Snowy Monk

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Oh Canada! Back to Sunrise Hut - my 4th trip to a GAH hut

My 4th time to the Golden Alpine Huts in Canada. Safe to say, it's one of my favorite spots. And second time to Sunrise Hut which was my first Golden Alpine hut.

Year 1 - 2017 - Sunrise Hut

Year 2 - 2018 - Vista Hut

Year 3 - 2020 - Meadow Hut

Year 4 - 2023 - Sunrise Hut - this one!

Timeline:

Feb 15 - Banff Sunshine - Strava

Feb 16 - Sunrise day 1 - strava - Main Course (3500 ft)

Beers in Canada is expensive, egh?

staging at the helipad

Feb 17 - Sunrise day 2 - strava - Cupola Day (7500 ft)

beautiful day = let's go up high. Staring at Melting Faces right from the hut

mid-pillowtown

The day usually ended inside "el Gordo"

Night shot of Melting Faces and Cupola Peak

Feb 18 - Sunrise day 3 - strava - Sunrise lap (main course), then melting faces (6000 ft)

got out for a solo pre-brekky sunrise lap to soak in the mtn air

this is what the boot room looks like

Barton on the shoulder of Melting Faces

Crab getting gnar

we all took similar pics...

One small downside of life at Sunrise is the yolking is much farther than at other huts. This requires you to go break the ice, get some water from the lake, then skin back up hauling 70 lbs or so of water balanced on your neck while skinning slightly uphill...

but this view from the shitter makes up for it

Feb 19 - Sunrise day 4 - strava- Melting Faces, Pillow town (5000 ft)

hut life

Feb 20 - Sunrise day 5 - strava - Pano Dome Desecration (4500 ft)

The day started off clear, but we knew clouds were going to roll in... so we decided to stay low and near the hut and ski Pano Dome

which we saved for a storm day like today

Clouds rolling in = flat light...

after some lunch time beers...

it was time to fly

weehaw!

serious Jenga action

Feb 21 - Sunrise day 6 - strava - Margaritaville (4000 ft)

the clouds that came were supposed to clear, so we took our chanced and headed up...

and had another amazing day

Kevin showing off his burrito

liars dice... we must've ran out of the keg...

Dave drank it all...

Feb 22 - Sunrise day 7 - strava - Cairn, Melting Faces, Corn Chutes, Pillow Town, Pig Pen (5000 ft)

last morning at Sunrise... started off beautifully

Brekfast of champions. Paula is an amazing cook that we hired for the week. She's critical to an amazing hut trip.

some talented folks leaving some art

...

We decided to get out for a few Melting Faces laps to start

This was a bit scary in a no fall zone... you can probably see this spot in the pic from tomorrow am

last of my brew

Enjoying our last sunset at the hut

my happy place

We came home to a "ski-cuterie" plate...

ah mazing!

left notes for the next users...

Feb 23 - Kicking Horse day 1 - strava

The morning light proudly showed off my line from yesterday on Melting Faces. The folks coming in were a bit awestruck

The human pyramid

Another benefit of Sunrise is that we are the first ones out...

so we made it to Kicking Horse for half a day! Which was amazing!

and we decided to do some Canadian Bowling

while Sena took a nap

Feb 24 - Kicking Horse day 2 - strava

Some dutch wallet action

It's kinda sketch...

but very unique and the terrain below it is spectacular

we got to the airport and realized we haven't had some poutine

and soon we were back in SFO

Monday, December 25, 2023

Glacier Divide Traverse & Mt Humphries NW with Josh, Sam & Ollie

Can't go wrong in the Sierra. Another amazing trip in the books. Spent a few nights out in the Range of Light with Sam, Ollie, and Josh. Started from N. Lake TH which sent us into the goods right away. Started out on the Lamarck Lakes trail to Paiute Pass. We cut out after Matthes Peak as we prioritized Mt Humphries for day 3.

We had to run out of there to get to the Mountain Rambler Brewery before they closed to get out well deserved burger. Soooo worth it.

Last time I was in this area was when Lou-Doo, Sharkin and I did the mini-Evolution's loop in 2013!

Strava

Day 1 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9538446345 - 10.17 mi, 5550ft
Day 2 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9539227704 - 9 mi, 3000ft
Day 3 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9539228245 - 17.65 mi, 3800ft

LINKS

Detailed write up that inspired Josh to go for it. Probably should've taken a better look before I went... http://peaksforfreaks.blogspot.com/2015/06/glacier-divide-traverse.html
Route up Mt Humphreys
Our intended route map - https://caltopo.com/m/2TD10

PHOTOS - https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNxeF7_QuWTuV8JRUo9N6A3ojpB8dVdRbuasEOy1HK_v1l9pfe5oFdl8vRHvK0waA

NOTES

No rope necessary (we started further up the ridge for snow... but I'm sure there is a walk around), bring pants, extra socks, your shoes are going to be wet all day (maybe trail runners or something that dries quicker? and not approach shoes?)
Someone should go for it in a day. Should be quite do-able.
The snow is nice for water and descending is faster if its soft
Humphries was awesome... but that first chute up is 4th class +. The top "4th class" moves were super exposed. There is an old piton up there that helped me make sure I was on route.

Friday, October 6, 2023

Sky Lakes Wilderness with Josh Cott

Quick Trip out to Sky Lakes with Josh. Was supposed to meet up with Torsten as well, but he bailed a day early, we saw him on his way out.

Sky Lakes and Mtn Lakes Wilderness are pretty close by an gorgeous, but the season is short. We tried to go in to the Sky Lakes in May thinking maybe we could beat the mosquitos, but we did not. There was snow on the ground and we were swarmed by mosquitos the entire hike, so we bailed to Lake of the Woods (do they spray there? how come no skeeters?)

You have to go in the fall after the skeeters have died down. And fall for me is quite busy. Being a soccer dad, coaching NICA, and school... so it's hard to get out. But I got to do a quick S24O with Josh on a Thurs, back by Fri, then back past the trailhead I was just at to drive Kai up to Bend for a NICA race...

Ran into a guy who said he caught a 14" big mouth at deep lake. Other than that guy, we didn't really see anyone.

Started the day off with a Dads run that Nikko jumped in on. https://www.strava.com/activities/9994444818
Day 1 - https://www.strava.com/activities/10006564978
Day 2 - https://www.strava.com/activities/10006565021

Next time, I'd like to go a bit deeper into the lakes basin. Cliff Lake sounds good.

We went in at Cherry Creek TH, easy access. Dirt, but could've made it in a Prius.
Nannie Creek is just above that, might be another decent option, especially if I want to get into the Seven Lakes Basin.
Get up Jupiter, Venus, Lee, and Violet Hill,