Bliss at Skoki

To say that this past weekend was my best winter weekend ever would be an understatement.  For all too many years I wasn't a fan of the winter months, then got into the snowshoeing to make it more exciting, but the skiing and now light touring has opened up a vast new world of possibilities.  After having gone to Elizabeth Parker, we joked at how we could up that.  Skoki was thrown in as a suggestion, and as luck would have it, there was an opening for February 10th to 12th.  I was perhaps a little reluctant at first (mainly due to the cost), but in the end I figured I would regret not going much more than I would regret having spent the money.  And in hindsight that is so very true, as I exerienced more this weekend than I ever imagined.

Friday morning started relatively early for a winter outing, with the two of us meeting at 6:45am in Calgary.  With Skoki, one needs to check in at the Lake Louise ski hill at 9:00am so that one can take the gondola to get a head start, and if you're too late, they won't let you go as you need daylight to get to the lodge.  The weather wasn't the greatest heading out, but I remained optimistic that I would see some blue sky as we headed up the mountain.  Mount Temple was visible across the valley, but as a 'slice' only for it was covered in clouds at the summit and at the bottom.  We skied a couple of kilometres through the trees, and that's when the magic stareted to happen.

The clouds moved up and every hundred metres that we skied on the views back improved.  This is Mount temple, framed by my poles and new light touring skis, taken just a little ways from Halfway Hut where we finally skinned up.

Boulder Pass was a winter wonderland.

Temple from Boulder Pass.

And some fresh tracks made by alpine touring people.

Snow conditions were a challenge.  We had the perfect weather, even an 'all green' for avalanche ratings as it hadn't snowed in a week, but that meant the trail in was packed solid - no fresh snow at all.  Combined with new hot waxed skis, this made everything extremely slick.  Throughout the weekend, everyone who had been to Skoki before (which was most people) commented that these were the worst skiing conditions they've had.  At least I knew that maybe my new skis aren't to blame.  From the ski hill to Ptarmigan Lake the trail also seemed to have an incline to the side the entire way, which meant quite a few entires into the tree wells.  With my left ankle swollen five days after the trip, I believe my first fall into a tree well resulted in a sprained ankle.  But hey, we were going to Skoki so I didn't care.

We had a long lunch at Ptarmigan Lake, because really, how can one not stop and enjoy views like this?

Ptarmigan Lake

Ptarmigan Lake

Deception Pass, quite wind blown, yet perfectly calm for our ascent.  It was downright hot as far as skiing goes and we desperately wished for t-shirts and shorts.

Top of Deception Pass

From Deception Pass it's about 3km of downhill to Skoki Lodge.  This stretch was also hard packed and quite the race track. We tried to stick to the powder, but even in there one quickly picked up great speeds that we kept throwing ourselves in the deep snow to slow down (it felt hard to snowplow with a foot of snow on top of your skis).  After nearly six hours of admiring the scenery, basking in the sunshine, and totally being in awe, we arrived at Skoki Lodge for afternoon tea.  We were tired, so settled into our room, and not much later it was time for dinner.  Halibut was on the menu, which even I enjoyed and normally I do not eat seafood.  It was the same meal they made for Will & Kate.  The evening was spent star gazing.  It was a perfectly clear ski, no wind, but definitely getting chilly.

Skoki Lodge, now the site of an adventure muse

We woke up to more clear ski, so went downstairs for the 8:00am breakfast.  Breakfast at Skoki is served in two courses: first cereals, fruit, and oatmeal, and then it was the eggie weggies which were a huge hit.  As one guest noted, they were 'yummy in the tummy'.  Leo, who runs the lodge with his wife Katie, gave advice on which trails offer what and we quickly ditched our original plan of skiing the 9km Skoki Mountain loop to head to the Natural Bridge and come back skiing the Soki loop.

In -15ºC we headed out, but it was a mere 15 minutes until we were down to one layer.

We skied between Fossil Mountain and Skoki Mountain and absolutely loved our new skis.  This is what they were meant for: nice snow, some skier set tracks, and none of the slick stuff from the day before.  We saw avalanches that had come down, as well as many tracks of those elusive wolverines.

Red Deer Lakes offered a vast open area.

The Cyclone cabin is used by Parks, though we ran into four people on our way back who just got there to stay for the night. The inside was really nice too.

A frozen heart along the start of Red Deer River.

Heading further, four others from the lodge had caught up to us and also wanted to explore the Natural Bridge.  It seems that that may not be for everyone.  A couple that also stayed at the lodge were already coming back and told us that there are no more skier set tracks and there is a lot of deadfall.  We continued on.  We bushwhacked on.  We didn't know this could be done on skis!  Up we went through deep snow pillows, a steep knoll where we decided that skins probably start sliding at 45º slope angles, and where we further bushwhacked down in a few feet of snow.  In the end, we determined by GPS that we must be within 100m of the Natural Bridge, but didn't find it due to the amount of snow.  Heading back we stopped at the Cyclone cabin, then went on to ski the Skoki Mountain Loop.  It was spectacularly beautiful being the only ones out there with the sun already disappearing behind the mountains. About 21km later in deep snow, we were done for the day.

Colour amongst all the white.

Looking back at Mount Douglas, which we had called the big giant.

We were the last ones to arrive back at the lodge and it seemed like others had already spent hours hanging out in front of the fire.  Timing was great, for dinner was just about on the buffet: beef tenderloin, roasted veggies, potatoes, and caesar salad with avocado crutons.  Finish that off with cake with hot amaretto sauce and how could this not be grand?

Having made it all the way to Skoki, I was determined to get some good interior shots as I had hauled seven pounds of camera gear, including the tripod.  I had to wait until everyone had gone to bed to get the following shots.  The evening at the lodge was great and groups branched out to a bunch of different areas: I took a spot on the comfy bench by the window to take notes from the day (I looooved that spot), some ladies brought out the guitar and started singing Neil Young songs, guys sat around the table, the two dogs needed to be let out, and Isabela spent a second day drawing pictures of dogs.

Dining tables

Fire place area with the comfy bench by the window

That lovely bench

Guest registers from the past few decades.  I picked out one random book, opened it to a random page, and there was Will and Kate's entry.

Will and Kate's entry in the guest book.

Sunday morning was a bit cloudy.  I was getting sad to leave, so took some more photos and hung out with some people by the kitchen. Isabella and Bill (the dog) were also my buddies for the morning.

Our room (Skoki Room)

Kitchen

Isabella playing with bill

With our goodbyes said, we headed back up to Deception Pass.  This time it was windier and it took us over an hour to get up there.  The way down the other side felt triekier tome though as it was, once again, very slick and fast.  By that time my ankle was really acting up and I wasn't able to put any pressure on it.  Suck it up and keep going was my approach though; not like there was much choice otherwise.  It wasn't very fast, but we made it back to Boulder Pass, then Halfway Hut, and back to the ski hill.  At 2:30pm we were riding back up Ptarmigan chair lift, then down the gondola on the other side, with a final grand view of Temple.  And of course, in keeping with tradition, the weekend was rounded up with a Drake burger in Canmore.  What a truly unbelievable weekend.