Project Do It In a Dress: The Berg Lake Trail Part 1 - Canada
The crack of the ice as it breaks off a glacier and falls into a lake to become an iceberg is just like thunder on a clear day; Out of nowhere.
Oh and it sounds like thunder as well.
This feeling of something not seeming quite right is probably what came to most hikers when they saw three men donning schoolgirl dresses on the Berg Lake Trail as we made our way up and down it over the course of five days.
The Berg Lake Trail is a trek through Mt Robson Provincial Park which itself is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site encompassing the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. As it turns out, I'm no stranger to it, as this was my 4th time on the trail, but my first in over a decade.
This time was special for a couple of reasons. This was the first backcountry backpack trek that my brother Jeff, and my father Dale would be doing together. It would also be the first I would do in a school dress.
The Trail
The trail winds its way around Mt Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, and up to the stunning Berg Lake. All in all, our five days would cover more than 70km of trekking through multiple biogeoclimatic zones and ~1600m of elevation gain from the start of the trail to our high point, Snowbird Pass.
Why Do It in a Dress?
Inspired by a good friend of mine, I decided to do the trek in a school girl dress as part of an initiative by an Australian-based organization called One Girl. The idea? Pick a challenge, do it in a dress, raise $240 and put a girl in Sierra Leone in school. You can read tidbits of our trek and our awareness & fundraising campaign at our Do It in a Dress microblog called "Hike It in a Dress." We have also created a team in support of the Do It in a Dress campaign made up of hikers around the world called "Hikers Without Pants" and we would love for you to join.
We were fortunate to catch the eye of the media, including TV, radio, and newspaper interviews, among plenty of internet coverage. All in all, it helped raise the profile of the project in Canada. You can see more links on my media page.
More stories and photos from the trek to Berg Lake, Hargreaves Glacier, and Snowbird Pass to come.
Thanks to Nokia for their support of our project.