You never know how many opportunities you’ll get to ski this marvelous trail, so I’m taking advantage of these good conditions and nice weather to try and get my fill. I had a ride today, so this time I was skiing all the way from the Goat Creek trailhead to the Banff Springs, one-way. It’s 19K, with a 200 metre net elevation drop on the first 7K.
Good snow and trail conditions on Goat Creek, 8K from the trailhead
As you learned yesterday, the tracks on the first 4K on Goat Creek have been washed out, but with a few skiers having passed over it today, there is a semblance of a track returning. I headed out without so much as touching my wax from yesterday, which was VR40(-4/-12).
I passed one group of four very happy skiers on the 7K stretch of trail down to Goat Creek. When I asked if I could take their picture, there was a moment’s hesitation, when one of them blurted out, “Are you Skier Bob!?” My affirmative answer was greeted with cheers and lots of photos. As you know, if you’ve been featured in a photo on here, you’ll suddenly have more friends, along with a busier social calendar, and you’ll be inundated with lucrative job offers. 🙂
Who wouldn't be smiling? Andrew glides down the hill towards the Spray River bridge.
The hill down to the Goat Creek bridge is still in good shape and it was easy to stay in control and make the quick turn onto the bridge.
After crossing the bridge, as I was climbing the hill, I encountered Doug, Marilyn, Andrew and Shannon, and skied with them for 2K to the Spray River bridge.
The midsection of this ski trip was in wonderful condition, and with some fast downhill, I was soon at the picnic table junction where Spray River west meets Spray River east. Remembering the poor conditions on the west side from two days ago, I decided to give the east side a try. The folks having lunch at the picnic table reinforced my decision, having just come from that direction.
The picnic table at the junction of the two trails
Good choice, as it was in much better condition. Only for about 500 metres as I approached the golf course did the pine needles make their presence. The snow gets a but thin as well, but overall, it was a lot nicer than skiing on the west side. You can always count on a few exposed rocks as you descend the hill to the golf course, but I only encountered one which was easily avoidable.
There is a connector trail which will allow you do a complete loop between the two trails, and it had pretty decent snow cover for the short stretch that I checked.
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My friend Peter found this on the internet, knowing that it would appeal to me. The First wolf in 90 years to appear in California
