Our annual backpacking trip of 2024. Every year Nic and I go on a backpacking trip, searching for adventures and creating memories. This year we wanted to go Northover Ridge, however snow conditions this year didn’t let us go through the pass, so we went up and down to Aster Lake the same way. We started at noon, and the first 5kms are flat around the Upper Lake in Kananaskis. After that we sat by the lake and have lunch. We started climbing and the following 6+ kms are steep and with lots of loose gravel and water falls crossing though snow. The crux was a bit of scramble mixed with rock climbing, but to some extend it was doable even with large packs on our backs.. After that the trail goes down and up to Aster Lake (our final destination). We have to reserve months in advance since this is a popular destination and only has 6 tent pads.. We made it to the Lake in 4 ½ hours with only one stop. After setting up our tent we had supper, rested a bit longer and went out for a short hike around Aster Lake to see the conditions of Northover. The snow was deep and we decided not to take the ridge as planned and instead to hike down the same way we went up.
We saw a group of 3 hikers coming from Norhover and when we asked about the trail conditions they said the snow was knee deep and the trail was barely visible.. it took them 8 ½ hours to go over a section that normally takes 3…
After a great and warm night we woke up at 8:30, had breakfast and started the hike down.
As we were crossing one of the first snow paths, Nic slid down about 10mts ! super scary moment as it could have ended up in tragedy ! OMG I was shaking for a few minutes and after making sure he didn’t have any injuries we took it super slow and even rope ourselves in the way down as extra protection.
When we came to the crux, decided to climb down without packs, one at the time, after that I went up twice to bring the backpacks down.
It took us a long time on the loose scree, if you slide down it will be very very dangerous.
Once that section was over and at the Hidden Lakes we sat for lunch and continued our way back to the car. 5 hours in total for the way down, we had a great time and were home by 6pm.
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