Canmore Nordic Centre; LL to Banff Loppet

These two deer strolled onto the Silvertip trail right in front of me today

Deer on Silvertip trail at Canmore Nordic Centre. Jan 21, 2011

Went for a late afternoon ski at the Nordic Centre. Despite the warm temperatures today(my car said it was -1), the snow is still cold enough for wax to work well. Good tracks on all trails but you’ll encounter a bit of tree debris from time-to-time. There were no pine needles stuck in my wax when I finished, so it’s not really an issue.

I skied portions of these trails: Banff, Meadowview, Coyote, King of Sweden, Silvertip, Grey Wolf, and Bow. If you’re looking for a nice downhill run on a wide and safe trail, try Grey Wolf as it descends from Banff trail to Bow Trail. If you turn right at Bow Trail, you’ll continue the fun for a little while longer.

LL to Banff  Loppet trails

Earlier today, I took a drive along the Bow Valley Parkway to do some scouting of the LL to Banff Loppet trails. From Muleshoe to Castle Junction, the trail was snowmobile packed only. It’s just as well if they wait to trackset it because it was starting to snow.

Lake Louise to Banff Loppet Leg 3 as it departs Castle Lookout. Jan 21, 2011

The trail from Castle Junction to Castle Lookout appeared to be in superb condition.

I ran into Heather who had just skied it and she said it was all good. No problem through the trees, but there is a small creek approx 500M from Castle lookout(so you’ll encounter it soon after you begin Leg 3) which is “dished” and the crossing is very narrow. Be careful here. See photo below:

Watch out for this hazard on Leg 3

It was snowing pretty heavily around 3 pm. Let’s hope we still have some tracks by Sunday morning. It looks like the weather will be quite mild so we most likely won’t require a face mask for that 8 a.m. trip down Tramline!

Come race day, I wonder if anyone will encounter this 2-headed deer which I saw today near Muleshoe:

For any back country skiers reading this, I heard numerous avalanches today. The risk is rated HIGH for the weekend. Check the avalanche bulletins on my sidebar.

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Shaganappi Golf Course

Shaganappi was trackset on Jan 20 Shaganappi trail report

Citation credit to: www.accumed.com/kn95-mask-for-sale-respirator-safety-mask-k1.html

2 Comments:

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  2. Stephen Vermeulen

    I skied Banff and Bow trails today (23-Jan) at CNC and there were tons of pine needles, cones, twigs and even some small branches – so they must have had quite the wind storm over night. Close to the lodge things were not bad, but after about a mile it got quite annoying, you couldn’t really glide much in classic style, though it probably was ok for the the skaters.

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