Shadow Lake Lodge Cross-Country Ski

February 24-25, 2025

Shadow Lake Lodge is a historic and storied lodge nestled in the backcountry of Banff National Park. Originally built by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), it was one of many log cabins that lured tourists to the Canadian Rockies in the very early days of tourism. It was then sold and operated by the Brewster Family for decades. Most recently, Shadow Lake Lodge was purchased and operated by The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC), who have a long history of operating their extensive inventory of backcountry huts.

I am very thankful that the ACC owns Shadow Lake Lodge, and that they’ve changed how it operates. As anyone who lives near the Canadian Rockies know, all the lodges in our national parks are ridiculously expensive. The only people who can really afford them are tourists from Europe or the States, who automatically get a discount due to their higher dollar. The ACC has swapped the Lodge from high-end full service and catering, to a ‘bring your own food and sleeping bag’ operation. This has drastically lowered the price, and made this historic lodge accessible by locals.

Our custodian Mitch was very friendly, and has worked at Shadow Lake for the past six years. He said the switch to a more budget-friendly model has substantially increased the number of locals at the Lodge.

For those who want some comfort – don’t fret! There is a store that sells beer, wine, snacks and souvenirs. The cabins are well heated, and there is a selection of two person to four person cabins. The main eating/kitchen building is well equipped with a commercial kitchen, and the eating area has tables for two or large groups. The bathroom building is heated with indoor pit toilets, hot water, and even a hot shower.

The original CPR log cabin is still here, and is now a group area with a wood stove, large comfy couches, and tables for doing puzzles or playing games.

Our group of four was organized by my good friend Gail, and included our friend and author Lynn Martel and my new friend Tanya. It was so much fun to get away with this strong group of women who can all ski well and enjoy an adventure. Thank you Gail for making this possible! You’re an excellent leader.

Gear

In the winter, you have your choice of snowshoes, cross-country skiing, alpine touring skis, or fat biking. I was skiing on light touring skis (they look like cross-country skis but are slightly wider with metal edges), but most people ski in on classic cross-country skis.

There is avalanche danger on the Redearth Creek trail. Everyone needs to evaluate the dangers and the avalanche ratings when you go in. In a big snow year, when the avalanche report is High, or in the spring when all that winter snow must come down, then it’s a good idea to have a transceiver, probe and shovel, and know how to use them. When crossing the avalanche slopes, do so one at at time and keep an eye on each member of your group.

Summer Routes

Shadow Lake Lodge is ideally placed for a multi-day backpack through Banff National Park. I did a three day route from Sunshine to Egypt Lake via Healy Pass (Click here for Day 1). Our second day we summited Pharoah Peak and then hiked to the campground next to Shadow Lake Lodge (Click here for Day 2). For our final day, instead of exiting via Redearth Creek, we hiked several passes and lakes to arrive at Vista Lake (Click here for Day 3).

Overview

From the Redearth Creek Trailhead off Highway 1, ski 10 km to the junction. Take the right fork to continue to Shadow Lake Lodge, which is another 3 km. The trail gets steeper and spicier after the fork, with some fun short roller hills.

On the return, we first skied to the actual Shadow Lake. We checked out the Red Chairs, and the impressive ice falls, and then returned to the Lodge. We grabbed our backpacks, and skied down to the junction. Here we went right to see the Warden’s Cabin. We returned to the junction, and skied back to the trailhead.

Totals – Downloadable Tracks on Gaia, and on Strava

SKI IN TO SHADOW LAKE LODGE:
Date: February 24, 2024
Group:  Four (Alisen, Gail, Lynn and Tanya)
Distance:  13.2  km
Elevation:  475 m (1,567′)
Time: 4 hours (includes lunch and breaks)

RETURN – SKIED TO SHADOW LAKE, THE WARDEN’S CABIN, AND BACK TO TRAILHEAD
Tracks for Gaia and Strava.
Date: February 25, 2024
Group:  Four (Alisen, Gail, Lynn and Tanya)
Distance:  17.6  km
Elevation:  -475 m (1,567′)
Time: 3 hours 30 minutes (includes lunch and breaks)

Parking and Trail Head

From the Transcanada #1 Highway, park at the Redearth Creek parking lot. To access the trail, go up the stairs and through the gate. This is part of the fencing that keeps the wild animals off the highway. The trail is right there, and heads to the right.

Main Trail

Once on the main trail, just keep skiing. This is an old road, so it’s very straight. We were in the trees for the most part, so it’s good to have excellent company and great conversationalists.

Parks Canada track set this route for decades, but decided to stop this year (2024-2025). Why? There are two avalanche chutes, and they felt that track setting gave the impression the route is danger-free. Personally, I think it’s possible to track set AND keep people safe. Better signage at the avalanche chutes, and how to manage them is more effective than not track setting.

Avalanche Chute 1 – 3.3 km

The first avalanche chute is at 3.3 km. There is a single “danger” sign, but I think education is better. As this is the only area that gets any sun, parties are tempted to stop in the middle and enjoy a snack in the warmth. Nope! Please cross the open area one at a time. Please watch your buddy get across safely. Please do not stop.

Avalanche Chute 2 – 4.4 km

The second avi chute is one km past the first one. We followed the same protocol as before. After this, there are more avalanche chutes, but they are above the trail and not seen.

At about 7 km from the trailhead is the Lost Horse Creek campground. This is about half way, and a good place to stop for a snack.

At 10 km, we hit the Junction. Traditionally, this is where the track setting stopped. It’s also the end of the road, and the start of the hiking trail. Straight ahead is the Warden’s Cabin, which we visited on the way back the next day (scroll down to see). We decided to head straight to the Lodge, so took the Right fork and started skiing up.

The trail is now markedly different – it is steeper, and much narrower. The steep doesn’t last long, but we did have to herringbone in a few places, despite our super-duper wax that stuck to absolutely everything. As this is a hiking trail, it’s only one person wide, and has lots of smaller roller hills. I quite enjoyed this section. It was technical enough to be interesting, yet never challenging. However, I can see that people who only cross-country ski on track set trails will find this difficult. Our friend Tanya is new to cross-country skiing, and was on classic gear. She did great.

Shadow Lake Lodge

We arrived at the Lodge after four very leisurely hours. This was partly due to our relaxed, chit-chatty pace, but also because the temperature decided to rise above freezing. The new snow was warm and sticky, and we had to scrape our skis numerous times to break off the annoying high heels we accumulated.

At the Lodge, we were welcomed by the caretaker Mitch, and his companion Pika. We were soon settled in our cabin, and made our way to the kitchen for soup and appetizers.

After dinner, we hung out at the CPR cabin. We read and played games, while Gail did the smallest puzzle imaginable. My eyes were sore just looking at the wee little pieces.

We stayed in a family cabin, which easily held us four with room for more. The heater works beautifully, so be sure to turn down the heat before you fall asleep.

Day Two – Shadow Lake and Warden’s Cabin

After a great sleep, we wandered over to the kitchen for breakfast. We washed up, and packed up our cabin. We left our packs in the kitchen building (with the OK from Mitch), and skied over to Shadow Lake.

There is a little peninsula about halfway down the lake, and this is where we found the National Park Red Chairs. We enjoyed the view of Mount Ball, which looks like a giant amphitheater that was carved out by an ancient glacier. There are several ice flows for the ice climbers in the crowd. With such a low snow year, the ice climbing has been amazing.

We skied back to the Lodge, picked up our packs, and skied down to the junction. This 3 km stretch is definitely harder on the way down. The roller hills were fun and fine. However, there is a very steep left turn. It’s tricky to get up it, and I marked it on the way in. I stopped above this turn, took off my skis and walked down about 30 or 50 metres. I was able to ski the rest of the way down to the junction. I don’t take off my skis very often, so that’s saying something that the boards came off.

At the junction, we went right and skied less than a km to reach the Redearth Creek Warden’s Cabin. It’s all locked up, of course, but it was cool to see it. This is also the alternate route to Egypt Lake. This is the lower trail, that goes below Pharaoh Peak.

We skied back to the junction, and then headed back down to the trail head. While the temps were still warm, the snow had hardened up so it wasn’t grabbing our skis as much. It was a fairly smooth glide out, but it still felt like we had a surprising amount (an annoying amount???) of flat or uphill skiing. We crossed the two avalanche slopes, and then it was a fairly quick swoosh down to the parking lot.

Wrap Up

I am so thankful that I was able to stay at Shadow Lake Lodge. I remember backpacking past it several years prior, and thinking that I’d never be able to stay there. It felt very off-limits at the time. Now, it feels like a welcome oasis in our Banff National Park. I highly recommend an overnight stay. Or if you’re short on time, the 26 km return ski is not too much for a day trip.

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Alisen