2nd Attempt full moon Cameron Lake Ski Jan 27, 2021 (Waterton Lakes National Park, AB)

 So today looked promising to get the full moon view at Cameron Lake, so we headed up late after work and we had beautiful clear skies  till we  got to Waterton.  We started skiing and it was overcast but we thought maybe it would open up, then it started to snow and snow and snow.  The new snow made the skiing easier but we headed all the way to the end of Cameron Lake and it didn't clear up at all, so we headed home empty handed...I guess we'll try again in a month... maybe? I only took two pictures and here they are.

This is the slope I lost my ski on a few years ago

Almost at the end of the lake, still pretty bright even though there was cloud cover and snow

Track of Hike

Mount Gladstone January 23, 2021 Castle Wildland Alberta

This was a mountain I've had my eye on for a while, but in other peoples reports they had mentioned you had to cross Millcreek a few times and I never found a time to do it in the fall when the water was lower, but figured today would be a good day as the water should be low in the winter.  We have also had a unseasonably warm winter and figured the snow on the mountain would be less coupled with all the wind I figured the south facing slopes would be free of snow.  We brought snow shoes but upon arrival at the gas well we figured we wouldn't need them (later we figured we probably should have taken them).  Luckily the creek bed was void of any water and any water was pretty much frozen on the first few kilometers.  Once we reached the back slopes we noticed there was a little more snow.  I think the back angle of the mountain actually keeps a lot of the snow when the wind pushed it west and it settles in the drainages that you use to climb the mountain.  So we took a drainage that wasn't the usual approach from a few other peoples trail reports.  It got a little cliffy near the top and we had a few nerve wracking moments as we scaled cliffs that had snow on them.  Also there was probably a little bit of an avalanche danger in some areas but we stayed mostly clear of them and near the top there were a few sections that we had to kick in footprints into the steep angled snow. This could have been quite dangerous if we had slipped.  Luckily upon descent we were able to take the easy descent route which was much clearer of snow but we ended up doing a lot more post holing in the creek bed at the bottom and since the day took us longer than we had thought we had to use headlamps getting out for the last couple hours.  But we made it and I have not crossed this one of the list and won't have to try it and get wet in Millcreek.

Starting point at a gas well

First frozen creek we had to cross

This is mill creek that we had to cross several times but was void of any water

For a good portion of the hike there was a packed down trail from someone who had snow shoed up previously that made the post holing much less but eventually we had to post hole

There were many snow covered drainage basins that were full of snow, the accumulated snow pushed from the west winds made for some of these being pretty hard to trudge through

This is where we decided to go up, we went up the middle and after the trees on the left we went behind them then took a clear small ridge angling up to the high point in the middle

This was side hilling over to the ridge we angled up, this was where the avalanche danger was probably fairly high

Once we gained the wind swept small ridge we took to the top I noticed this cool rock

This was on of the cliff bands we had to navigate around on the way up, we went to the far right and took a ledge back to almost the middle of the picture

One of the many picture I took of Castle and Windsor today

This was the section we had to toe kick into the steep snow to get up, luckily it wasn't very long

Here is an angle looking up from the previous picture, luckily there were clear parts every now and then, we definitely didn't go up the center of this picture, we stayed on the rocks and tree areas

Summit view of Victoria on the left and Castle and Windsor on the right

Summit picture

Wind swept ridge we took on descent

View of the drainage we took down, this was a little more wind swept of snow

Neat little stick that looked like a snake

"Castle on a Cloud" is a song from the musical Les Miserables and that is what I thought of as we saw the clouds surrounding Castle Peak as we descended

Track of Hike

Summit Video

Summit Photo Sphere

Lakeview Ridge Jan 8, 2021 Waterton Lakes National Park

 I had a friend in town and so I took the day off work and headed up to Waterton for a winter hike.  I figured Lakeview would be clear enough of snow and I was correct.  It was a beautiful cloudless windless day in Waterton.  I've had some windless days on mountains but today was unreal.  For about half of the hike I had stripped down my layers and was only wearing my t-shirt.  I think I may have even got a bit of a sunburn.  With no wind it was so quiet and peaceful, it was a real treat.  The hike wasn't too difficult, I'd done this summit twice before, but we cam from a different way and bagged a couple other high points on the ridge which gave better views towards Upper Waterton Lake.  All in all it was a great day to be in the mountains and to spend time with a good friend. 

We started the day all layered up anticipating a colder day

Beautiful clear crisp morning

Our first obstacle of the day...actually our only real challenge of the day crossing the stream

These were the only trees on the entire hike that were not burned

Up on the first false summit of the Lakeview Ridge looking towards Waterton Lakes

Some of the drifts today were pretty big but with all the wind lately they were like concrete

Another great view looking towards the Lakes from Lakeview

Looking towards the South Castle Area

Second highest point of the day looking towards Lakeview Ridge

This picture shows how much the wind makes these burned trees sway, pretty incredible dead trees sway that much in the wind

Summit in January in a t-shirt eating an eatmore

These snow drift must get pretty big in the winter

I took a picture of this drift to show how the wind carves the weirdest shapes in the snow

Beautiful clear sunset horizon on a great day

Track of Hike

Summit Video

Photo Sphere on first false summit

Photo Sphere on True Summit

Full Moon Cameron Lake Cross Country Ski Dec 29, 2020 Waterton Lakes National Park

I had hear years ago that if you go up to Cameron Lake in the winter on the night of a full moon the reflection from the moon on the snow of the lake makes it so bright you don't need flashlights.  So Dec. 29th was a full moon and so we figured we'd head out on our Cross Country Ski's.  As we drove to Waterton that evening it looked like it was going to be a great night.  Well as in all things in Waterton, the weather changes and you don't get what you expected.  The night wasn't too cold but as we started out on our ski's the clouds rolled in and once we reached the lake we had no moon to see because of the clouds.  A few other parties of people were there wanting the same thing as us, but to no avail.  We waited till it got too cold and then skied out.  Ironically once we were back at the vehicles loading up the clouds cleared and for about an hour the moon was in full display, unfortunately we were not heading back.  Maybe next full moon this winter we'll give it another try.

This was my kids first time cross country skiing, and they did pretty good

Heading to the Lake

Long exposure shot at the lake

Heading back

Back at Little Prairie Parking lot when the clouds cleared

Driving back the moon was just beautiful

Long exposure shot on our drive back

Track of Hike