SNOWSHOE SUNSHINE

December 11, 2004

The snowshoe this weekend at Sunshine was absolutely fantastic! We were a party of three (Jen T. Jen S. and Alan L.), all fellow Calgary Roadrunners looking for some good quad-burning exercise to tune up for the cross-country race next weekend in Silver Springs. We headed up the mountain from the resort parking lot at 9am. Starting on the Healy Pass trail, we traversed to the ski out once the two merged close enough to allow. The snow was dropping down in huge coalesced flakes. About an hour into the shoe, we were beginning to wonder if the high winds and snow would let up. But it did and the sun was brilliant for much of the day.

There were several backcountry alpine touring skiers on route as well. Once we reached the main resort, I overheard the ski patrol advising the backcountry skiers not to go into the backcountry due to high risk avalanche warnings. On our trek up the ski-out, we heard several blasts throughout the area.

After a quick bite at the resort, we summited "Look-Out" following the Angel Chair then the Continental Divide Chair. We had several steep areas where the snow was deep (to our knees) and slope didn't support easy travel. I've been to Sunshine several times but this was the hardest ascend I have ever experienced due to the conditions. We can usually take in another peak or two. But knee deep snow and 22" shoes slow things down a bit. Overall elevation gain approx. 3,100 feet.

We had lots of comments from the chairlift - all very positive and people telling us we were hardcore, superhuman and stuff like that. I was expecting a few more jeers and jabs actually...

We only descended as far as the snack shop at Goat's Eye, where Jen T. enjoyed a beer, I looked in awe at my frostbitten toes and Alan carbed loaded on mint hot chocolate and fruit leathers. By then it was 4pm, so we decided to take the Gondola down the rest of the way and enjoy the view.

Alan brought his digital camera and took lots of great photos. We also caught some great descends (and air) on steep powder slopes. Once Alan emails me the photos, I will post them on the e-group (under "photos" on the side menu of our Yahoo group's page) for all to see.

Stay tuned for more snowshoe outings throughout the winter.