2016-17 Winter finally settling in.

Having taken a rather extensive holiday into some warmer climates, it was a bit tough to come back into short days and quickly afterwards, very cold weather. As usual, there is no sign of climate change where we live. Early December brought lows into the -30C's, and highs of -20C's. Surely the pine beetle is in demise! Snows have been reasonable for December at altitude, but somewhat less in the Bow Valley where Canmore resides. That said, it has certainly been cold enough to make snow at the Nordic Centre, and surrounding ski resorts.

The cold weather sent us into Elevation Place (in Canmore) to make use of their world class climbing wall facility. It's been busy there! Since it has auto-belay routes, you don't even need a partner. If you have a partner, the routes range up to well beyond my capability. But, it's actually quite a social place to hang out!

Sunday, Dec 11, we ventured out to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park to check out the coss-coutry ski conditions there. Much to our surprise, the tracksetting was excellent from the Elk Pass parking lot to Elk Pass, and the Blueberry Hill lookout. Nice soft snow, albeit somewhat slow due to the cold temperature. The daytime high, though, did hit -15C, which is quite tolerable when there is no wind, and you're working on your stride and gliding. It won't be long before all the trails there are in great shape.

We've been out back country skiing (alpine touring) where you can start out at 1900m+ from the road. That has included Bow Summit on the Ice Fields Parkway in Banff, and Robertson Glacier in Kananaskis Country. Powder skiing in those places was very good for December! We'll continue to investigate....

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Hoping Santa brings more snow!!

Finding snow: Robertson Glacier

The Author on the way up Robertson (photo by Ross)

This winter's snows in Western Canada continue to be dismal. In search of snow on a bluebird day, we ventured to Robertson Glacier in Kananaskis (Feb 22/15) with our AT gear. The trailhead (Burstall Pass parking lot) is approximately 35 minutes south of Canmore on the Smith Dorrien highway. On a day like this, it's an incredibly scenic area - mainly due to the geology. Most all of the mountains feature strata that has been thrust virtually straight up, resulting in dramatic peaks that reach over 11,000 feet.

The tour gains some altitude into the Burstall Lakes, then follows a glacial outwash plain towards Robertson Glacier. The valley narrows, so you have to be wary of avalanches from both sides, but on this day, the weather was fairly cold, and there hadn't been any recent storms. At that point, you start climbing a pretty evident route. Two skiers had come off the top from the other side (see the French-Haig-Robertson video blog from last April), leaving some nice turns, so we were encouraged by the conditions. No sign of the big crevasse near the top where the pitch rolls over - guess there has been enough snow and wind to bury it.

The col at the top was very windy, and as a result, not a nice place to hang for lunch. Too bad! The view is incredible! As such, we took off the skins, and cranked turns to the valley bottom that were surprisingly pleasant considering our complete lack of snowfall this season (so far).

By the time we were back to the cars, it was 6 hours. The way out will finish off whatever available calories you have left. And perhaps leave a blister or two.....

Looking back from the col