Sat, Oct 29 2016, Sun, Oct 30 2016 - Egypt Lake Hut Winter Camping Trip (View Original Event Details)
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Egypt Lake Shelter was our destination. The purpose of the pre-meeting a week prior was to emphasize the difficulty of a 21km one way trek. We were all well aware that we would encounter deep snow at some point and likely would have to break the path in. We lucked out! There was another group attempting a more challenging endeavour. They dropped one vehicle off at our starting point near the Redearth Creek Trailhead and then piled into another vehicle to drive 15 minutes up to Sunshine Village Ski Resort. They made a tiny little path for us to follow along for a good 6km stretch starting from Egypt Lake. (We finally met up with them at the 15km mark from Redearth Creek Trailhead. They put in 19kms from Sunshine Village and still had 15 kms left) They were attempting a 34 km hike without snowshoes. OUCH!
This trip was a challenge for all. Some of us were very near our breaking point. The pace was a bit too slow and we ended up hitting darkness during the most challenging section of the hike. Our trek in took over 13 hours to complete. It was a battle to keep everyone going, but a turn around point was not possible. We had no choice but to continue on until we found the shelter. We decided to ditch some winter gear to lighten the pack for a member. Took our time along the 6km stretch in the darkness (Our pace at this point was 1-1.5km/hr at the most).
It was a successful trip in that we made it to our destination and back. However the plan was to test out winter camping near the shelter and this did not happen. I want to thank everyone for keeping the morale up and being such amazing team players! This trip would not have been possible without all the positive energy.
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Mark G at photos@edmontonoutdoorclub.com. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to thirty of your favourites (only) for a day event, or up to sixty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.