Paradise Valley. Photo by Dana Roman

Helen Read was in Paradise Valley today and sent the above picture to me. Her skiing companion Dana Roman took the spectacular photo. See details on Helen’s trip report. 

The trail to Johnston Creek cabin. Photo by Chuck

Paradise Valley ski trail branches off the Fairview trail at Lake Louise. I believe there is some avalanche risk if you go far enough so do your research before you go. 

Chuck is still finding new trails to explore. Today it was Johnston Creek in Banff National Park to the Johnston Creek cabin. This is the creek that’s upstream of the very popular Johnston Canyon hike. 

Check out all of Chuck’s beautiful photos and be sure to read the captions for the details of his trip. 

Redearth Creek in Banff was trackset for 7K today. There has been no tracksetting this winter beyond the 7K campground. 

Before

West Bragg Creek Groomer’s Report from Boomer Groomer

A big shout out to groomers David and Bill for helping out with a big snow harvest today.

After

We moved about 50 yards of snow with the Kubota tractor from the Parking Lot snowbanks onto the Telephone/Hostel Access trail. This trail has seen some major ice formation with the recent warm weather and needed some remediation.

Snow should consolidate and bond with the ice overnight and with any luck we should have a nice snow bridge over the restored area by tomorrow morning. 

Conditions remain very good on the majority of the trail system. Caution is advised on a few hills, especially those with southern or western exposure.

Update Feb 17: 

In PLPP, the trails on the west side of the road were trackset last night. Lodgepole, Braille, Sinclair, etc. The Rolly Road grid was also trackset.  The temperature at the PLPP maintenance compound at 7 a.m. was -17°C with an expected high of -8. 

West Bragg Creek: The groomers have refreshed the corduroy on a number of trails overnight. “Recent freeze thaw events have created icy sections in a number of areas including Mountain View, Mountain View West, Mountain Road , Telephone etc. Caution is advised especially on hills. Conditions will be highly variable depending on ambient temperature.”

Feb 16, 2020

Skogan Pass summit.

There was grooming today at Lake Louise where the Bow River Loop, Campground, Townsite and Forest were trackset.

Last night in PLPP, Whiskey Jack, Upper Pocaterra, and Packers were trackset. Lower Pocaterra from the hut should still be in nice shape from Friday night’s tracksetting. 

From Charlie’s report, it sounds like Elk Pass has received a lot of snow since I was there on Thursday. While the fresh snow will slow you down, it should have covered all the debris that was on the trail. 

The Canmore Nordic Centre will be busy with the Alberta Winter Games but the  recreational ski trails (Banff, Meadowview, Bow etc.) will remain OPEN to the public. Please expect all CNCPP facilities to be busy. Reminder: Monday Feb 17 Junior & Children’s day passes 50% off.

Family Day 2013 on Ribbon Creek

Congratulations to Richie Rich and Shulamit for conquering Skogan Pass today. You can read about their exploits in the Trip Reports. 

Family Day Memories

Ribbon Creek on Family Day 2013 

I’ve skied on many Family Days over the years and have enjoyed seeing all the kids and parents having fun together. The one which stands out in my mind, however, is 2013 at Ribbon Creek. Conditions were excellent and it was one of the last times we skied there. A few months later, the trail was destroyed by the floods of 2013. 

Steve, Jo, and Tika at Ribbon Creek on Family Day 2013

One of the incidents I remember was this(from my blog post of the day): “As I was talking with Steve and Jo, a skier fell down right in front of us and Tika ran over and gave him a kiss, which made the skier feel better.”

It looks like it will be a pleasant day tomorrow with highs in the minus single digits although starting out colder. 

Lost and Found

Daniel sent this email…

“We were skiing Pocaterra Sunday Feb 16 and picked up an extra set of mitts that were the same as mine, once we were home and unpacking we realized our mistake. I think you have the most widely read blog – so hoping you would put a note out on your blog – you can let interested potential owners send me an email.  They are MEC nordic mitts (not gloves).”

If these are your mitts, send me an email and I’ll forward it to Daniel.

Mountain road at West Bragg Creek

West Bragg Creek: “Beauty days and beauty skiing this weekend in WBC. Recent warm weather will make for crusty early morning conditions that should soften up late morning. Watch for some icy downhills on south facing slopes. Have fun!!” Check the Live Grooming Report for tracksetting details. Continue reading

Thanks to Shulamit for submitting this photo from the bulletin board at West Bragg Creek.

This would be a good time to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of all the tracksetters in the SkierBob universe(I don’t have everyone’s photo but would like to add any that are missing if you can send them to me). We’re very fortunate to have tracksetters who take a lot of pride in their work and make the trails so enjoyable for us. Continue reading

Bill Milne trail. Photo by Peter Neumann

Feb 13, 2020

Peter Neumann made these remarks to go with the above photo from the Bill Milne trail… “Perfect corduroy, skater’s delight. Perfect new classic tracks, but filled in with windblown snow in open areas.”

Thanks for all the trip reports and photos. I have an update from PLPP which I’ll post later. In the mean time, let’s look at more photos which have been sent in today…  Continue reading

Dog in backback on Tyrwhitt

Feb 12, 2020

Dogs are not allowed on the groomed ski trails in PLPP. Mary’s report of a dog running off-leash on Tyrwhitt reminded me of this photo from a few years ago…

If you’re looking for trails where dogs are allowed check my page Dog-friendly ski trails.  Continue reading

West Bragg Creek. Photo by Groomer Jeff

Report from WBC Groomer Jeff:

“After a manic 2 days of fixing equipment, we are grooming again at about 80% capacity. 8cm of new snow was deposited from the storm last night and is being groomed as I type by our intrepid crew. Continue reading