Yoho, Yoho, To The Next Hut We Go

After a day of flying with Selkirk Tangiers, Becca and I drove to Lake Louise to meet back up with Zac and Grete to do some more exploring in the Canadian Rockies. While we were in Whitefish, we had schemed up some plans do the Yoho Traverse.

The Yoho Traverse is a variation of the more popular Wapta Traverse. Our plan was to start at Peyto Lake and spend the first night at the Peyto Hut. Next, we’d make out way to the brand new Louise and Richard Guy Hut, then finally off to the historic Stanley Mitchell Hut for the final two nights before exiting at Field.

Yoho Traverse - Peyto Lake
Crossing Peyto Lake
Teamwork makes the dream work

At the toe of the glacier, Zach noticed that one of the beers was leaking. And this my friends, is why you don’t put your sharp pointy things near your beers.

Upslope
Don’t put beer near sharp pointy things….

The Peyto hut is perched right above the glacier.

Peyto Hut
The Peyto Hut

After a night in the Peyto hut, we woke up to cloudy skies and light snow.  We set off towards the Louis and Richard Guy Hut, and spent the day navigating in white-out conditions. This really tested our orienteering skills, as we couldn’t see anything for most of the day.

Cold on the Yoho Traverse
I don’t know if Becca’s having fun or not yet
yoho traverse whiteout
Grete having fun navigating in the whiteout

Since this was a brand new hut at the time, the way to get there wasn’t totally clear. We wandered around for a bit and ended up making it to the hut right at dark after a full day of orienteering. It turns out that the directions to the hut we had weren’t the best. The next morning we woke up to more snow and set off to the Stanley Mitchell Hut for the final two nights. louise and richard guy hut

toe of the glacier
Toe of the glacier

skiing off the glacier

anthony and becca orig
The sun started poking thru half way thru the day

Yoho traverse

Turns on the Yoho
Zach making some turns on the way to Stanley Mitchell

We got off the glacier and made out way to the Stanley Mitchell Hut. This hut reminded me of a lot of the 10th Mountain Division huts in Colorado. We enjoyed some sunset runs and blue skies the next day before heading back out to our shuttle vehicle.

Sunset ridge running
Yoho Traverse
Skintrack Up the President/Vice-President Massif
Saddle of the President
Of course the clouds rolled in…
Breakfast for Dinner
The crew at the Stanley Mitchell Hut

While we didn’t have the greatest weather on the traverse, it was great spending time on glaciers to prep for Alaska with two of our good friends. Check out Zach’s blog for some of his words and photos from our trip (as well as his other amazing photos): Zachary Stephen Miller

Post traverse Upslope beer!

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