West Bragg Creek – aka Winter Wonderland

Loggers Loop at West Bragg Creek

On this Remembrance Day, I am grateful for all those who sacrificed to insure my freedom to enjoy the incredible beauty and wonderful conditions at West Bragg Creek today. It was fitting that I should meet a friendly dog named Poppy on Iron Springs. 

JoAnne and her friendly dog Kerby at the Sundog – East Crystal junction.

Sorry I missed MaSid who was skiing different trails, but he summarized it well on his trip report:

“Excellent early season conditions with sunny skies and mild weather.”

Climbing the steep hill on Iron Springs heading south.

I did a 12K loop which included East Crystal, Sundog, Iron Springs, Elbow, Loggers, and West Crystal. All were trackset, the snow was cold enough for waxable skis, and the downhills were easy to negotiate with all the snow. 

I followed Steve’s advice and used good skis. There were a few places where it looked like there might be dirt or an embedded rock in the track, but these were easy to avoid. 

Beautiful scenery and conditions on Iron Springs

It was nice to see a lot of familiar faces and dogs. Lots of dogs! I managed to get the names of a few of them which you can see in the photo gallery below. West Bragg Creek is unique for the fact that dogs are allowed to run off-leash on the trails. They are required to be on-leash in the parking lot. 

When I arrived at 11:45 a.m. the temperature was -5°C and upon my departure around 2 pm it was zero. I made sure I skied Iron Springs first thing because it has a lot of sun-exposed areas. The remainder of the trails were mostly in shade. 

The road to the trailhead is snow-covered but it was no problem. Lots of traffic, though. I’m sure glad the parking lot has been expanded. 

Chuck was at Moraine Lake road today, and it looks pretty sweet. Check his trip report for the photos. 

West Bragg Creek is an amazing place for skiers when the conditions are like they were today. If you enjoy skiing at WBC consider making a donation. 

Sunday morning update

Update 11:45 a.m. Message from Groomer Bill at West Bragg Creek:

“Groomers Dave, Dan and Bill were out roller packing West Bragg Creek this morning. It looks like we got about 10cm fresh snow. We will start to lay tracks later this morning and tomorrow. Pretty chilly out there, dress warmly!” Continue reading

Great Divide is trackset

Great Divide at Lake Louise. Photo by Chris Algeo

Chris took this photo this afternoon as they were tracksetting the Great Divide at Lake Louise. It is now double trackset with a skating lane. 

When the tracksetters finished, they moved over to Moraine Lake road to start the process. As Parks Canada had posted, there was an excavator at Moraine Lake which had to be moved out of there and it happened today, leaving ruts and ridges in the snow. Continue reading

Grooming progress report

Kananaskis Village trails. Photo by Tracksetter Jeff

Thank you to everyone who has provided intel on the trails. 

Update Nov 8: Kananaskis Village trails

Tracksetter Jeff from Ribbon Creek/Kananaskis Village took the above photo while rolling the Kananaskis Village trails yesterday and send this report:

“The Village trails have received up to 15 Cm of snow. All of the Village trails were rolled yesterday. Hopefully after today’s warm blast we will have enough of a firm base to get the season started.” Continue reading

Warm weather at West Bragg Creek

Bill and Deirdre on Crystal Line West

Further to Tanya’s report from West Bragg, the snow was already starting to get wet at 12 noon. I started out on wax but after about 20 minutes of marginal grip, I went back and changed over to waxless.

I met Bill and Deirdre on Crystal Line West at 12:15 pm. They started out around 9:30 a.m. and had cold snow for the morning. Continue reading