Winter Snowshoeing Elopement in the Canadian Rockies

This winter elopement in the Canadian Rockies easily goes down as my most adventurous winter shoots to date. In mid-February, we travelled into Kananaskis Country for a snowshoe elopement in a blizzard. The snow was deep, the temperature was a very cold -25 celcius, but spirits were as high as the elevation we hiked up. It was an awesome winter adventure elopement!

When Debbie and Phillip contacted me about wanting to elope in February, my first thought was “wow these two must be crazy”! February in the Canadian Rockies is infamous for bringing freezing cold temperatures and huge amounts of snow. In our initial chat, I brought this up, but they assured me that after living in Montana for a few years they were ready and prepared for the cold. I am always game for an adventure no matter what the conditions are like, and as long as you are well prepared it’ll end up being memorable and fun!

I hiked this particular hike two weeks before their elopement date to double check the conditions and to scout a perfect ceremony spot. I managed it with just some micro-spikes, but the mountains ended up getting upwards of 50cm of snow by the time their date came around. Everybody had acquired snowshoes for the occasion, and it’s a good thing we did because there was no way we would have been able to make it through the snow without them. We ended up having to break trail the whole way up the hike, and found our way to a perfect lookout. Debbie was adamant that she wanted to do a first look with Phillip, and she was a trooper changing into her dress in the cold temperatures. They had a beautiful and personal ceremony, stopping half way to throw a blanket around themselves because they couldn’t stop shivering. That’s the beauty of an elopement; you can do whatever the heck you want and no one is there to tell you otherwise!
We headed back down the mountain (sometimes sliding on our bums) to sign the documents, take pictures in the forest, and eat their cakes! I’m not sure who first came up with the word snolopement (a winter elopement with an abundance of snow) but this definitely epitomized one!