Edith Cavell - Jasper National Park AB

I hiked up Edith Cavell road south of Jasper AB on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the Edith Cavell hostel completely alone. This was my first time in the Canadian Rockies and I doubted that I would even be able to ski anything except maybe the road to the hostel. It turned out that the road didn't have any snow at all 7 miles up to the hostel. After a quick hike a little further up the road to find some fresh water I noticed that the road did have snow further up so I decided to take the next day and hike in as far as I could and try to enjoy some skiing. The next morning I started hiking up the road at about 11am after sleeping in and enjoying a slow breakfast. After touring to the road end I saw the eastern col off in the distance so I headed towards it. The snow was pretty firm except about an inch all the way to about 500' from the top of the col. I worked up the firm snow and made it to the col and was able to see the eastern ridge and the eastern summit. I debated about climbing it but noticed some runnels and was concerned about stability so I opted to ski down instead and while packing a nice avalanche started right inside the runnel pictured in the photo. The first turns were firm but then the snow softened up and I was able to ski all the way back to the road. Once back to the hostel I packed and started out and endured some painful road hiking to my car. I opted to check out Miette hot springs north of Jasper and the views of the mountains and wildlife were out of control. Moose and caribou were out grazing and the mountains in all directions were amazing. Tonight I'm sitting at a hotel in Jasper resting. Tomorrow I'm heading down hwy 93 to Lake Louise. Next stop is the Elizabeth Parker cabin and hopefully more skiing around Mount Alberta.