Well we did it again this year! On February 17, 2007, seven members of the Edmonton Swiss Society met up in Canmore for another snowshoeing trip to the mountains. It is beginning to look a lot like this might become an annual event!

Joe Stadler selected three snowshoe hikes to the Banff/Lake Louise area for the family day weekend and, together with Jeannette Gasser, snow shoed some of the planned hikes a couple of weeks prior to the event. He described the planned trips at the Annual General Meeting on February 9 but cautioned those interested that changing snow conditions might call for some adjustments...

Sure enough, the first hike, from Lake Louise to Saddleback to either Sheol Valley and Paradise Valley or to Mount Fairview, had to be cancelled because of avalanche danger. Instead we headed to Castle Junction (between Banff and Lake Louise) and from there drove to the Rockbound Lake trail head. What a beautiful hike (of course, I have no idea what we might have missed with the other hike)! The trail took us up a steady (and rather demanding) incline through snowed-in forests, eventually leading around Castle Mountain (formerly Mount Eisenhower) into a high, fairly open valley along the ramparts and backside of Castle Mountain. The trail leveled out somewhat and we reached Tower Lake soon after. Four of us decided that it was time for lunch, that the hike was very nice indeed and that we did not need to hike the last kilometer or so up a steep headwall. The other three took a stab at it but returned after ten or fifteen minutes; the headwall turned out to be untracked and lunch seemed a lot more attractive to them too (there also was a suspicion that there might not be any chocolate left otherwise…). The hike back was just as gorgeous but did seem to some of us like it would never end—we hiked about 16 km that day.

Back in Canmore we all met at the house Karl, Priska, Marianne and Hausi had rented and Hausi treated us all to  home made lasagna and salad. Thank you Hausi! Thank you also to Jeannette for bringing the desert (fruit salad from scratch). During dinner the question of what we should do the next day was discussed extensively. The slowpokes in the group were a little leery of the planned hike to Vista, Arnica and Twin Lakes (also a 16 km hike with 700 m elevation gain and 950 m elevation loss) and suggested that the 10 km Boom Lake hike planned for Monday might be a better choice. In true Swiss fashion we took a vote—Boom Lake it was!

Our second hike to Boom Lake (the trail head is located off the Radium highway, just south of the Vermilion Pass summit) again was incredible. There was little huffing and puffing (elevation gain and loss is only 175 m) and everybody could fully enjoy the scenery. Whereas I did my Bernese reputation (of being slow) proud the day before, somebody even suggested I was going too fast! We had lunch at the lake and learned very quickly to watch our food after some whiskey jacks did succeed in grabbing a few bites from us.

Again, we met for dinner at the house in Canmore. This time, Priska treated us to a delicious stew with Spätzli. Thank you Priska! Joe took care of the desert with ice cream and maple syrup and, yes, something a little stronger. Thank you Joe! (In case you are wondering, I got off easy this time by bringing a vegetable tray…). As we did the day before, we discussed possible hikes for the next day. Eventually we settled on a hike up the Johnston Canyon and to the Ink Pots. And, no, we did not need to vote.

We met early at the Johnston Canyon trail head (a very popular hike, the parking lot tends to fill up quickly). The canyon with its vistas of frozen waterfalls and the deep gorge is absolutely spectacular! Obviously, many tourists felt the same way and the first section of the hike was really quite crowded but, once we moved away from the main canyon trail and started to climb from the upper falls toward the Ink Pots, we virtually had the trail to ourselves. We stopped for lunch at the Ink Pots (a series of bubbling ponds that tend not to freeze up in winter) and had fun watching the ponds bubble up and observing the whiskey jacks trying to steal some food from us. A very worthy hike to conclude an  unforgettable weekend!

Thank you Joe and Jeannette for planning and guiding an incredible trip. Thank you also to Hans and Marianne Pfaeffli, and Kari and Priska Strickler for being wonderful snowshoeing companions. Hope we can do it again next year.

Maggie Kirchen