I hope everyone saw Sheila’s trip report. Seeing a wolverine is a very rare and special event which few people experience. Ellie Greenwood saw a lynx run across the trail in front of her during the loppet. You can read more on her blog. Ellie, I realize you like a good workout, but skiing the entire 71K on waxless skis is going a bit too far!
My original plan today was to ski the Spray River loop. Went about 1.5K on the West side and packed it in, as the snow conditions weren’t very good. Thin, hard packed, with debris. It’s late January and expectations are high. My main accomplishment was removing some deadfall which had completely blocked the trail.
I had a brainwave, and decided to take my video camera and ski the backswamp. That’s part of the 5th leg which we skied in the Lake Louise to Banff Loppet on Sunday.
A lonely dead tree stands watch over the backswamp
It was a pleasant day in the ‘swamp, and nice to ski this section without being in a race. Nobody to chase, and nobody chasing me. I didn’t have my GPS, but I am guessing the total distance is about 2.5K one way. Conditions were good, for the backswamp. The trail on the river is still in great shape and fast.
A few minutes into the ‘swamp, I encountered four skiers who had been skiing the entire loppet course since Monday. This video will show you a small portion of the challenging terrain we ski through.
Backswamp video(turn up your audio to get the full effect)
That’s some great video Bob! Perfect song for it to! Where along the route is the road you came to located?
Thanks
It comes out at the Sunshine ski area access road near trans Canada. From there the you can walk over to the Healy creek trailhead on the other side of the overpass and continue skiing.