Eking out one more backcountry ski tour for
the season, Zosia Zgolak and I hooked up with Tana Stratton to ski the
Dolomite Circuit in Alberta's Banff National Park on 2 May 2021.
This classic ski tour is well-described in Chic Scott's Ski Trails in
the Canadian Rockies as well as numerous websites.
Zosia and I met Tana at the Mosquito Creek trailhead parking lot (west
side of Highway 93, 24 kilometres north of the junction with Trans-Canada
Highway), and after using the outhouses at the nearby hostel, we left her
car there and piled into my car for the short drive (4.6 kilometres)
north to the Helen Creek trailhead (pullout only, no facilities). A
large group with the Canadian Scrambling and Mountaineering Club (CSMC)
was just starting out when we pulled into the parking area, but by the
time we were ready to go, we pretty much had the trail all to ourselves.
The well-established skin track was quite crusty at the start, and Tana,
Zosia and I had to resort to side-stepping to get up one or two steep
sections. Snow conditions improved once we crested the first ridge
and dropped down slightly to cross Helen Creek. The skin track was
generally easy to follow along the valley, but we still managed to make a
wrong turn when we ended up on the east bank of the outlet creek from
Lake Katherine. Fortunately, Tana, who has done this ski tour twice
already, realized that we were off-route, and we quickly corrected our
course without too much wasted effort. Much sustained climbing
followed, but we eventually broke out of the trees and subsequently
gained the southeast end of an unnamed ridge between Lake Helen and Lake
Katherine. Some people refer to this as "Katherine Ridge" while Bob
Spirko calls it "Helen-Kate Ridge". In any case, we easily climbed
up to the high point of the ridge and stripped off our climbing skins
before enjoying a nice cruise down to snow-covered Lake Katherine.
We caught up to the CSMC group here as several of them were doing laps
off the ridge, and I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with some
familiar people including Jessica Murray whom I knew through Facebook but
had never met in person before. Her husband, Dave Murray, was also
there as well as Rob Maybury, with whom I did a
trip into St.
Mary's Alpine Provincial Park in 2016, and Jason Minski, whom I met on an
Alpine Club of Canada
trip
organized by Zosia earlier that same year.
Just east of Lake Katherine, Tana, Zosia and I stopped for a break beside
one of several big boulders strewn across Dolomite Pass. When we
resumed skiing, the CSMC group was also on the move again, and we shared
the trail with them intermittently for the remainder of the circuit.
East of Dolomite Pass, we dropped briefly into a vast flat area before
re-attaching skins and commencing a long but gentle climb up to a col
between the northeast outlier of Dolomite Peak and unofficially-named OXO
Peak. Temperatures were unbelievably warm here without a hint of
wind, and we were all skiing in just our base layers at this point.
Upon reaching the col, we stopped to remove our skins again and proceeded
to ski down the other side. Ski conditions on this day were okay
but far from amazing. The generally flat light due to cloud cover
certainly did not help my mood, but more than anything else, the snow was
wet and a bit "grabby" which I hate. After skiing through a choke
point, we entered a wide open valley with mostly gentle slopes, but there
is at least one annoying flat section which requires some poling.
When we reached the edge of the forest above Mosquito Creek, we were a
bit undecided about which route to take--plunging directly into the
forest or staying on a high bench and possibly avoiding Mosquito Creek
altogether. Tana had always done the latter and was advocating to
do so again, but Zosia and I thought it might be easier to gain Mosquito
Creek trail as soon as possible. In the end, we opted for
descending directly to Mosquito Creek, and the CSMC group caught up to us
here and also did the same. The tightness of the trees and
steepness of the slope certainly made the descent through the forest
challenging, but the poor snow conditions--isothermal mush--only made
things worse. We were in full survival ski mode here employing a
lot of side-slipping and kick-turns to get down tricky terrain.
Besides a couple of wipe-outs, I inadvertently ran into numerous trees
and nearly got sucked into deep tree wells a few times. It was not
pretty! To her credit, Tana did a great job of leading us down the
most hellish sections, and we all breathed a big sigh of relief when we
finally intersected Mosquito Creek trail. Other than a few too many
annoying undulations along the trail, the remaining ski out to the
Mosquito Creek trailhead was straightforward. Tana drove Zosia and
me back to my car at the Helen Creek trailhead before we parted ways.
Despite the so-so snow conditions and less-than-memorable descent into
Mosquito Creek, I still enjoyed skiing the Dolomite Circuit overall, and
certainly, the warm weather and awesome company contributed greatly to my
enjoyment. A return trip in the future is definitely warranted, and
I think that there are other areas (eg. Cirque Peak or Lake Helen) in the
vicinity that would be worth further exploration on skis.
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Parking space at Helen Creek trailhead is severely limited.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak |
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The steep crusty trail near the beginning already requires some
side-stepping to climb up. |
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Tana watches Zosia crossing Helen Creek on a snow-covered log. |
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The route heads a little left here but eventually climbs over the ridge
at far right. |
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Zosia follows Tana across a narrow snow bridge beside the outlet creek of
Lake Katherine. |
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Tana and Zosia emerge from the forest and will shortly turn to the right.
Visible at far left is
Cirque Peak. |
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The route traverses the slope ahead and climbs to the left. |
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Tana and Zosia continue to follow the skin track heading up the gap to
the right. |
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Here is a comprehensive view of
Dolomite Peak
with Mount Hector visible in the distance at right. |
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Zosia and Tana climb up an unnamed ridge in front of Cirque Peak.
Some people refer to this as "Katherine Ridge" while Bob Spirko calls it
"Helen-Kate
Ridge" since it sits between Lake Helen
and Lake Katherine. |
Here is a grand view of Dolomite Peak and its extended north ridge from
the top of Katherine Ridge (2553 metres).
Tana skis down the easy eastern slope of Katherine Ridge.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
Sonny descends to snow-covered Lake Katherine and Dolomite Pass.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
Sonny crosses Dolomite Pass with Cirque Peak in the background.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
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The route passes below the impressive west face of unofficially-named
OXO Peak. |
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Zosia and Tana climb in front of the northeast aspect of Dolomite Peak. |
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A conga line of skiers parades toward the col at right. |
Three intrepid skiers take a higher line below the northeast face of
Dolomite Peak.
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Sonny, Zosia and Tana pose at the col (2568 metres) which is the high
point of Dolomite Circuit. |
Tana heads down the far side of the col with Mount Hector visible at
distant right.
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Sonny descends from the col.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak |
Sonny skis past some impressive cliff bands.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
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Zosia descends through a choke point along the route. |
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Sonny comes down the same choke point.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak |
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The route enters this wide open valley and heads past the distant trees
at far right. Visible at left is
Noseeum Mountain. |
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Sonny tucks to squeeze out some extra momentum while crossing a flat
section in the valley.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak |
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Zosia approaches the edge of the forest above Mosquito Creek. |
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The ski descent to Mosquito Creek is challenging.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak |
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Past all difficulties, Zosia and Tana ski out along Mosquito Creek trail. |
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Total
Distance: 17.8 kilometres
Round-Trip Time: 7 hours 47 minutes
Cumulative
Elevation Gain: 949 metres
GPX Data |
