Hut to Hut in the Esplanade

Early on the morning of August 5th, Liz and I left Cochrane for Golden, B.C. With all the construction we were quite surprised that we arrived in Golden in fairly good time. We checked into our motel and contacted our good friend Roger Laurilla, who we spent some enjoyable time with. With Roger we finally located the office of Golden Alpine Holidays. Later on in the afternoon we dropped in to the office of Golden Alpine Holidays and signed waivers for our up coming trip. The following morning (August 6th) we again visited GAH and headed west to the Staging Area.


Upon arriving at the Staging Area, who should be waiting but a friend David Leask who we had met last year at Lake O’Hara. It was great seeing him again and to spend more time in the mountains with David. Soon the rest of the group arrived and shortly thereafter the helicopter arrived. Who should be our pilot but an old friend, Don McTighe.

Liz and I were whisked into the Vista Lodge in the first group. What a lovely spot, the lodge is situated on the bank of a beautiful mountain lake. When the rest of our group arrived we got organized and ate lunch. Once our group was ready we hiked up through the meadows to a saddle northwest of the lodge. Several of us made our way back to the lodge, via a different route, while the rest of the group including Liz followed the ridge to the top of Trundle Peak. Once everyone was back in the lodge, we relaxed then imbibed in a tasty meal, served up by our Chef - Blue Helida.

The following morning it dawned clear as a bell. After breakfast we headed out climbing to the southwest, we crossed a ridge and turned south. Several of our party climbed Capula a small peak, while the rest of us headed south through open country, then east crossing another pass, we descended eastward passing several small beautiful lakes to Meadow Lodge. Once organized, a sauna brought us back to life. Blue served up another terrific meal. By this time the weather had deteriorated.

The following morning we again climbed out of the valley to cross a pass south of Meadow Lodge. From the pass several of our party hiked a small peak to the east, while we carried on with our Guide Alison Dakin, the weather deteriorated and for the first time we had our complete rain gear on and we continued hiking in rain and fog. We made good time along an open ridge and descended and then hiked up to another pass to the east. The weather improved sometime. Once we got a view of the Sunrise Lodge, we stopped for lunch. Upon arriving at the lodge we again organized and had a nice sauna. At Sunrise Lodge, Blue served up our last delicious dinner.

The following morning several hiked to the Dome, while the rest of us took pictures around the scenic valley. As the fog rolled into the area the helicopter was three hours late flying us out. It was an interesting experience with a diverse group, as everyone contributed to a good time.

Off to the Esplanade in BC

Liz and I are heading off to the Esplanade in BC for 4 days to do a lodge to lodge traverse with Golden Alpine Holidays.

We leave tomorrow morning for Golden and then we'll fly in to the Vista Lodge on Friday morning.

The following day we hike to the Meadow Lake Lodge to overnight, then we continue on to the Sunrise Lodge and out to the trailhead on Monday.

This area is located northeast of Rogers Pass and west of McNaughton Lake in the Columbia Valley.

Hopefrully the weather will be good and we'll get lots of pictures.

Glen

Welcome!

I'm excited to welcome you to my blog/newsletter and to my new website which went live this morning at http://www.glenboles.com/.

We'll have lots of things to share with you:

• places we go
• people we meet
• new art pieces I'm working on
• mountain stories and adventures
• and much more

I invite you to sign up for my newsletter. It will be posted here to the blog on a regular basis, so that way you'll get the news as it comes.

Please feel free to add your comments to the blog posts. I'd be happy to hear from you.

Thanks,
Glen