– Whiskey Jack trail(file photo) –
We’ll be skiing on Whiskey Jack this winter. Yes!!!!
It has been repaired!
The large channel created by the flood has been filled in
I thought it was lost to us when I saw the severe flood damage back in July.
It goes up the middle of the PLPP trail system and is integral to the network. It allows you to access the north end or south end of the system from the top.
The cavernous channel which was created by Spotted Wolf Creek has been filled in. Two huge culverts now take the flow from the little creek under the trail. There was a small culvert before, maybe one-tenth the size of one of these big brutes.
Two huge culverts take the water from Spotted Wolf creek under the trail
The trail is slightly wider for the 300 metres where the damage was, but it will be difficult to tell the difference when you are happily skiing up this marvelous trail, hopefully within six weeks or so. When you reach the culverts you’ll notice a a large bump in the trail which wasn’t there previously.
As you can see in the photos, there’s already some snow on the trail in shaded areas at the higher elevation. We accessed it from the highway and took Pocaterra for about 1.6K. The damage on WJ started about 300 metres from the top.
More fantastic news…the weather forecast is calling for snow. It looks like an upslope storm is on the way for Sunday which means the most snow will fall in the foothills, Kananaskis Village and Canmore area. It’s supposed to rain first, so be prepared for slippery roads. Good-bye, summer!
For Peter!
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Ken and I hiked to Elk Pass and then circled back on the Hydroline to the Fox Creek trail, before returning to the Elk Pass parking lot.
Well – amazing repairs and new routing on both Elk Pass and Fox Creek trails. Kudos to the Parks folks and the terrific volunteer corps that co-operated to make it happen. Yes, indeed, it will be different. But, the fact that my favourite loop – Bolton-Whiskey-Tyrwhitt-Elk Pass-Fox Creek-Moraine – is ready to go (hope there are no surprises in that loop that I am not aware of) – has me feeling super pumped about the season!
Thats great news Bob! I was talking to Jody ( correct spelling I hope!) about the Elk pass trail and he said it’s being repaired also so hopefully it will be ready in time for winter. When I went up the trail in August it was in worse shape then Whiskeyjack with fox creek still running down the trail, many trees fallen across it and bridges washed away. Quite a mess! It unfortunately won’t be like we remember it but at least we’ll be able to ski it. Fingers crossed!