Saturday, January 24th, 26 - Hanging Lake
Crossing the south end of Hanging Lake heading for the spot of sunshine to the right and up, image by Sheila
Sheila writes:-
The original plan was to snowshoe to Keith’s Hut, but after three of us did a recon I decided to go with PLAN B as the snow to Keith’s Hut wasn’t great and it’s a long drive to the trailhead. Our PLAN B to Hanging Lake turned out to be an amazing day in the sunshine.
Starting out at 9:15am with a temp of -9 degrees it wasn’t long before we stopped to take off a couple of layers as we started the moderate ascent to our destination. We carried our snowshoes, but ended up wearing our spikes the entire way to the ridge above Hanging Lake and back as the snow was pretty packed down. The trail was more packed down and icier in some areas as we hiked through the forest, but once we reached the open boulder area the snow was deeper and a bit softer, but was still ok with spikes, as was the lake crossing and the hike up to the ridge. Once on the ridge we settled in for lunch in the sunshine and magnificent views of Hanging Lake, Rainbow Mtn and Gin Peak. A short walk along the ridge and you could look down onto a snow covered Rainbow Lake.
Hike details: 10km RT, 679 m EG and 5 hours RT. We were down in plenty of time to stop by the lodge for a tea or coffee before driving back home.
Next year we’ll aim for Gin Peak if avalanche conditions are low risk.
Thanks to all that joined this hike and made it a great outing.
