Home > Trip Reports > November 27-28, Elfin Lakes, BC

November 27-28, Elfin Lakes, BC

11/15/09
Canada BC
4311
5
Posted by andyrew on 11/29/09 4:09pm
Beautiful weather and lousy snow on Friday, with an inch of dust over a bumpy, runneled raincrust.


We only had to share the hut with five other people and two mice that night.  Almost as soon as we arrived, the clouds moved in and it started snowing.  By morning, seven or eight inches of light snow had fallen.  I tagged along with a group of friendly good ol' boys from Squamish and took a lap off of Columnar.  It was real nice in open and gladed terrain, and pretty lousy still in the trees, where the new snow hadn't yet hidden the "texture" in the rain crust.

We left that afternoon, having only planned on staying Friday after hearing horror stories of overcrowding in the hut on the weekends.  Yet it looked like the Squamish good ol' boys were going to have the cabin to themselves, since we passed only a single, lone skier en route to the hut on our way out.  The rangers said that on previous weekends this year the hut has been a junkshow, so I'm not sure what kept the hoards away last weekend.

The snow had turned to rain back at the parking lot, and it was warming aloft when we left.

Love that place and had a great time out there a few years back.
How's the parking issue at the TH.?
A while back,  car break-in at the TH was a real problem!

There were prominent warnings up about leaving valuables in cars, but no one mentioned it as a reason to avoid the area (in contrast to overcrowding on weekends and a gnarly drive up the road at times, which people did mention).  I might have even seen a sign about a surveillance camera at the trail head.

Sure is some rad terrain around there...the Garibaldi-Nevé traverse looks awesome.

If you guys knew what Andrew's car looked like, then you might better appreciate his lack of concern over car break-ins. Pretty shrewd, actually.

Yes, the terrain is rad. I do not spend enough time in BC. At all. Way to go get it.

Yep. Terrian is awesome and Mt Atwell like some Peruvian mountian from there.
We toured up over the Gargoyles towards Little Diamond Head. Very Nice.
We met some experienced locals on that trip who had brought a tent despite the hut being only half full.
They obviously knew what they were doing as the snoring kept me awake all night whereas they had a nice sleep and dried out and cooked in the hut only.

Elfin Lakes is great, and there is every angle facing every direction within an hour or two from the hut.  I didn't mind sleeping inside.  You could also dig a snow-cave and fill the pack space with booze and treats instead of a tent.  8)

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november-27-28-elfin-lakes-bc
andyrew
2009-11-30 00:09:13