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Skiers brave cold to celebrate David Thompson bi-centennial

When Jerry Auld read explorer David Thompson's account of his journey up the Whirlpool River in two-metre deep snow and -30 C temperatures with a broken snowshoe, which culminated in his first crossing of Athabasca Pass in 1811 with his guide Thomas
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When Jerry Auld read explorer David Thompson's account of his journey up the Whirlpool River in two-metre deep snow and -30 C temperatures with a broken snowshoe, which culminated in his first crossing of Athabasca Pass in 1811 with his guide Thomas the Iroquois and 13 men, Auld thought, "man, that sounds tough."

Exactly 200 years later-to the day-on Jan. 10 Auld reached Athabasca Pass, but found he'd followed a little more literally in Thompson's footsteps than planned.

Author of the historical novel Hooker & Brown, which centres around events related to the remote mountain pass which reigned as the key fur trade route through the Rockies to the Columbia River through much of the 19th century, Auld was one of 27 people who planned to ski to Athabasca Pass to celebrate the bicentennial of Thompson's first crossing.

On Saturday, Jan. 8, Auld and Dustin Lynx, author of Hiking Canada's Great Divide Trail, applied skins to their ski bases, hoisted heavy multi-day packs and began skiing the 58 kilometres from the Meeting of the Waters picnic area to Athabasca Pass.

While three groups totalling 14 skiers, including several Jasper National Park public safety specialists had skied the route on Jan. 5 and 6 to break trail and set up a base camp complete with a wood stove-heated walled tent at Kane Meadows eight kilometres below the pass, by the time Auld, Lynx, mountain writer Chic Scott and ski partner Margaret Gmoser, and nine others started out, a storm had dumped 40 centimetres onto the trail the public safety team had set to help facilitate everyone's travel.

Of those who set out Jan. 8, only Auld and Lynx would ultimately reach the pass.

"It was tough terrain-up and down and twisty," said Auld who had travelled the route on foot twice before.

As they skied on the frozen and snow-covered Whirlpool River, they encountered sections where cracks in the ice allowed water to pulse up from beneath the surface.

"The water comes up then mixes with the fresh snow to create a kind of slush," Auld described. "As soon as your ski hits this stuff, it bonds to the ski instantly, adding about 40 pounds. You pull your foot up and it's like having a bucket of water attached to the tip of your ski. You can't go anywhere until you hack it off with your shovel."

After setting out in reasonable -15 C temperatures, Lynx and Auld camped the second night in -33 C temperatures next to Scott and Gmoser at Scott Gravel Flats, with a view of the Scott Glacier.

"Margaret was just so joyful, it made camping in -33 so much more pleasurable," Auld said.

The experience also had special meaning for Auld.

"Chic hadn't seen that glacier in 43 years, since he skied the Great Divide Traverse the year before I was born," Auld said. "That was one of the defining moments of my life, being with Chic, one of my heroes, in that place. It was history meeting real life."

Still 18 kilometres from Athabasca Pass, Scott and Gmoser decided to head back to civilization and escape the brutal cold, and to ensure that Scott would reach Canmore to give an ACC RMS presentation on Jan. 12.

By the end of the trip, both Scott and Lynx had suffered frostbitten fingers.

As Auld and Lynx skied on, the arduous conditions caused one of Auld's telemark bindings to snap. Auld was relieved to reach the warden tent where he rigged a workable binding with wire and cordlette and a power strap from his boot. Determined, he followed Lynx through the woods to Athabasca Pass, arriving in time to celebrate the bicentennial at 3:30 p.m. with Jasper park cultural resource specialists Mike Dillon and Greg Horne, and Edmonton journalist Ed Struzik at the frozen lakes called the Committee's Punchbowl, where a plaque marks the national historic site that spans both sides of the Alberta/BC border.

"I was cold in ways I'd never been cold before," admitted Dillon. "But it was neat to be up there, and see the landscape the way Thompson saw it. Some of the glaciers have receded, but not much else has changed."

"It was super clear, a beautiful day," Auld said. "We toasted David Thompson with metal flasks, but we had to be careful not to stick them to our mouths."

Then barely a kilometre back down the pass, Auld's other binding broke. Forced to travel through deep snow on only one ski, a run-in with a tree flipped him on his back.

"I remember thinking how tough David Thompson and his men were, and we had almost exactly the same conditions," Auld said. "By then I was thinking, this idea of skiing in his footsteps was getting way too literal-except he didn't have wardens and a heated tent. I was so happy to have that support."

The celebrations continued after everyone skied out with the "Fur Ball" in Jasper kicking off that town's winter carnival, compete with period costumes.

"David Thompson didn't have maps," Auld said. "We are the first generation in history with no white spaces on the maps. I wanted to walk in his footsteps and re-imagine that mystery."