The man-made snow is excellent, but if you like to venture further afield at the Canmore Nordic Centre, the natural snow trails are pretty good, too. The snow is still cold enough to use blue or purple wax, which is fortuitous because those ubiquitous pine needles won’t get stuck your wax so readily.
Banff trail natural snow
The snow cover has improved with a couple cm last night. We’ve had a nasty wind here all day, however, and it has deposited a fair bit of debris on Bow trail. Banff Trail is surprisingly good with minimal pine needles, and going higher, Meadowview is even better.
I’ve included a photo in the gallery that shows a fairly typical spot on Bow trail covered with tree debris. For skaters, the debris is not as much of an issue.
Did you know that Brian McKeever has 10 Paralympic medals to his credit, including seven gold?
Thanks for all the excellent trip reports.
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Deb MacLean is wondering…”Has anyone ever done any cross country skiing at Sun Peaks out of Kamloops? If so, I’d like to hear your comments.”
Spent Christmas there year before last at Sun Peaks staying on the hill in Cahilty Lodge. You buy a ticket at the Day Lodge for $15 which gets you up into the X-C area. I heard one complaint from a local that they tend to groom the trails TOO much! 6 green trails (one of which takes you to the McGillivray Lakes Outpost cabin), 7 blue trails and 2 advanced trails that are groomed, but generally they are around 1-2 km in length. There are alot of non-groomed options as well, but it snowed every night we were there and I did not try any as I was skiing alone. Spectacular views on top when not in the clouds.