Lake Louise Mountain Running Camp: Day One - Iceline Trail, YOHO NationalPark

Thursday, after work, 9 of us drove from Kelowna to Revelstoke to mark the official start of the first annual PACE Mountain Running Camp in Lake Louise. 

I have fond memories of the Big "R" as I used to spend my summers here with my Aunt and Uncle who are still residents along with three of my cousins. 

We had an early start Friday morning as we drove directly to Yoho National Park to start our attempt on the Iceline trail Trail.  This would be my third time returning to this beautiful trail and I found myself just as excited as the first.

 

We started the run from Takakkaw Falls and thought we might only get to run to twin-falls and back because Parks listed the trail as "not recommended" and the website said that it still had winter conditions.  So we figured we would just take it one step at a time and make a call as we went along. We easily made it into the Stanley Mitchell Hut and would have added on Whaleback if the bridge would have been in. (they remove it for winter) 

 

 

 

We carried along the trail and not long after leaving the hut we started to run into snow.  As it turns out, there was quite a bit if snow which made for a slower pace but it was totally manageable. Trent did a great job of navigating and leading the group. His experience and comfort in the mountains was a huge asset and it helped us safely complete this stunning loop with the team.  As this was the first time most members of the group were in the back country, it made for an even more memorable and rewarding day. 

 

 

 

 

The iceline trail trail is one of Yoho's nicest back country running trails. It is 20km and has 876m ascent/descent. It took our group approx 4.5hrs with all the snow and social stops of day one. It was brilliant. A great start to day one.

After a dip in the ice cold river, we drove to the Lake Louise hostel which we would call home for the rest of the weekend.