Update Jan 21: Received this detailed report on the Peter Lougheed trails today from John Addicott…
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“For those not skiing the LL-Banff Loppet, skiing at PLPP should be outstanding this weekend. Skiing was excellent yesterday in PLPP. Ken and I did a nice loop along Pocaterra, Lynx, Wooley, Meadow, Wheeler, Morraine, Fox Creek, Elk Pass, Tyrwhitt, and Pocaterra. At that time all of the trails except Wheeler had been recently tracked, and even Wheeler was smooth enough to get some good glide. Those trails that had been tracked most recently were in the best condition, as they had not suffered at all from warmer temperatures. Of particular note were Elk Pass and Tyrwhitt, the latter being in the best condition I have ever seen it, as the track was firm and hard not the usual “soft, break through the crust” that you can get up there. Lower elevation trails were a bit hard, but not icy, and trails going through pine woods had pine needles mixed in with the grooming. Consequently we ended with a bit of debris in our wax by the end of the day. Although recently tracked Morraine was a bit rough, and the northern end of Pocaterra near the hut had lots of debris. The ride down Pocaterra from Whiskey Jack was exhilarating but not scary fast – 95% double poling all the way back to the hut.
Temperatures were quite nice starting at -6 C and ending at -2 C. I waxed with SkiGo HF Blue (-1 to -20) at it was generally quite good – just a bit slippy later in the day and a tad slow on Tyrwhitt. Keep up the good work and good luck on Sunday.
John Addicott
Olympians George Grey and Ivan Babikov were skiing at the Canmore Nordic Centre today. Jan 20, 2010
The Canmore Nordic Centre natural snow trails have shown a remarkable improvement in the past week. The Banff trail has pretty good coverage and nice tracks, with very few areas where there’s dirt or grass. Ditto for Meadowview. Bow Trail is a different story, however, as it is icy, very thin, with lots of dirt, twigs, and grass. It’s skiable, but in poor condition.
Natural snow on Meadowview trail was in nice condition. Jan 20, 2010
The snow is surprisingly cold and purple wax worked well. As always, the trails on the man-made snow were in perfect condition.
A number of skiers from Canada’s National Ski Team were out tuning up today, including George Grey, Ivan Babikov, and Sara Renner.
There’s been a lot of new grooming this week in Kananaskis Country. Click on the links on the sidebar for the latest updates.
