in the snow on our way down – from slipping and sliding and falling, to snow fights. With these very short days in terms of daylight, it was wise we opted to not retrace our steps and find another route up.
All in all, a fantastic day in the Rockies!
