Ptarmigan Cirque | Snowshoe Trails | Kananaskis Outdoors Forum

On Sunday we left sunny Calgary,  drove up the K Valley where it was pouring rain to Highwood Pass where it was snowing and blowing.  Quite a few cars in the parking lot. The zigzag trail up through the trees was well-established, but that’s as far as people had got that day. We carried on breaking trail up the centre of the cirque to just beyond the  summer trail sign. The weather was miserable out in the open with intermittent whiteout. Found a large boulder with a well we could shelter in while we ate a piece or two of very cold chicken sandwich and listened to the wind roaring over the ridgetops. Going further seemed a bad idea given the avalanche conditions so we re-broke trail back into the trees for a tea stop.

All this reminded me how miserable lunch stops can be in the winter! We carry fruit cake, which I fully intend to soak with rum to stop it from freezing. Salmon in sandwiches tends to form ice crystals. Soup is good but is heavy to carry. What does anyone else swear by in winter? This problem seems to be something the outdoor cookbooks don’t ever address.

Good to hear from you Linda! Bread is a problem because it has pores that freeze.  I used to make Logan bread which is similar to fruit cake, but you can slice it up quite thinly and make a sandwich out of it. We used jam as a filling, but your suggestion of cream cheese AND jam sounds even better and you get added protein.