Justine was traveling this weekend, so my friend Bill and I decided to go snowshoeing. We decided to head north up to Callahan valley just south of Whistler. This was one of the sites from the 2010 Olympics, where they did the cross country skiing events.
Sadly, there hasn't been a lot of snow in the last little while. Still it was nice to get out and enjoy the bright sunshine and catch up with Bill.
There wasn't much new snow, and the trails were pretty hard and icy. Still, the sunshine was nice, and the views were pretty great. We also saw some friends of Justine, Laura and Sara at the trailhead, which was nice.
We had wanted to do the hike out to Alexander Falls, which Justine and I had done a couple of years ago. Unlike that trip where there had been a ton of snow, this year was not so good and the trail was closed.
On our way back, near the central warming hut.
It hasn't snowed much, and it has been cold. With the sunshine during the day melting the top layer of snow, the sudden drop in temperature at night creates these very cool crystal formations. All of the undisturbed snow had these formations seemly growing out of the snow.
At the warming hut, they had a nice fire going in the outdoor fire pit. We stopped and had a beverage, before completing our walk back.
A good end to day hiking in the snow.