a last one?

May 31st should have been my last ski touring day of the season.

After getting talked into skiing one more time I thought we might as well make it a good one and try to ski of Mt. Smut. Driving into Kananaskis Country early morning the light was just good enough to see that there had been a substantial loss of snow pack since I was there the last time 2 weeks ago.

There was no snow to be seen anywhere on the valley floor as well as the crossing over Smuts Creek into the Commonwealth. 

Nevertheless we shouldered the skis and left the car, ready to walk for a while.

Well, the combination of knee deep marshes, a neck deep raging creek and a half dozen Canadian Geese dropped our psycho meter to just below zero and about 5 minutes later we were back at the car.

So we drove a few k's up the road to Burstall parking lot and headed for Robertson Glacier.

It actually turned out to be quite a pleasant day in the mountains. We were able to ski almost right from the car to the top and out again and the skiing on the glacier was similar to corn snow after it softened up. We also spotted some fresh grizzly bear tracks crossing the Haig Glacier at 2800m, a sign that spring has definitly arrived.

Rob H. popping out in the sun high on the glacier,
with the shadows of the rock pinnacles of Mt. Robertson painting a piece of moving art.

Here you can see the lack of snow on the south facing slopes of Mounts Commonwealth and Nestor beyond.
Rob Hill Picture