Coconuts to Crampons: Ice-fields Parkway, Observation Peak

Itching to get up high and do some climbing, we headed to the Ice-fields Parkway. This scenic highway runs between Jasper and Lake Louise traversing the rocky mountains parallel to the continental divide. The road is rugged, high-elevation and can get pretty nasty in the winter. We stayed in a wilderness hostel (= no electricity, no showers) up at a place called Mosquito Creek and basically had the entire place to ourselves. We ended up sharing a large cabin with only another couple which we met while skiing in Steep creek - this was not planned at all. They just walked in and we had a "Hey, I know you!" moment.

Since the weather was cold and clear with little new snow, we decided to climb the SW ridge of Observation Peak. Near the Bow Summit (high point of the Icefields Parkway), the Observation summit has a great view of many of the surrounding peaks and is a reasonably safe objective in the winter. We headed out in the morning with our new friends from the hostel for an attempt at the summit - the great thing about climbing in the winter is that we don't have to get up so early sicne its so damn cold! The climb was pretty straightforward with a lot of boot packing near the top - the summit ridge was fairly exposed and we were forced to stop a few100m from the summit since we didn't bring any technical climbing gear with us. Even the ski back down the summit ridge was pretty good - super dry, cold powder snow (but sprinkled with a few rocks here and there).