Fortress Mountain March 31, 2018

On the drive out to the Casino to meet up with White Mountain Adventures, I sensed this day snowshoeing up on Fortress Mountain was going to be one of those days, you know, one of those days!  What a gift to have the cold January-like temperatures and the type of February snow both on a spring day when it's time to say good-bye to March.  I hoped for something special but what transpired far exceeded my expectations and I was transported both physically and mentally to "on top of the world"!

This Guiding Company went above and beyond today to take the two of us above and beyond.  Their rule is they need four for this adventure to go ahead.  I tried twice for a February trip with no success.  We were both determined and they decided we can make this happen today for just these two ladies.  For some reason which they don't know why, this particular full day snowshoeing adventure has not proved popular.  If I could round up eight strong snowshoeing friends, they would hold a private adventure for us up on Fortress Mountain. similar to what I experienced today.

view as we geared up 

The only tough decision today was which direction to head.  

Doing a 360, you could not go wrong whether you headed north, south, east or west.  

We aimed for the untouched pure white gold.  

The views were incredible right from the get-go.  Fortress Mountain is known for being the set of three movies;  The Bourne Legacy, Inception and The Revenant.  I am not that much into movies but those of you who are may recognize some of the scenery.

I hope you have settled in and got comfy for this read.  It is a bigger post which is worthy for being such a big day.  Up on Fortress Mountain you will find a wide open gigantic playground.  Being just the three of us and being strong snowshoers and game for adventure, our guide took us further above and beyond.  This place is a snowshoers & photographers dream.  We indulged!

The Fortress was prominent for most of our day.

After ascending through some deep pow, we then veered onto the cat track to take us even higher.

We were the only snowshoers on this mountain today plus there was a group of cat skiers off on the ski slopes.  A couple of fellows who were working with them and monitoring the conditions and keeping track of where people were stopped and chatted with us for a bit.  Thank you for capturing this shot for us.  Our guide wanted to get to Bonsai Lake for our lunch break.  We got directions on the route to take.

We hugged the tree line, leaving the wide open slope pure for the skiers.  

Our guide pointed to Bonsai Lake which is at the very bottom in that wide open space.  

OMG was what I thought!  

We began the gigantic steep descent, assessing the best route as we went.  The Guide went first and waited for us.  He captured a video of us making our descent.  It was so much fun, I was squealing with delight.  I asked for a pinch thinking this was a dream, it felt like it!  But it was as real as it gets! 

We still had more steep descending through the white gold to reach the bottom.

still making our way down

We arrived at Bonsai Lake and set up the picnic table and bench.  This adventure included a decadent lunch.  We had hot chicken vegetable soup, our choice of sandwich (we went for turkey which we got to pick when we signed up for this trek), hot chocolate, cookies, plus apples and energy bars if we wanted them.  Our guide picked up our lunch from a cafe in Banff before leaving to pick us up.  There was some snowmobile activity in the area.  The cat skiers were having their lunch set up at The Bourne.  This collage shows the snowmobiler, us toasting to our day, the lunch time view, the lone bonsai tree which is perched on a gigantic boulder, and you can see our picnic spot through the boulders.  

After investing time savouring the scenery and our lunch, we then packed up and had to make another tough decision.  Which direction should we go.  Once again, you could not go wrong whether you aimed north, south, east or west.  We aimed in the direction that would create a loop.  This meant breaking trail in deep pow again. 

a tree along the way

It was time to climb gradually back up and now we went back onto the cat track. Our guide told us if the cat happens to come along, we need to get right off the track because that thing is wide. We carried on and went up around the corner and then.....

.....there comes the cat.....

The out of this world views were relentless.  I am glad they were, they gave me reason to stop to capture the prettiness.  I was feeling tired climbing too.  This must have been a delight for the snowmobiler.

A view of the tracks made by the cat skiers.

We arrived back to an area that looked familiar which meant our adventure was coming to an end.  We crossed our track from the morning completing a big loop.  

Instead of following our old track the rest of the way back, we ventured off to enjoy some more of that sweet snow that Fortress Mountain has to offer.  Our guide made sure that every second of our time up here was the best it could be.

I did not want this day to end.  

We settled in the snow to prolong the end even if just for a few minutes.    

A big shout out to our Guide and to White Mountain Adventures for creating such an amazing play date up on Fortress Mountain.  If you got caught up with this ride and read to the end then you now know too that this was one of those days, you know, one of those days that ends up leaving you breathless and lost for words!  THANK YOU FOR TODAY!