– Will and Dan at Boulton Bridge –
This weekend could be the best skiing we’ll see until next winter. With new, cold snow and very cold temperatures in the forecast, PLPP should be in excellent condition for Saturday and Sunday. Any new tracksetting will be a bonus. The predicted low for tonight is -16°C, with a high of -3 tomorrow.
Elk Pass
There was at least 10 cm of fresh snow over the recent tracksetting at Elk Pass. Thanks to a large group of kids who spent the night at Elk Lakes cabin, the tracks were skied-in very well by the time I got there. At the top of the pass, I skied a short distance down Tyrwhitt just to get a photo.
Fox creek was its best for excellent snow, excellent tracks, with no tree debris to be seen anywhere. Fun!! Ditto Boulton creek. Both had been recently trackset but had some fresh snow on top. Boulton Bridge parking only had about half as much snow as Elk pass. Pocaterra hut received about 2 cm.
My immersed ski pole and the “more difficult” sign which has almost disappeared will give you an idea of the snow depth on Elk pass
Will and Dan were on their way back to Elk Pass parking lot when I met them at Boulton Bridge. They had skied the entire perimeter of the park, and reported just enough new snow at the north end to make it okay for waxable skis. Depending on the particular route, a perimeter ski is around 33K.
Air temperature at 2 pm was -5°C, snow temperatures was -4, and it was snowing. VR45(-2/-8) was performing well. The temperature was dropping noticeably by the time I left around 5:30 pm.
There will be new tracks at Ribbon creek and Kananaskis Village tomorrow. As well, I saw brand new grooming heading up the Skogan pass trail but not sure if it went all the way up.
