Trip Report - Mt. Hector, South Ridge

I'd been a bit of a lazy potato since getting back from the 'Stans a month ago, so it felt good to get out to the mountains this past weekend. We hit the Icefields Parkway for a snowshoe adventure up the south ridge of Mt. Hector. Unfortunately, on the way up, every step was a punishing bit of trailbreaking, as your snowshoes acted like shovels clearing a foot deep driveway. We gained about 550m of elevation before giving up at a high point, exhausted, and still a bit away from the summit. And on the way down, it was just puking snow on us, while I fell or tumbled down slopes more times than I could count. But hey, we didn't die in an avalanche, so there's that, right?

The Stans: Kulikalon Lakes

I began combing through the thousands of photos from our time in Central Asia, and much like when presented with a menu featuring too many delicious options, it becomes overwhelming to make a selection and so you end up closing your eyes and pointing at something, only to be disappointed that you chose a veggie burger made of plant based egg substitute with soy fries. The "burden of choice" is alive and real, my friends.

So as I wasted entirely too much time trying to rationally curate a collection of photos to sum up the entire trip, I realized it was hopeless, and instead selected a very limited set from the beautiful first camp on our trek in Tajikistan. After a long-ish day of hiking, we reached the cirque of Kulikalon Lakes, three alpine tarns fed by the enormous Chimtarga glacier. We could not have asked for a more picturesque panorama to pitch our tents in, and were lucky to have seen both a beautiful sunset and sunrise here before moving further up into the mountains.


Sunset over one of the lakes.


Anita and Jas survey the landscape as we first neared our camp in the late afternoon.


Taking a moment to soak it all in.








This was actually taken at night, well after sunset. It was a full moon that evening, so even deep into the evening with the stars out, it was still amply bright.


Reflections at sunrise.