Rae Glacier

Last day before the road to Highwood Pass closes for the winter!

The only time I'd previously been on Rae Glacier, it was a cold September day in 2010 and I was desperate to slide on snow. Boot packing from the car wasn't very fun, and once I got on the terminal moraine, it was a 100m skin before getting in a half dozen turns, then putting the skis back on the pack and hiking out.

This time around, there was snow all the way to the parking lot, allowing us to skin from the car. How convenient!

We saw two groups staying at the Elbow Lake campsite, also taking advantage of the easy access. Ahead of us were fresh tracks from a snowshoer, but we didn't see him until we were on the terminal moraine.

Coverage was decent along the creek leading from Elbow Lake to Rae Glacier. Just before the glacier, however, coverage was almost non-existent and we had to bootpack a couple of times.

Given that conditions were likely no better higher up, we got up onto a bench on climber's left of the glacier, took our skins off, and weaved our way through the minefield of wind slab and rocks. Exciting stuff.

Once back below treeline, the snow was decent and we quickly made our way back down to the lake, where we chatted with some folk and watch kids tobogganing along the trail.

Elbow Lake

Overall, conditions were not great, but it was good to check this area out again as it had been a couple of years. I'm sure that when the Highwood Pass highway opens up in the spring, people will come in droves. Maybe I will be one of them.

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/273551969/3101909