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2024-02-25 at 14:34 - comment by MaSid

That’s puts you in fine shape to do the tobermory creek circuit (also about 30 k and maybe 2/3 the gain), after the added snow (hopefully as much as they say) has had a chance to settle. Might go part way in on my next venture in the elk pass area, unless the powder is too inviting (hard to pass up on in exchange for distance).

2024-02-25 at 14:14 - comment by ulrikeski

Hope the moon was bright and the Little B's didn't hit too many rocks on the roller coaster ride. Sparks must have been flying😂

2024-02-25 at 14:13 - comment by Little Bs

Thanks MaSid. The stats were 30.3km, 1100 cumulative vertical metres, 9 hours elapsed time, 6.5 hours moving time. Thanks to the roller coaster trail, the 1100 vertical metres only got us 750m above the trailhead! We looked into stopping in Longview for sustenance but couldn't find an open hot wax establishment, so we waited until we got home.

aqua toque - Sorry but no badger sightings. Perhaps the groomers scared them off into the Elk Valley.

2024-02-25 at 08:13 - comment by aqua toque

What an epic adventure Little Bs!

😲 Deep into the heart of badger country!

2024-02-25 at 06:49 - comment by MaSid

“A” for effort and perseverance Mike. How long of a day did it end up being? I hope you stopped in Longview for some sustenance.

2024-02-25 at 00:11 - comment by Little Bs

Our report continues!

At the bottom we found we were now 50m below the pass on the BC side. The snowmobile trail turned west further down into BC, so we turned east back up to the pass and Alberta, trailbreaking for the first time (photos 15-16). It was a combination of hard windcrust, breakable windcrust, grass, and gravel. It took us about an hour to loop back to the snowmobile trail. With only a couple of hours of daylight left, we headed back down to the car with an almost-full moon rising ahead of us. What a day! See photo 17 for our route.

Photo 13 Mount Bolton.

Photo 14 Down we go! Mount Aldridge behind.

Photo 15 Challenging snow (and snowless) conditions. North ridge of Mount Cornwell behind.

Photo 16 Mount Armstrong centre.

Photo 17 Our route.

The Little B's Have a Baril of Fun on the Fording Pass Roller Coaster!

Report Submitted by Little Bs
(trip) Date: Thursday Feb 22, 2024

Submitted: Sunday Feb 25, 2024 at 00:05

Participants:

The Little B's and Dad

Discussion:

About a week ago Dad (Mike W) told us about Michael Kurth's Cross Country YYC post describing the Baril Creek - Fitzsimmons Creek loop just south of Highwood Junction - https://www.facebook.com/groups/562727260820378/posts/1880473392379085/ . He thought we'd like that trip.

It sounded reasonable, but after checking the map we had another idea: Fording River Pass at 2300m on the Alberta - BC border. Dad had his doubts; there might be lots of trailbreaking on the way up and no snow on the windblown summit plateau. But we convinced him to give it a try. We started off in high spirits, following Michael Kurth's track up the Baril Creek hiking trail. A few other pairs of skis had done the same in previous days, but all had turned back after only a few kilometres. We prepared ourselves for all the trailbreaking we'd soon have to do, until we saw a sign saying Alberta Parks is grooming the Fording River Pass trail all winter! But rather than doing the work themselves, Parks took a page from the Tom Sawyer fence whitewashing story, convincing other people that snowmobile-grooming ski trails is a fun activity! (photo 1)

Total distance: 30.30 Km

Photo 1 Trail Grooming sign.

Shortly after the sign, we passed the Fitzsimmons Creek turnoff that Michael Kurth had followed, continued on fresh grooming from this morning (photo 2), and got our first view of the mountains ahead (photo 3).

Photo 2 Fitzsimmons Creek to the right; Fording Pass to the left.

Photo 3 Great views up ahead!

The volunteer groomers were doing a great job of packing down the trail with only the occasional blip. Perhaps Parks should supply the volunteers with snow shovels (photos 4-7).

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

Normally we don't like groomed trails. We find it incredibly boring to ski on trails that have been meticulously engineered to gently climb at a steady incline for hours on end. But this was not one of those trails. It was more like a roller coaster: up 20 vertical metres and down 10 vertical metres over and over and over again. Wheeee, what fun! Dad didn't seem amused though. Near treeline we met the three groomers returning from the pass. We thanked them for their efforts. We particularly liked the second groomer; a woman who had pink trim on her snowmobile and helmet; very stylish!

Above treeline the views really opened up, as did the Chinook winds! But the dedicated work of the groomers ensured there was snow on the trail all the way to the pass (photos 8-10).

Photo 8

Photo 9

Photo 10 Mount Aldridge distant centre, Mount Bolton right, Fording River Pass behind centre hump.

We reached the pass an hour later (photos 11-13). Actually, we were on a high plateau above the pass proper, which was about 50 vertical metres below to the south. We decided to return via the true pass. And to top things off, we were at the brink of the biggest roller coaster drop of all (photo 14). Down we went!