BOU AVENUE
Elephant Rocks

On 15 March 2025, Zosia Zgolak and I did a ski tour to Elephant Rocks near Chester Lake in Alberta's Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.  The ski tour is described in Gillean Daffern's out-of-print guidebook, Kananaskis Country Ski Trails, and although Zosia and I had both skied here before, a recent fresh dump of snow gave us a good excuse for a return visit.  The avalanche hazard was rated "Considerable" for this region on this day, and our intention was to stick to mainly conservative terrain.  Even as we drove out to the mountains that morning, we were already aware of two separate avalanche incidents that happened the previous day in the Canadian Rockies, and sadly, we would later find out that both resulted in fatalities.

From Chester Lake trailhead (50.79078, -W115.30037), Zosia and I started up a well-established track on a trail reserved exclusively for skiers (snowshoers have a completely separate trail to access Chester Lake).  About half a kilometre from the trailhead, the skiers' trail splits into designated uphill and downhill routes, but on this day, it appeared that most skiers that came before us simply climbed the downhill route (left at junction).  With excellent snow conditions, we had no issues whatsoever following the ski track all the way to Chester Lake and arrived in a little under two hours.  From the northwest corner of the lake, we followed a snowshoe track up a forested slope and soon reached the first of two clusters of boulders comprising Elephant Rocks.  After poking around a bit here, we continued heading northwest along the snowshoe track until it ended near the entrance to what Daffern calls "Three Lakes Valley" (the hanging valley south of Mount Galatea).  At this point, Zosia began breaking trail on the faint remnants of an old ski track, and we eventually climbed to the top of a lightly forested knob separating Elephant Rocks from Three Lakes Valley.  This was a logical place to stop since we were reluctant to venture into more complex avalanche terrain further up the valley.  While we took a short break on the knob, we were reassured of our decision to stop when we saw some light avalanches coming down the nearby south ridge of Gusty Peak.

After removing our climbing skins, Zosia and I skied down the south side of the knob back to Elephant Rocks.  We were initially worried that the forest would be too dense here, but the route turned out to be quite reasonable to ski.  Back at Elephant Rocks, we went and explored the second cluster of boulders before descending another well-traveled track which ultimately popped out of the trees near the west side of Chester Lake.  Other than one or two short but annoying uphill sections, the return ski to the trailhead was a blast and capped off a thoroughly enjoyable day of skiing.
It's crazy that some skiers drag their dogs along the ski trail. Zosia starts along the designated skiers' trail at Chester Lake trailhead.
Hard to believe I scrambled up that in a previous life... Mount Chester looms in the background as Zosia makes her way across snow-covered meadows.
Hard to believe I scrambled up that with a 1:40 PM start in mid-October! Zosia arrives at Chester Lake with Gusty Peak in the background.
 

Doesn't look like any of the boulders have moved since I was last here 20 years ago!

Sonny arrives at the first of two clusters of boulders comprising Elephant Rocks.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

 

That big open slope in the distance looks very enticing...and dangerous! While poking around the boulders of Elephant Rocks, Zosia considers where to go next.
The real adventure begins!

Zosia breaks trail at the entrance to Three Lakes Valley.

Good enough for when avi hazard is high! This lightly forested knob just north of Elephant Rocks is the high point of the ski tour (2326 metres).
Throw me a rope? Sonny stands in a deep hole after stepping out of his skis.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Time to rock and roll! Zosia prepares to ski off the top of the knob.
That was a nice short cut! Zosia pops out of the trees just above Elephant Rocks.
Story of my life... Sonny gets down on his hands and knees to climb up among a second cluster of boulders at Elephant Rocks.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Doesn't look like much, eh? In this view from the second cluster of boulders, the knob from which Zosia skied is somewhere behind her at the top edge of the trees.
Lotsa larches here...maybe we'll come back in the fall! Here is a last look at Elephant Rocks as Zosia prepares to depart the area.
Hard to believe, but there's one more annoying hill to climb up on the way out! Zosia returns to the designated skiers' trail on her way out from Chester Lake.
An excellent ski tour when snow conditions are good but avalanche hazard is high. Total Distance:  11.2 kilometres
Round-Trip Time:  5 hours 22 minutes
Cumulative Elevation Gain:  411 metres

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