Chester Lake Trail - Full Moon

Hike Details

Location: Alberta, Canada
Hike Quality (1-5): 4
Hike Difficulty (1-5): 3
Round Trip Distance: 10.2 km
Elevation Gain: 309 m

Trailhead Directions

To find the trailhead: follow the Smith Dorrien Highway / Spray Lakes Rd 37 kms past the Canmore Nordic Centre, and 2 kilometres past the Mt. Shark Turnoff.

Camera Details

Camera: Canon 5D Mk IV
Lens 1: Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM
Lens 2: Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art

Trip Details

Date: December 30, 2017
Start Time: 9:00pm
Total Time: 3.5 hours
Participants: Paige Sorger, Patrick Latter, Jeff Trudel, Ian Grant, Michelle Wong, Chase Babiuk, Marko Pribilovic

Click Here for Current Weather Conditions

We arrived just before 9:00pm and it was already -27°C

We got our gear together as quickly as we could, so that we could start out and get moving to head off the cold.

It was so cold, Jeff’s eyelashes began to freeze.

With the moon and fresh snow reflecting the light, no headlamps were needed.

Taking a break to try and spot constellations.

The light from the moon was so intense it was casting visible shadows!

We reached the lake about 2 hours later and spotted a strange mound of snow just off the trail.

It turned out to be an igloo that someone had made!

It ended up being pretty large on the inside, so all 7 of us piled in to have an impromptu igloo potluck with all the snacks we brought.

With our skins off of our skis we headed back and were down in just under an hour.