Trip Report:
Glacier Lake Winter Camping
March 8-10th 2023
Trip Leaders: Sarah Ray, Isobel Phoebus and Connor Pase
Author: Isobel Phoebus
On a cold mid-week morning in March, cars filed in at the Glacier Lake trailhead on Highway 93 near Saskatchewan River Crossing. Those who stepped out were inbound from Jasper, Grand Prairie, Golden and Calgary. Six brave souls gathered to make new connections, face the cold, test gear, build winter camping skills, and explore Howse River and Glacier Lake.
Three days of clear skies brought ample sunshine to happy faces. At night, the skies lit up with a full moon and glowing peaks, but temps dropped down to -30°. Luckily our camp was south facing and fires permitted, so we were able to manage quite well. The snowpack in the valley was very shallow, limiting our planned skills building sessions. Uncertain if the 50 centimetres of facets would even work for a quinzee project. We piled and packed a heap of sugar snow early in the day, leaving plenty of time for it to settle. Meanwhile we travelled west across the large lake for a closer look at our scenic backdrop of the Lyell and Mons glaciers. That night, the quinzee ended up holding strong and providing one of our crew with some valuable extra warmth.
Overall the venue was an excellent option for mellow travel, winter beach hangouts, warm fireside tales, riverside adventures and sharing a couple days together in the beautiful winter landscape.
Photos with captions:
Sunny approach on the Howse River.
Clearing down trees from trails while gathering wood for the fire on Glacier Lake. A great two for one!
Quinzee building time!
Exploring beyond Glacier Lake to check out the Lyell and Mons glaciers.
The crew (left to right): Sarah Ray, Doug Bodnar, Isobel Phoebus, Emma Pettey, Troy Mostowy and Connor Pase.
Horizontal ice skiing back along Howse River.