January 29, 2019, Burstall Pass
Distance: 16.4 kms return
Elevation: 670 m
On Tuesday, January 29, 2019, Fred and I headed into Kananaskis for a long day of snowshoeing. The weather had been extremely cold for a couple of weeks, and while we continued to hike, the chilly temperatures usually made us plan shorter days.
For two years, Fred and I, and Fred Nic and I, have attempted Burstall Pass in the winter only to turn back due to wicked weather conditions (brutal winds, with gusting snow), avalanche conditions and route-finding difficulties.
We are getting much better at monitoring weather conditions because we have expanded beyond simply looking at the Weather Network, which 90% of the time is wrong. Looking at Weather Underground, SpotX, and Mountain Forecast are now part of our planning process but of course, it is not uncommon for each site to forecast something different. That said, there seemed to be some consistency with a high pressure coming in and staying for a few days, winds being non-existent and the temperature lifting to a balmy minus 20 and so Burstall Pass was a go.
Knowing it was going to be a longer day because we would be on snowshoes rather than skis and knowing we would have less daylight hours due to the time of year, Fred and I left Calgary super early so we would arrive in the parking lot just after sunrise. Of course, once we arrived, we opted to sit for a bit because the temperature outside the car was registering at minus 31.
It is always difficult starting a trek when it is that cold outside, but I find it really doesn’t take very long before you warm up enough that the temperature becomes manageable. Having the trail all to ourselves was a real treat. A recent snowfall left snow laden trees and the cleanest of whites as far as we could see. The first part of the Burstall trail has very little elevation and is in the forest but the trail is wide enough that there are still gorgeous views all around. In an effort to make up some time, once we hit the lake, we moved off the trail and hiked the frozen lake and open meadow. It was surprising how a bit of a breeze cooled us down – and cooled us down in not a good way. But we had lots of clothes and the sun had yet to reach us so I was hopeful the temperature would not be a problem, even up in the pass.
Once we climbed the first steeper section, the views opened up. The sun was on our faces, the snow conditions were perfect, and because we have done this hike a couple of times in the summer, we knew where to go, even though there were no tracks. Typical Fred's humour, picture #12, shows him scratching his head wondering were the trail was with the sign post at his feet. We did veer a bit climber’s left of the summer trail to avoid risky avalanche terrain, which caused us to have to work much harder moving through some very deep snow, but it was we also had a lot of laughs because not only did we face planted a few times, but we went up some ridiculously small steep sections that completely tuckered us out.
It wasn’t until we were almost in the pass that we saw other people – three skiers. Once in the pass, we watched one doing parachute skiing in the wide-open section that is lower than the pass and way to climber’s left. What a treat to watch.
We spent a bunch of time taking pictures. The views were spectacular! Pristine white snow, cornices, blue skies, brilliant sunshine. We opted to take a different route down from the pass and again, had a bunch of fun in the deep snow moving through the trees. It was hard to leave the upper meadow, but we knew we still had some distance to go. All three skiers had blown right past us.
Fred and I enjoyed every minute of this hike. I would put this in the top ten list of winter hikes, not only because it is beautiful, but we had perfect weather, perfect conditions, and very few people sightings.
