Lake O'Hara & Elizabeth Parker Hut
This past weekend we took a trip out to Lake O'Hara in Yoho National Park. The Lake O'Hara area is one of the premiere locations for hiking in the summer with breathtaking scenery, and access to picturesque cirques, lakes, and alpine meadows. In the winter, this area provides access for cross-country skiers and alpine touring.
Once you're up there, the ACC's Elizabeth Parker Hut is located a short distance from Lake O'Hara, this provides shelter for up to ~22 people. This hut books up quickly, and must be reserved in advance, but it's a cozy place to stay the night. The approach into the hut is just over 11km from the parking-lot just west of the Alberta-BC border along the Transcanada Highway. Although generally pretty flat, there is about 400m of elevation gain over the length of the road, and because of some rolling flats, cross-country skis are probably easiest for access, although alpine-touring skis with skins will work (with a little more effort). Don't underestimate this approach, it will take anywhere from 3.5-5 hours depending on how quick you are, and how much you're carrying!
It should be noted that the fire road crosses several avalanche paths, and although there have not been recent slides across the roads, it'd be wise to check avalanche conditions, bring your avy safety gear, and spread out when crossing slide paths...
Skiing from the EP Hut can be found a short distance from the hut, with mellow tree skiing toward McArthur pass, with some more adventurous skiing toward McArthur Lake & Schaffer Bowl. Avalanche conditions were Considerable/Moderate/Moderate during our trip, with the same major risks as most of the Rockies this year: A persistent weak basal layer, (which looks a lot better than it did a few weeks ago), and wind slabs. A full-depth avalanche can still be triggered by a skier by hitting a weak spot (a class 2.5 avalanche was released by a rider in the Lake Louise back-country recently).
Temperatures were just below zero most of the weekend, with lows of around -8C which is above normal for this time of year, which was pleasant, but you could tell it had been warmer by some of the snow conditions.
Some more photos are available in our photo gallery section.