In 1929 six Jasper men decided they would like to make a 220 mile ski trip to Banff following what is now the Icefields Parkway. During the summer they travelled by horse to several cabins in Jasper and Banff and stored bags of food for the trip. On January 15th 1930, Joe Weiss, Vern & Doug Jeffery, Frank Burstrom and Pete Withers set off. Jack Brewster was injured and had to stay behind.
When they left Jasper, it was -23 and as they travelled towards their first stop at Athabasca Falls, it got even colder.
Whenever they could, they travelled along the river because the skiing was better but, when that wasn’t possible, they had to break trail through the brush. They were able to use warden cabins for part of their trip but they also camped with a wikiup as shelter building a fire in front to keep them warm.
When they reached Sunwapta Canyon there was open water so they had to climb out and go around, then continue on past the Columbia Icefields crossing into Banff National Park.
Near Saskatchewan River Crossing they were met by two Banff wardens who had snowshoed out to look for them. The trip was a bit easier after that as they had broken trails to get them to Bow Lake and then to Lake Louise and Banff. They arrived just in time for the Banff winter carnival on February 4th.
