We escaped the extreme cold
Starting out at Emerald Lake. Dec 12, 2009
We were very lucky to have chosen Emerald Lake as our destination yesterday. It was -9 with not a breath of wind.
It was a a beautiful day at Emerald Lake. Dec 12, 2009
We are at Lake Louise with the Calgary Ski Club on their Winterstart weekend. Yesterday, a group went downhill skiing, another group had downhill lessons, Lynn took some on a snowshoe trip, there was an intermediate XC ski trip on Moraine Lake road, and my group went to Emerald Lake.
Skiing through the alluvial fan at Emerald Lake. Dec 12, 2009
Officially the trail we skied is known as the Emerald Lake horse trail. It begins at the kiosk(Emerald Sports which is operated by the Field Cross Country Ski Club) at the south end of the lake. It starts out through the trees and parallels the west shore of the lake.
The tracks were in nice shape. There was some fresh snow, but not enough to be a concern. We met the tracksetter part way through our ski and had new tracksetting for a short stretch at the end.
When you reach the north end of the lake, the trail goes in a loop through the alluvial fan and is about 5K. You get to enjoy the most spectacular scenery you’ll ever encounter anywhere. The day was mostly cloudy, but we could see the mountains all around us: Wapta, Vice President, Burgess were looking splendid. The trail itself is easy with very little elevation gain. It’s single track and narrow, but not difficult.
Emerald Lake alluvial fan. Dec 12, 2009
The group which skied Moraine Lake road reports excellent track conditions, albeit very slow with the extremely cold snow.
Hi Bob; I’m glad that you got to ski Emerald. You saw John Gafney tracksetting,he’s retired CPR lineman and experienced snomobiler, learning to groom. I just groomed it again today, and plan to do the Connector and Kicking Horse fire road tomorow morning.
John: Thanks for the update. For anyone who isn’t a regular reader, John is one of the tracksetters at Lake Louise and Yoho. -Bob