Contributed by Trip Leader, John Stephenson

On a beautiful, partly sunny last day of 2024, six CONC skiers set off from Ray Benson Sno-Park on an adventure to Big Lake and beyond. We travelled out to Big Lake at a fast pace on a groomed snowmo trail and took in the great view of Mt Washington beyond the frozen lake. 

To avoid the snowmobiles, we switched gears after that, ditching the groomers and heading off into the deep, first skiing along the shore of Big Lake, and then cross-country through the trees towards the notch between Hoodoo and Hayrick Buttes. We then had a challenging climb up to the saddle, with several in the group making some nice teli turns along the way and descended along the edge of Hoodoo Ski Area. As can be seen on the map, we entirely circumnavigated Hayrick Butte! It was a fun 6.5 mile off-the-beaten track journey that I can safely say has not been done by many.