Update Mar 3 at 1:00 pm
Accumulation on my deck is up to 15 cm and it’s still snowing. At -5°C, it’s the perfect temperature for tracksetting, too. This ski season still has a pulse! If anyone participated in the Lake Louise Loppet, please give us an update on conditions.
All this snow on my deck came this morning
Sunday Mar 3 at 8:45 a.m: From my window in Canmore it looks like blizzard conditions right now. Make sure you check the web cams before heading out today. It’s snowing, the highway is snow covered at all locations, and there’s blowing snow. Environment Canada is forecasting 10 – 15 cm for Kananaskis, but lesser amounts for Banff and Lake Louise. So far in Canmore we have an accumulation of about 5 cm, and it’s -6°C. If you decide to venture out, take care and be prepared.
My backyard before shovelling
I’d like to give a big thank you to John Addicott for his diligence in keeping my web cam page updated.
Brian McKeever – Vasaloppet update
In a crowd of 9,504 men who started the 90K Vasaloppet today in Sweden, Brian McKeever of Canmore finished in 4:02:53, 12 minutes behind the winner and in 45th place. More Vasaloppet results.
How would it have sounded if this blog was run by SkierSven?
Looking at the names of the top finishers in the Vasaloppet reminded me of my childhood home in Saskatchewan where I grew up in a community(Midale, pop: 560) with many people of Swedish ancestry. We had all of these: Eriksson, Moberg, Andersson, Peterson, Johnsson, Lindblom, Larsson, Karlsson.
Ted Erickson drove the school bus, George Molberg was the mayor, Rita Anderson was a very attractive girl, Clarence Peterson(I always wondered why he drove a half-ton with “Clarence Peterson and son” on the door), Mrs. Johnson was one of my Sunday school teachers at the First Baptist Church, Henry Linblom drove a Hudson Hornet, and Ray Larson was the same age as my brother.
We also had Hultgrens, Swensons, Rosengrens, Jacobsons, Goransons, Englunds, and Gustafsons. Pete Hultgren rolled his truck full of grain on the gravel road that ran past our farm. He was unhurt.
My last name would have been Karlsson but my great grandfather changed it after emigrating from Sweden in 1878. My mom said she originally wanted to name me “Sven.”
This report is a bit late…just found time to upload my pics on Pinterest. We drove Mar 1st Friday afternoon in good weather and road conditions up until we reached a few kms near the Sunshine Village exit when we hit blowing snow that melted on the warm road. Reached Lake Louise Village where we were told of 8 cms overnight snow and still snowing…next day Ski Louise reported 12 cms of fresh snow and still snowing…by Sunday, it was 20 cms! Prior to Sunday, skier set tracks for most trails…Headed back to Calgary Monday morning in really good road conditions around Hwy 1!!!
Some pictures related to the Loppet, pre-Loppet trails and the Lynx seen by Deer Lodge can be viewed here: http://pinterest.com/yeghikermike/alberta-winter-outdoors-2012-2013/
LL Loppet ran successfully. The outlook was not good Saturday, with heavy wet snow falling. They could not start grooming until 5 am Sunday, yet amazingly managed to set a pretty good track. It was a bit soft, and your poles would sometimes push through the surface, but I was pleasantly surprised. Driving up Sunday morning was at times more exciting than the race… arrived with enough time to hear Lifesport’s recommendation of Swix VR45 topped with VR40. Did just that, no warmup ski, ran to start. After first kms double poling, wax worked like a charm, maybe too well. Probably could have gone with straight VR40 (colder) for better glide. Achieved goal of winning age group in 10k, but could not keep up with a certain Jon A. Will have to work harder next year, because I’ll be joining his age group…
Congratulations on your gold medal! Good thing I was too lazy to get out of bed, or it might have been silver 🙂 -Bob