– Mark and his girlfriend Eamier who recently moved here from Ireland –
With the cold temperatures and new snow, my expectations for Frozen thunder today were pretty lofty. I wasn’t disappointed.
It was 6 pm when I hit the snow, but after a day of heavy use it was still in great shape. Excellent tracks, wonderful skating conditions, and for the first time this season, I was using hard wax. Swix VR50 worked well, but I spoke to someone who was doing okay on Swix blue extra.
The air temperature was -6°C with very little wind. We did not get much snow from this recent storm, maybe 3 cm, but they’re making lots of snow and distributing it over the track.
The snow was cold and double trackset
Regarding snow at West Bragg Creek, I received this Facebook message from Barbara:
Hi Bob –
First of all, thanks for getting the early season updates going on your website! Totally itching to get to Moraine Lake Road and PLPP now.
You asked about West Bragg, and while I don’t have any trail reports, I do have a coworker who lives in Bragg Creek and was unable to make it into Calgary due to the dump of snow they got. So, maybe some earlier-than-usual skiing is in order?
Barbara
If you want to receive Facebook messages, go to the sidebar and “Like” me.
******
If you read the previous post, you’ll know why I’m posting this photo(click on it for a larger image):
How full is your cup?
Staying on the topic of my previous post, I was talking with a skier who was critical of Frozen thunder and didn’t think it was a good place to ski. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! If he had been skiing last week on the slushy snow, he may have had reason to complain. This is Oct 23, and conditions are unbelievably good. I would make an educated guess that conditions are the best we’ve had in the history of FT. You just can’t please some people.
A coworker who lives in Bragg Creek tells me they got about 10″ a couple of days ago. She didn’t know about West Bragg, but that’s sounding like sweet snow nonetheless.
In the meantime, I’m wondering if anyone had gone out to PLPP or Chester in the last couple of days or so. I’m wondering if it’s worth getting the light touring skis out and just see how much snow there is. Or maybe Burstall Flats seeing how it sounds like they have a big dump further in by the pass?
Any skiing in October is great skiing. Skiing on snow saved from last season by mid-October is a unique experience, so I don’t understand how anyone could complain about that! And when that saved snow serves as the base for fresh snow and a very early start to the ski season, then it is a reason to celebrate. It looks like this season is off to a great start!
After 2 weeks of hiking in the warm Utah desert sun, it was a bit of a shock to get home to all the white stuff. Last night I dusted off my battered light touring skis and set a 1.4 km track around the Birthplace Forest park in Silver Springs, skiing right from my back door. It was a beautiful evening to be out, gliding through about 12 cm of new snow, and the skiing quality was actually pretty good with decent grip and glide using Toko blue. After several laps the track was setting in nicely- if only I could keep the neighborhood doggers from trashing it.
As for West Bragg- from nearby Alberta Environment weather data sites I would guess about 20 cm fell at West Bragg, good to go for some skier tracked trails, and maybe enough for some base packing to begin.
Nice to hear from you, Steve. I know I speak for all readers when I say we’re looking forward to your excellent detailed reports this season. -Bob