A Week in the Rockies, Day 4, Eiffel Lake

The trail leaves from Morraine Lake, and as usual, there were a lot of people at the parking lot. The last time I was there was probably twenty years ago, and at that time all it had was a (closed) lodge. Now there is a condo development and the TH is turning into a proper tourist trap.

Just a few hundred meters down the lake, though, and you start a series of switchbacks that takes you up about 350 meters in a short time. Eliminates a lot of the less-determined pedestrian traffic. Great views as you ascend, with glimpses of the lake below.

At the top, the trail splits: right is to Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass. We went left to try for Eiffel Lake and Wenkchemka Pass. The trial isn't steep from the split, and it opens up nicely to give views of the morraine-filled valley as you climb to the top. Four snowfields to cross - good kickstepping, but a long way to slide to the bottom if you weren't paying attention. As usual, I left my axe back in the car. Sigh.  

Stopped for lunch and enjoyed the views. Wenchemka was still snowed in and we would have been postholing to get there, so we decided to realx instead, then came on down again. Total elevation gain per my altimeter 430m.

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