I would not trade the memory of this day for a gazillion dollars. It was one of those extraordinary days where everything is perfect. Firm grip, fast glide, cold snow, excellent tracks, nice weather, with lots of smiling faces. All this on the best xc ski trails on earth. In other words, fantastic, awesome, sensational and superb.
David on Whiskey Jack
I also experienced the rare occurrence of being on the trails before noon, and having sunshine in my face as I climbed Whiskey Jack.
The snow temperature at Boulton creek at 11:30 a.m. was -14, with an air temp of -8. It was -2 when I finished at 2:00 p.m. Amazing to be using VR40(-4/-12) for the entire ski with excellent grip still at the end.
Tyrwhitt was resplendent
There was new tracksetting on Whiskey Jack as I set out under a sunny sky and no wind, so -8 didn’t seem very cold. At the top of WJ, new tracksetting went in both directions, north and south. I chose south and headed for Tyrwhitt, where it was nice to ski this beautiful trail without any debris in the tracks for a change.
Spectacular scenery along Tyrwhitt
It was so incredibly wonderful through the meadows that I turned around at the end of the main meadow and did it all over again.
It was a fast trip down Hydroline. Elk Pass was not freshly trackset, but the new snow has been well skied-in. Fox creek and Boulton creek were still remarkably good, always fun in this south-to-north direction as you twist and turn through the trees.
I hope the vivid memories of this day will sustain me through the hot, snowless summer.
I think I sunburned my teeth today I was smiling so much:) I marvel at how fortunate we are to have such an amazing trail system in such a beautiful area. Mother Nature really poured it on today with the beautiful sun, blue sky, and perfect waxing conditions. Did I mention how much I love x-c skiing? A perfect Sunday.
We did the same loop as you today Bob except we did Moraine at the finish. The section along Tyrwhitt was the most wonderful though! With the brilliant sun, excellent tracks, and clear blue sky, it made for fantastic skiing! I think Tyrwhitt is the most beautiful trail in the whole trail system and certainly is one of my favorites. Many thanks to the groomers and tracksetters for all their hard work this winter making Kananaskis such a wonderful place to ski!
I skied from Pocaterra Hut to top of Whiskey Jack and back at around 2-4pm. Air temperature was around -4. Snow looked old and transformed, so I left my START universal 0 to +10 wax on and skied with that. The wax worked perfectly. Tracks were glazed in places, but I had no trouble going up hills and the trail was super fast on the way back (it took just a bit over half an hour) I snowplowed all the hills because I wanted to be careful with my shoulder, which I dislocated two weeks ago. The trail was not too icy and snowplowing worked well and step turns would have been possible as well. I am really surprised by how good the conditions are this late. There was a little bit of debris in the tracks near the hut, but the rest of the trail was in wonderfully groomed shape.
Even better (or just different!!) when I skied all the same trails early (8:30am) Friday morning.
Broke all the trails starting up W.J. from Boulton (lace-top deep light snow) and on through Tywhitt (boot-top deep light snow) and then up B.B.Hill. Never even SAW my skis on most of Tywhitt, and all the way up (and down) the fresh snow on B.B.Hill. Super cool for me, and reminded me of some 25 years ago when we broke trail almost all the time. I Love Kananaskis (and this Blog).
Graeme, you describe magical conditions.
I’m curious if you could still sense the tracks and stay in them?
Bob will need to consider starting a page of ‘fun sayings and phrases’ like the Goergina’s “sunburned teeth” to your “never saw my skis” !