![]() The Bow River runs into Hector Lake as we ponder the excellent conditions on a melt/freeze crust. It was going to be one of those days – I could feel it already. It felt, sounded and smelled like Spring as we skinned easily across the Bow River and onto the endless surface of Hector Lake under a deep blue sky. Our skins made a racket in the absolute stillness of the morning, likely confusing the local bird population in the process. Right from the parking spot along hwy 93, the route down through light forest to the Bow River inlet at Hector Lake gave indication that Sara’s prediction of solid “freeze” conditions were bang on. ![]() Because of her experience seeking out these conditions, Sara has a good system for predicting when they will exist and she predicted this for our day out on Sunday, April 24th. Hector Lake is one of the places that attracts these skiers who wait for a predictable melt-freeze cycle before skating across the lake in the early morning hours before the “melt” part of the spring cycle fires up around noon. Speaking of the slog up Hector Lake… Since meeting and chatting with Sara on several ski trips this year I’ve learned of a group of local cross country skiers who wait for spring conditions in the Rockies to get out to some wild places to fly around on light ski racing gear. Although we didn’t consider it likely, we were really hoping that a spring snow pack might give us a chance to nab this descent on the snow sticks, at least justifying another lengthy slog up Hector Lake. When Alex Privalov initially posted a trip report earlier in 2022 for what he called “Hector Lake Peak”, he mentioned that the west face looked to be skiable with more snow than he had. That weekend turned out to be the last full one of April. Wietse was pretty sure that he’d had enough of Hector Lake for at least a year so it was up to Sara and I to tackle it on a weekend when Wietse was otherwise occupied. ![]() The peak would sit high on my priority list until it got done, and I was pretty keen on getting it done in spring conditions and in 2022 if at all possible. I knew what would happen as soon as Sara, Wietse and I made the decision not to tackle Turquoise Peak on our way past it in early March 2022. Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 3 – you fall, you sprain or break something unless you get caught in an avalanche in which case you could die.ĭifficulty Notes: Some moderate rock and snow scrambling and exposed avalanche terrain make this a fairly long and involved winter ski trip.
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