A winter wonderland on Elk Pass
Valerie & Pat on Elk Pass Dec 11, 2008
A number of new trails in Banff, Lake Louise, Kananaskis and Canmore have now been trackset. Today we were at Elk Pass on excellent snow that had been trackset on Dec 9.
Refer to the specific trail report links on my sidebar for more details on the various trails that you are interested in. In Peter Lougheed Prov Park(PLPP) which is part of Kananaskis, Elk Pass, Blueberry Hill, Patterson and Hydroline show on the trail report as being trackset. In addition, we could see that Wheeler had been trackset and there were machine-made tracks on the other side of the road going towards WWL and Lodgepole.
There was good snow cover on Whiskey Jack but no grooming yet. Stopped at Pocaterra and saw some pretty nice groomed snow but no tracksetting. The hut is open.
At Canmore, the Banff and Bow trails have been trackset along with a number of shorter ones. In Lake Louise, the Banff trail report says that Fairview has now been trackset along with all the others which we’ve been skiing on for some time now.
Sandy McNabb at Sheep River reports most of the trails groomed but in rough condition. Likewise, West Bragg Creek(see previous post for more details).
Just happened to see the tracksetter himself when we checked Ribbon Creek. Most of the trails are packed, but Jeff says they need another substantial snowfall to be able to trackset. Ribbon Creek itself is pretty rough because of snowmobiles using it regularly for some ongoing pine beetle work. The trail report says “Heavy winds and warmer temperatures this past week have leftsome bare sections and lots of pine needle debris on most trails. Early season conditions prevail.”
The weather forecast is now calling for 5 cm of snow tomorrow(Friday) and extremely cold temperatures, around -25C, for Saturday and Sunday, so be prepared if you venture out this weekend.
