Crusty thin snow
Ray & Cheryl on Moraine Lake Road Oct 31, 2009(Conditions were not as good as it looks!)
The conditions were marginal on Moraine Lake Road yesterday. The first 2.6K up to Paradise Creek were sketchy to say the least. Lots of pavement showing, with previous tracks being almost melted through to pavement. It melted a lot in the 2-3 hours we were there. See more photos here.
At the 2.6K point, as soon as you cross the Paradise Creek bridge, the snow was significantly deeper. We had a great climb up the long hill, but on the return trip we had some challenges manouevering the crusty snow with deep ridges. Making matters more challenging, we were using waxless skis which are not the best for fast downhills. But they were a godsend going up. No wax issues which we saw with some other skiers.
I wouldn’t recommend this trail until there’s more snow, unless you’re prepared to walk the first 2.6K or ski on pavement.
There was 2-3 cm of new snow this morning in Canmore, and Wilson’s in Lake Louise reports some fresh snow but probably not enough to significantly improve trail conditions. It won’t be very good to ski until it gets rolled again.
Chester Lake
Chester Lake trail Oct 31, 2009. Photo courtesy of Alf Skrastins
Hi Bob,
I saw your note asking about the conditions at Mt. Shark.
I didn’t go there today, but I was up at Chester Lake. Essentially, the
K-Country trail report information is out of date. The report said that
there was 20cm of snow at Chester Lake. We found 17cm at the trailhead, 40cm at the lake and 49cm at the Elephant Rocks above the lake.
The snow was wet and slushy at the elevation of the parking lot, but got
drier and deeper as we went up.
Alf
