Elbow Lake to Rae Glacier

August 23, 2018 by Bill Rowe ·

Tarn below Rae Glacier. Plane crashed here out of sight

August 01 2018

This blog could be called the day of the plane crashed. Yes we were at the waterfall when we heard a plane’s engine screaming. Carole saw the plane spiralling down looking like a stunt at an airshow. It was not until we saw the smoke that we knew something was wrong. No more plane engine. I then rushed up to the top of the moraine to see if I could do anything but could not see the plane or any smoke. I could see the skiers as little dots still heading up to the snow.Unsure if the plane had actually crashed I returned. The skiers must have seen the entire crash. One of the party had a large camera so must have some interesting pictures. On our return down the trail we met a couple who asked us if we saw the explosion. It was then we realised that the plane was down as they had a picture of a fire-ball on the mountain side. No cell signal to report the incident. I had planned to fish in Elbow lake on our return but went straight down to report the crash. To our surprise as we arrived at the trail head it was full of emergency vehicles. Apparently the plane had sent an SOS and the skiers had a Spot Device to report the crash. We gave our account to the police and went home to find out more on the local news.

The hike to Elbow lake is very short just 1.3km and well worth the short hike. Nice back country campsite and a good-looking fishing lake. The hike up to the Waterfall/ Glacial moraine is very scenic. It would be a bit more strenuous to go up to the glacier. To go to the glacier go to the end of the lake on the right side and take a well worn trail to the right. If like us you go on the left side of the lake turn right across the wooden plank bridge and then right back towards the lake then turn left up the well worn trail.