(See comments below for more updates including Hawkridge photos)
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It doesn’t get any better than this
- Bob, Chip and Vic at Kananaskis Fire Lookout
We really hit it lucky again today. New tracks had just been set on Elk Pass, Hydroline, and the steepest, most gruelling trail in the park, Kananaskis Fire Lookout. The weather was beautiful, about -2 and no wind. The snow was still cold and easy to wax for. I’ve never seen better snow and trail conditions on the Fire Lookout trail. We climbed from the south and descended on the north end. 40 minutes of climbing, 3 minutes down. I said it was steep.
Elk Pass had old tracksetting with a lot of new snow and pine needle debris between the Hydroline and Tyrwhitt junctions. We also skied on Tyrwhitt which was freshly trackset and in excellent condition. We enjoyed it so much, we did it three times! Click here to see more photos. For a list of trails which have been recently trackset, click the link on my “All Trail Reports” sidebar for Kananaskis.
If you’ve been out skiing, leave us a comment, describing the conditions. For an update on West Bragg Creek, see the comments on my previous post.
I’ve added a category on the sidebar entitled “Fun Races & Loppets.” Click on the links for details of upcoming citizen’s fun races.
Statistics: This blog has been running for two months now. We’ve had a total of 7537 views since inception, and we’re averaging 144 views per day since Jan 1.
I get a report from WordPress on the terms which people are using to search for cross country skiing information. The most popular term that is used to find my blog is “West Bragg Creek.” There are a lot of folks looking for information on the West Bragg trails. Let’s keep them informed.
A sincere note of thanks to everyone who has left comments. I probably won’t be posting as many updates because I’m getting busier with work, so I hope all readers will send in comments on conditions, wherever you may ski.
Superb weather and snow conditions Saturday on a loop incorporating Whisky Jack, Lookout, Hydroline, Elk Pass and Tyrwhitt, finishing up down Whisky Jack which was getting quite slick on the downhills by days end. Temps around zero, Start purple worked perfectly.
Hawkridge update:
Just receive this from Richard…
Hi Bob,
I went to Hawkridge this morning in order to beat the heat. The conditions were great! All trails have excellent coverage and the trackset is good. For grip wax Start Purple, -3 to +1, was working well. I attached a few pictures.
Happy Trails
Richard
Click here to see the photos:
http://www.bobtruman.com/Ski_Photos__Blog/page_2147016.html
I just talked to one of the organizers of the Lake Louise to Banff Loppet and he says the entire course has been trackset already. That’s a lot earlier than usual, so if you want to pre-ski any of the course it should be skiable.
Posted Jan 17 on the Loppet website:
“Trail crews have been in the backswamp today packing the trail and report good conditions. Portions of legs 1, 2, and 3 were skied today. Despite the mild temperatures, we have not lost the amount of snow other areas have. A cooling trend is forecast for later in the week and we anticipate being able to ski the full length on Sunday/25th.
Please check back after Wednesday night for further updates.”
Hi Bob,
for fun citizen races, please don’t forget the Cookie Race in Peter Lougheed Feb 28. Here’s a link:
http://www.foothillsnordic.ca/ksm.jsp
Richard
You beat me to the punch! The Cookie Race, Birkebeiner, and Lake Louise Loppet are links which I’ll be adding soon. -Bob
CBC Radio’s Paul Karchut gave this blog a nice endorsement this morning on his “Real Ski Report.” After I gave a short report on yesterday’s trail conditions, he encouraged listeners to check the blog, describing it as “RAD.”
The “Real Ski Report” is on CBC Radio ONE(1010 AM) on Thursday mornings at 7:45.
I see we also got quite a recommendation from the Herald, today, too. They did a “Guide to Cross Country Skiing” in the Outdoors section, and said “visit skihere. wordpress.com for the latest local trail reports.”
You can read the full story here:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/outdoors/Kick+Glide+Guide+Calgary+trails+Your+primer+cross+country+skiing+throughout+city/1179522/story.html