Sean starts down the massive couloir by Opaban Pass, above Lake O’Hara. Mount Biddle stands tall behind.
With an unexpected day free before we embark on our Bugaboos to Rogers Pass traverse, I thought I’d post a few pics from the first leg of the Canada trip, from a couple of days in the Lake Louise area and the Icefields of the Rockies. It was still winter up there and we were loving it.
We spent two nights up at the Elizabeth Parker Hut, deep in the Yoho Wilderness area. If you crossed over the high peaks to the left, Lake Louise would be on the other side.
One day’s ski had us skinning up the big couloir seen here, high above Lake Oesa. The scale of the peaks was deceiving, this couloir was about 2000 vertical feet in gain.
It was steep on the way up…
…and steep on the way down.
After two nights up by Lake O’Hara, we headed north along the Icefields Parkway, an impressive stretch of highway that runs through the Canadian Rockies, all the way to Jasper. There are huge ice climbs everywhere, one of which can been seen on the lower flanks of this massif.
We stopped along the way at a place called Parker Ridge, and skinned around until we found something to ski. It didn’t take long, you can see the highway in the background.
It was some of the best snow we found all week.
So we decided to just keep lapping it all afternoon until it was full of tracks after which we got in the car and headed to Rogers Pass. Good times.
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