New tracksetting on Goat Creek today Mar 6, 2009
Just returned from a fabulous day on Goat Creek from the Canmore end. It was trackset this morning. Snow was cold: used VR30 which is rated for -10/-30 but the sun was shining and the ambient temp was around -6. Couldn’t have been better. Even the hill from the parking lot down to the creek had lots of snow on it. Usually there’s a few rocks poking their heads out but not today.
These photos and report on West Bragg came in today from Andrew:
Iron Springs trail at West Bragg Creek Mar 6, 2009. Photo courtesy of Andrew
Hello Bob,
Skied Iron Springs/Elbow loop at Bragg Creek this afternoon, although there was no new grooming/tracksetting done after the most recent snowfall of 3 to 4 cm, there was no ice and skiing was good , weather was great and temperature was ~-5°C,
thanks,
Andrew
Crystal Line trail at West Bragg Creek Mar 6, 2009. Photo courtesy of Andrew
Steve touches on something that has really annoyed me this year when skiing at Sandy or Bragg, and that is the dog walkers. For the most part, I’d say the snowshoe crowd gets it and stay off of the tracks, but the dog walkers are clueless. The dogs and thier owners leave “postholes” all over the tracks and will typically not yield the right of way anywhere. Twice I had to fend of aggressive dogs with my ski poles while thier owners sheepishly tried to call them off (personally, I think the owners get a kick out of fido’s aggressiveness). On weekends, I don’t think we skiers are the majority users of these locations anymore. These trails are the closest foothill tracks to my house, but I’m losing my patience dealing with the weekend gong show. Just try skiing from Allen Bill Pond to Iron Springs some Saturday afternoon and you’ll know what I’m talking about. At some point the XC community is going to have to make an effort to defend these tracks or they will be lost. Just my 2 cents. Rant over.
Bragg Creek update- March 11
Excellent blue wax conditions for an early evening ski on Sundog and Crystal Line. Some groomed and trackset, some not. Unfortunately, the scourges of the Bragg Creek trail system had already been out screwing up the tracksets. No, not the chinook, yet. I’m talking about the usual doggers, and skiers who have to herringbone up every little uphill, and snowplow down even the tiniest downhills, thereby wiping out the soft, not set up yet tracks. To add insult to injury, a couple of skiers had thoughtlessly skated over some sections of freshly set tracks, earning the “dumbass” award for the day. They must have known the damage that they were causing!
Enough ranting. Get out and enjoy West Bragg while you can, as this seasons run of awesome XC skiing in the foothills is living on borrowed time.