Another dog-friendly ski trail

My blog statistics show the Dog-friendly ski trails page has been clicked on 489 times since Jan 1, so I know people are always looking for a trail where you can ski with Rover.

Today, Healy Creek was very dog-friendly but not very skier-friendly. It may have received some of the rain which fell in the Bow Valley last night, and the tracks were quite icy. The snow had a crunchy texture and was crusty. Luckily, it had started to snow lightly, and I was able to get some grip with my waxless skis. The air temperature today was +4.

Healy Creek is single trackset from the trailhead to Brewster Creek junction, double trackset thereafter

I had neglected to include Healy Creek when I created the list of dog-friendly ski trails on the main menu. As I was checking the Banff trail report this morning, I noticed that it indicated “dogs allowed,” so Tessa the Springer Spaniel and I headed over there this afternoon.

It was a pleasant enough ski until you started going down hills. It took all I had to slow myself down, being very difficult to get any kind of effective snowplow on the crusty snow. Needless to say, it was super-fast.

Brewster Creek is snowmobile packed

I also skied up the Brewster Creek trail for 400 metres and discovered that it’s been snowmobile packed(no mention of this on the Banff trail report). The snow seemed a little better(softer), but it’s a constant climb, and I would have been fighting to stay in control on the way back, with all the rough edges left by the snowmobile. A pair of wider skis with metal edges would be necessary.

I was glad when I read Al’s Trip Report from his day in PLPP. Sounds like it stayed reasonably cool in the south end.

Don’t forget to sign the petition(I just signed it a few minutes ago) Stop clear-cut logging in West Bragg Creek. 5109 have signed to date, let’s reach 7500.

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