(trip report by Sarah Mitchell)
Despite the strange trail name this trip was super fun including lots of rainy snow, cool mystical views of cloudy mountains, and most importantly – our top-notch snow fort kitchen. We started the day (after some mild faffing) in a modo packed with skis, then left the trail head at Manning park in the pretty much pouring rain, constantly expecting the rain to turn to snow. The trail was mildly uphill, with some flat sections and some steep uphills. At around 3 PM we settled on a spot to set up camp and planned to trek up the nearby slope for some runs after setting up camp, but instead we ended up making an elaborate kitchen snow fort. It truly was a group bonding experience as everyone was involved in someway either the shovelling or the tarp laying or both.
Well after all that was done we shot the shit and learnt about each other, namely weird parents’ allergies, our favorite books (shout out to ‘Even Cowgirls Get The Blues’ by Tom Robbins) and about the crazy adventures people in the group had been on. And eventually it was time for dinner in our lovely tarp kitchen! And after dinner more gabbing of course so no more skiing, but we were ok with that.
Our kitchen / dining room / living room! Feat. Adam, Dave, Alex, Mia, Martin, Sarah, Andrew, Julia. Photo creds to Margot.
After a frosty sleep (despite it being ‘not that cold’, this was some of us’s first winter camping trip, and sometimes there’s only so much a hot water bottle can do) we had breakfast and headed out for some turns. Well, everyone else did, I was on snowshoes so I got to jog down with them. We had lunch then hit the road to head back! Into the rainy city… All in all a great way to spend a weekend, shoutout to Mia for organizing and Adam and Dave for driving!
photo creds to Margot