2007-07-17 Northover Loop

Northover is one of the premier backpacking trips in the Kananaskis region and it’d had been on my list of hikes to do for a long long time. It is a fairly heavily travelled and popular route that starts at the Upper Kananaskis Lake, takes the hiker up to the spectacular Northover Ridge down through Aster Lake and back to the Upper Kan Lake.

Our trip started on the 17th of July at the north parking lot. Our first order of business was to stash a few cold beers in the creek at the South parking lot where out trip would end; this way they’d be perfectly cold when we needed them most!

Sean and David check over their packs before we depart

My gear, ready to go

The first leg of the journey takes one around the north end of the lake, towards the Forks campground thence on to Three Isle Lake, our eventual stopping point that night. It was a scorching hot day, easily 28C or more and a month of sitting on my ass in France wasn’t helping with the hike or the pack! By the time we made it to the first bridge we were all in need of a little cooling off, and Bono wasn’t the only one to push his whole face into the water!

Bono cooling off

A little further along the path and you come a decent little waterfall, it wasn’t terribly spectacular but it did provide a good reason to stop again (c:

Three Isle Lake was reached with very little difficulty, the trail is well maintained and clear the whole way which makes for great traveling. Once we arrived at the mis-named lake (it only has 2 islands!) we dropped our gear, grabbed our water bottles and headed down to the lake. First task: cooling off (a recurring theme)

Sean having a quick shower

David decides to go for a full on swim

I went for a wade and took a few hat-fulls of water myself, but since I’m the one with the camera there aren’t any pictures of it!

We sat by the lake for an hour or two and it wasn’t long until a full-scale rock-skipping contest was struck up. As usual it escalated in the most ridiculous ways until we were attempting to skip massive stones that only created tsunami size splashes, it was great!

The three of us cooking supper

Shortly after supper the weather socked in, dark clouds created by the massive heat of the day filled the skies and broke open with a deluge of rain and hail. We had chosen to carry bivy sacks instead of a tent, thinking that the reduction in weight would more than make up for the versatility… and roughly an hour into the rain we decided we were wrong!

A brief break in the rain

Washing dishes while the rain slows down

Later on, hiding from the rain

It would prove to be a miserable night. The bivy sacks, which are nothing more than Gore-tex bags, weren’t all we had hoped for. They required that a vent be left open so that the user didn’t suffocate and when the vent was open, predicitably, whatever was inside got really wet. All three of us had our own separate puddles to sleep in that night which made for much tossing, turning, swearing and ultimately a very poor sleep.

Mercifully the dawn came early, as it is wont to do in the summer, and we were up at 5am. The main reason was that we wanted to cover as much ground as possible that day before the sun really started doing damage, the other reason which was a really close second is that no one could stand the puddle-sleep any longer. Fortunately the morning dawned with just a hint of drizzle and the promise of a bright clear day.

Looking back down the path toward the lake

David and Sean lead the way

It was to be a beautiful day. The clouds cleared out and before long we were shedding the shells for the heat.

Lush green valley behind us

Somewhere along the line we decided to alter the route a little so that the terrain would be a little easier to traverse. We moved towards the snow field and started out way up it, preferring it to the scree that was the other option.

David heads up the snow

As it turned out, we didn’t hit the ridge where we had hoped to, things just didn’t quite line up the way we had hoped they might and so we ended up traversing the Northover Glacier instead. We could have turned back and gone the proper way, but we had already gained so much elevation it seemed like a waste, and this way was an adventure just the same!

Mt. Northover with the Northover Glacier in the foreground

Sean takes the “Fool’s Route” while Bono looks on
This scene ended up with Sean doing a perfect, though bloody, self-arrest on the ice and snow. He was only one step away from making it too!

Cool patterns in the glacier

Finally, after traversing the glacier we met up with the “proper” route and carried on past the Northover Tarns, which were still covered with a lot of ice.

Northover Tarn

Around 11am or so Aster Lake came into view, and what a wonderful site it was!

Aster Lake

We decided that another wet night was out of the question and that we’d cut the trip from 3 days to 2 by descending from Aster and heading back to the car.

This involved:

  • – a glissade on a snow slope
  • – fording many streams
  • – fording the lake! (doh, went around the wrong side)
  • – crossing a scree slope below Aster Lake
  • – an endless bushwhack around Hidden Lake
  • – a wonderful and rejuvenating swim in the Upper Kan lake

Finally, at 6pm after 13hrs of being on the go we made it back to the parking lot where we’d started… and what was waiting for us?

Perfectly cold beer!

All in all it was a great trip, we saw some amazing things, hiked a heck of a long way and had a great time!

Stats

Distance: 33km

Elevation: 1100m

Route:

Red – Day 1

Blue – Day 2