We were exactly half-way across the 2km frozen lake, in the middle of the ‘back end of nowhere’ when it happened. Our feet suddenly fell through seemingly solid snow on the lake and straight into the slush of water and ice below….bugger.
Our snowshoeing adventure had started off pretty placid. We awoke to a real Canadian snowpocalypse. Not perfect for mountain views, but when it snows here, it’s warm. So we packed up our gear, grabbed our snowshoes and headed out in the car to Yoho National Park in British Columbia.
If you don’t know what snowshoeing is, here’s the lowdown.
a) What people think it is – walking around with tennis rackets strapped to your shoes
b) What is really is – walking around with a modern-day version of tennis rackets strapped to your shoes
The idea is that you can really off-road it across terrain usually filled with keen hikers in summer and desolate and peacefully quiet in winter for snowshoers. With your weight distributed evenly over the excessively sized snowshoe you can venture out into the back country even in winter with all the fun of leaving Sasquatch-sized footprints in your wake.
Soft snowflakes fell around us as we made our way around the first half of the lake. After stopping for obligatory beer (to admire the view of course), we decided to move this snowshoeing lark up a few gears and really off-road it. We decided to walk out onto the frozen lake.
I use the term ‘frozen’ very loosely.
We knew it wasn’t going to be a smooth ride when we started to sink knee-deep into the powder under-foot. It was like walking through quicksand. Every step sucked at our energy as we battled through the snow. But still we soldiered on across the tundra. We had just reached the half-way point across the lake and all in all, we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, until our confidence came ceremoniously crashing back down to earth and straight through the ice below our feet.
My friend's foot suddenly sunk , mirrored by me two seconds later. It was one of those moments where you lock eyes with each other in a gaze so intense that no words are needed, you are both thinking the same thing…
‘Oh my god, oh my god, we’re going to die, we’re going to fall through the ice and die, I didn’t wear matching underwear and the mortician is going to see it, and I’m going to die, what should we do, I don’t want to move, who’s going to fall through first, oh my god, this is it, we’re going to die’.
We stood motionless for the longest 60 seconds of my life. What should we do? I didn’t read any books on this! Should I throw myself on the ground in an elegant starfish to evenly distribute my weight or should I run like Usain Bolt to the closest resemblance of solid ground? What should I do??
When neither of us had fallen into the frozen lake to our untimely deaths we simultaneously took tentative steps. Slowly. Slowly. After a few brief words (because neither of us wanted to stay in one spot for too long) we took baby steps onwards. Rather than heading back the way we came, we decided to carry on, bite the bullet, grow a pair and continue walking the length of the lake. The glass was already half full…right?! Ha. Well I’m still here to tell the story.
We snowshoed, without further incident, to the other side of the lake with the constant sound of the cracking ice beneath our feet. After scaling a near verticle slope to evade a large portion of the lake, we made it onto solid ground…and straight into a lodge for another beer to settle our nerves – it worked!
We mentioned to the lodge staff about the lake and they graciously informed us that there is often an insulating layer between the snow and ice which often thaws and appears melted. Man, I felt like a tourist! Either way, they were grateful that we told them and sent someone to check it out.
All in all I would recommend snowshoeing. It’s a low intensity winter activity enabling you to see the beautiful mountain vistas on offer year round. Replicating our ‘Extreme snowshoeing’ is entirely optional!
For now,
Jones x
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