We climbed Packers for the first time this winter. This is the meadow near the end as you reach the intersection with Pocaterra. Feb 17, 2011
With the cold weather this morning, I was tempted to put green wax on my skis before leaving home. It was -17 when we left Canmore, dressed for a cold day on the trails. We stopped at Ribbon Creek and could see a lot of tracksetting had occurred on the trails. It was -13. Cheryl had her heart set on skiing in PLPP, so we took a chance that we’d find some good conditions there, and headed south.
Wheeler was fast and fun. Feb 17, 2011
After receiving about 8 cm of new snow in Canmore yesterday, we weren’t sure what to expect. Upon arriving at the PLPP Visitor Centre, it was a balmy -3. Sunny sky. No wind. Needless to say, we changed our clothes before heading out on the excellent groomed trails. PLPP seems to be in its own little pocket of warm air…and they only received 1-2 cm of snow, so the trails groomed on the 15th and 16th are still in great shape.
As you climb Packers, you also descend three short, steep hills, such as this one. Feb 17, 2011
Starting from the Visitor Centre, we skied Meadow, Wheeler, Packers, Pocaterra, Lynx, Amos, Woolley, all in the best of shape. The snow temp was -6, so a trouble-free blue wax day. There was no sign of any ice flow on Packers. Cheryl won the race on the long downhill on Pocaterra, so I will be asking her to glide-wax my skis for the upcoming Cookie Race.
At various intersections, we could see the trails which haven’t been groomed since the 13th, and they have a lot of deep snow with skier tracks.
Accolades to PLPP and snowshoers
Five or six years ago, as snowshoeing was becoming more popular, we encountered lots of snowshoers using the skier tracks and making a mess of them. I’m happy to say we rarely, if ever, encounter this situation anymore. The photo below on Packers shows snowshoe tracks on each side and in the middle, but none of them were in the ski tracks:
Packers trail with snowshoe tracks. Take note, not in the ski tracks. Feb 17, 2011
K-Country has developed a good system of snowshoe trails which has mitigated the problem of snowshoers using the ski trails and wrecking them. Congratulations to K-Country for resolving this issue to the satisfaction of everyone, and thank you to snowshoers for being considerate when using the ski trails.
New trail signs in PLPP
A few intersections now have these new signs. This one is at the corner of Lynx/Amos(click on the photo to see larger version):
New trail markers in PLPP. Feb 17, 2011
