Our small group drove to the Callaghan for a day around Hanging Lake. As it has been our luck, we were in a fairly intense storm (the next day was blue bird!!!).We arrived earlier than expected so we had to wait a bit off the side of the road, and then the gate keeper let us in at 8 am. There was a competition on that day so maybe it's why we were let in 30 minutes before the posted time. We were the first ones on the trail to Hanging lake. It was a very steep and fairly packed out track. Our cheeks were a nice shade of red as we climbed the 600 m or so to the lake.  Michaela lost one pole basket from her pole and we searched in vain for it.  Near 1350 m we popped out of the forest into a clearing, below some steep slopes. There we decided to travel with a lot of space between us and as low as possible near the trees. We broke trail at that spot and it was hard work but fun. We rejoined the main packed trail at the top of the slope and arrived at the meadow at the lake elevation. Somehow in the last push Michaela lost her other basket. We decided to pack her pointy daggers and I shared one of my poles with her.

Our goal was to "summit" Gin peak. We had a short lunch break, and as we were sitting down, we saw other people on the trail. A few skiers and split boarders. After our snack we decided to follow a steep trail at the south side of the lake that seemed a more direct route to the summit. We slogged up the steep ski track, with a slight feeling of guilt for packing the skin track. We had very poor visibility and as we got higher, it got even worse.

We kept assessing the slopes as we moved up. We realized that we were still at tree line and that the terrain is made of a series of benches. We saw no signs of avalanche activity and the terrain appeared fairly stable.

After 45 minutes of tough ascent as we neared our turn around time of 1:30, we chose to start descending. Coming down with just one pole was challenging. We definitely tested our gear and learned a few techniques for deep snow (thigh deep in spots) and steep descending. We made it back at the car at 3:30. We were well bagged after the trail breaking in deep snow and the steep descending.The drive back to Vancouver was not too crazy. It was a great day and much was learned. Main lesson: secure the pole baskets. They need to be well wedged in there. Its 3 pole baskets lost in 2 trips!!!!