Join us for a weekend of beautiful backcountry Nordic ski touring day trips in the Lake Louise area! If you're wondering what Nordic touring is about, check out the article in the Breeze: https://accedmonton.ca/2019-1-9-a-nordic-touring-primer/. We'll be selecting objectives in the Lake Louise area, on the south end of the Icefields Parkway and the east end of Kootenay Highway. Likely choices are tours like Stanley Glacier, Chickadee Valley, and Molar Meadows. Check out Chic Scott & Darren Farley's "Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies" (available at Track'n'Trail and elsewhere) for the definitive beta on the trails. The tours we plan are rated "intermediate" in Scott & Farley. Some trail-breaking and route finding is likely. We stick to lower avalanche risk areas but some exposure is inevitable, so Winter in the Mountains or AST1 is required.

Accommodations are up to each participant. Lake Louise is convenient to the trailheads; Banff and Canmore are also suitable. The Castle Junction Hostel is probably the ideal location. We'll arrange carpools to the trailheads depending on participants' preferences. There's no fee for participation.

We'll all ski on Saturday and Sunday. Michele and Lee have Monday off as well, and will ski that day too; anyone else who's free is welcome to join.

• Skis: This trip is designed around Nordic touring (aka "light touring") gear: wide off-track cross-country skis with metal edges. AT and tele gear are OK too. Regular XC skis are not suitable; they are not wide enough and metal edges are required. Splitboards are not fun on the trails we'll be skiing.
• Climbing skins (kicker or half skins are sufficient)
• Avalanche beacon, shovel, and probe
• Daypack

Suitable skis and skins can be rented from Wilson Mountain Sports in Lake Louise, as their "Skoki package". Reserve early though, as they go quickly. We can reserve club avy gear, just let us know as early as possible.

Sunscreen

Insulated pad for sitting on at lunch stop

Thermos