I forgot the patch cord for my camera so I can’t download any of the wonderful photos which I took today.
If I could, you’d be seeing perfect cold snow, excellent tracks, sun, blue sky, and lots of smiling faces. If you check the trip reports, Steve Riggs has included excellent photos from Lookout and Fox Creek.
Caroline and I hit the trail at 1:15 pm at Boulton Creek parking lot where we started out by climbing Whiskey Jack. The temperature was -3, and the snow was still a blue-wax -6. It snowed varying amounts yesterday. At the trailhead, there was about 1 cm, but on Tyrwhitt there was approx 3 cm, and as we approached Elk Pass, about 5 cm.
Whatever tree debris was in the tracks had mostly been covered with the new snow. We had fantastic grip on the way up Whiskey Jack with VR45.
It was one of those perfect days on Tyrwhitt. Being later in the day, the tracks had been well skied-in so we were gliding along effortlessly. Coming down the steep hills on Elk Pass with the new snow was child’s play.
Fox Creek was as much fun as ever. Good tracks and snow cover, even on the sharp turns. Ditto Moraine.
I expect it will still be excellent tomorrow. From the weather forecast, it looks like Wed and Thur could be cause for concern.
Spoke to a skier who had just finished descending Packers and he said it was in good shape.
Pocaterra received a skiff of snow yesterday and although the snow cover is thin, it was still cold and looked very skiable. There were about 40 vehicles in the parking lot.
Banff
The Spray River trail west was trackset today. The Banff trail report also indicates that Banff received 6 cm of snow yesterday.
Calgary Herald article
The Herald had an article in today’s paper about xc skiing Family fun
Blog record
This blog has set a new record for views in one month with 34,000 so far in December. The old record was 32,139, set just last month.
What are readers looking at?
Since I wasn’t able to include photos today, here are the ten most clicked-on photos over the past two weeks:
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Hi Bob,
I was wondering if you have any photos of the avalanche along the Tyrwhitt XC Ski trail
No, and I’ve been wondering if anyone was able to get a photo before the trail was closed. -Bob
Hi Jean & Bob, here’s a link to photos taken by Kananaskis Country Public Safety:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.424304224253512.118682.185905148093422&type=1
(I think you’ll have to copy and paste in the url)
Visiting your site for the first time – will be checking on it regularly – wonderful job. The comments and pictures of skiers got us inspired. Keep up the good work.