Family Day Snowshoeing Part II + Frost Bite

After a cold night out in the wilderness, we felt ambitious from our ascend of Mount Colden and planned a bigger peak to conquer.

We filled our day packs and took all our winter gear as it was -19DegC without wind chills.

Frozen icicles along a narrow pass.

Walking past Avalanche Pass, you can see all the trees that have gathered at the bottom.


Opening at Lake Colden surrounded on both sides by sheer walls.

We put on all our masks + goggles to traverse through this icy lake.


After about 15min we had to find shelter from the wind and ducked back into the forest.

Heading up to Algonquin Peak we found fresh running water and filled up our bottles. Problem was a lot of them were frozen shut!

Quite a steep slope, luckily the snowshoes gave us really good traction.

Taking a break and cooking a hot lunch before the final ascent. However, we cooled off a lot while waiting for the food to cook.

Breaking through the tree lines and seeing the bald peak, we have to go over the top to complete the loop.

Gripping onto the thin layer of snow as gale force winds blow across the peak, we make our way to the top slowly.
Later we found out that the temperature at the peak was -35degF (-37degC) with wind chill!

At the top Algonquin Peak (5114ft). There was no time to celebrate, we had to find the trail markers for the way down.

Carmen exploring a path to reach the trees again.


The descent is even steeper and icy in some parts. Victor just slid down this slope to save some energy.

We got back to our lean-to well after sun down, everyone was exhausted from 9 miles (14.5km) of hiking and elevation climb.

Next day morning we packed all our gear and hiked back out to the Loj, it was a beautiful day.

Back to civilization, we took a quick lunch break at the American Iconic restaurant. Amazing how cheap food is across the border!

Unfortunately, due to a few factors:
1) Poor footwear
2) Too many layers of socks that constricted blood flow
3) Extreme cold conditions.
4) Negligence of her husband…

Carmen’s toes got frost bitten during this adventure and we had to go to the emergency room to get them treated. :(

Here are the blister that resulted from the frost bite. *Warning, graphical contents.*
She’s been a trooper and extremely positive. Her toes are all here and healing well, I will post more updates later on.