The ease of access combined with the growing interest in adventure sports has created a situation which can be mildly offensive to a backcountry-skier’s sensibilities—at times it can get downright crowded. I’m talking 6 to 8 people on a busy weekend!

This year I decided to get a jump on the weenies by cycling in before the road opened. I made two bike-assisted trips—one accompanied by a trusted colleague, followed by a solo outing a week later.

Here’s my colleague gearing up at the barricade at the north end of the closure:



It’s a 12 km ride to the trailhead during which you gain about 1000 ft of elevation. Some may find biking a paved highway boring, but it's nice to just relax and enjoy the scenery without the threat of being annihilated by a Winnebego.

I also like to have some fun along the way. For example, here’s my colleague after I snuck up behind him and yelled, “CAR!!”



This is the view from the Elbow Pass trailhead of Highway 40 as it continues on to Highwood Pass:



At the trailhead we parked the bikes and set out on foot. A short distance later there was enough snow lingering on the trail to go with skis and skins. I stopped to take a photo of my colleague because he had now augmented his ensemble with a stunning red floppy sun hat:



Good news ladies—he’s single.

Along the way we saw evidence that this was a multiple use trail. In fact, many of the tracks we observed indicated that some of the trail users were the kind that occasionally eat their fellow trail users:



My colleague suggested we make noise to alert any bears in the area of our presence. I wasn’t worried—there were two of us and I was confident the grizzlies would share my opinion that the world would be a better place if there was one less person wearing yellow pants.

We gained Elbow Lake, 1.3 kms from the highway, without incident. Beyond that point things didn’t go so well. The summer trail through the forest was obscured under three feet of isothermal snow, we were suffering from memory loss due to old age, and it started to rain.

“Captain’s log May 26, 2004—Ski-mountaineering, Rae Glacier—valiant attempt, thwarted by bad weather.”

On my subsequent solo trip I had better fortune. Initially the weather was fine plus I decide to employ a route-finding technique which I had used successfully in the past: when you see the objective, walk towards it.

Above treeline, out of the insulating effect of the forest, the snow quality was more favourable to travel on skis. Here’s the view of Mount Rae and the Rae Glacier (right) as you get out in the open:



This is me relaxing with the main valley (Elbow Pass) in the background:



As I baked in the sun I pondered what a (slightly) older and (much) wiser backcountry skier recently related on the challenges of spring and summer skiing in Alberta:

This time of year the weather in these mountains is generally unsettled and we don’t get the long stretches of clear days and cold nights needed for optimal snowpack consolidation and corn formation. I can vouch for that—shortly after that last picture was taken the clouds began moving in, within two hours it was pouring rain.

Then there are the arduous approaches after the snow disappears at lower elevations. Hiking rough trails or full-on bushwacking with skis strapped to the pack is often required. And the skiable terrain is usually a long way from the nearest road (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Summer skiers in certain other parts of North America have it easy compared to the hardy Albertan. You can drive a car to Highwood Pass, which is just over 7000 ft, but there are paved roads in places like California and Colorado that can top that by about 3000. And then there’s the Pacific Northwest with their coastal snowpack and lofty volcanoes. But, watch it around those volcanoes, because when they blow up they blow up real good.

The nice thing about a trip to the Rae Glacier is that most of these issues are mitigated after the highway opens in mid-June. Of course, at that time, you’ll probably have to share with other skiers and snowboarders.

But...until then it will be quiet at the Rae and one can truly experience the freedom of the hills.

Tim