Fairview Mountain II
 
May 17, 2003
 
Mountain height: 2744 m
Elevation gain:    1000 m
 
Snowshoeing with Mark. 
 
A wild second ascent of one Lake Louise’s innumerable gems. I had completed a summer ascent of Fairview Mountain a year earlier with Colleen and although May 17 does not fall within the official dates of winter, it’s usually still full-on winter conditions at this time of the year in this area of the world.
 
As such, we strapped on the snowshoes and made our way up to Saddleback Pass. Snowy views of Haddo Peak were outstanding. From there the ascent was straightforward, though it felt much steeper wearing snowshoes than on foot. Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated as we made our way up. Nevertheless, we were treated to a cloudy, yet ethereal view at the top.
 
The descent was simply a riot! We were able to Crazy Carpet almost all the way down to the Pass. I wish I had timed the difference between our ascent and descent times! A mercifully easy snowshoe back to the parking lot ended a terrific day out.

Haddo Peak



Mount Temple



The upper part of Mount Temple's daunting north face



Success!



Mark at the top



Cloudy but cool view



Nothing better than than a $5 Crazy Carpet and a good snow slope!

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