We’ve endured a blizzard followed by a five-day deep freeze over the past week. The forecast looks downright pleasant after what we’ve been subjected to. Thanks to all the brave souls who left trip reports(and restaurant reviews!). We truly have a wonderful selection of places to ski now.
- Para-Nordic World Cup
It’s a relief the weather decided to co-operate for the start of the Para-Nordic World Cup races tomorrow at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Not only for the athletes, but for the spectators. The Opening Ceremonies go at 9:30 AM, with the first competitions starting at 10 AM. Read more Alberta World Cup. If you’re planning to ski at the nordic centre, check the CNC page to see how this event will affect the recreatonal trails.
- More trails ready in Banff
The Banff trail report indicates that Redearth creek has been trackset. If you’ve been reading here, you’ll know that Goat creek is now trackset for 7K to the Goat creek bridge. You’ll need to ski it as an out-and-back unless you’re prepared to ski in backcountry conditions for the final 12K to Banff. The bridge for the Spray river loop is scheduled to arrive on Dec 23. Brewster creek is also ready to go. Access is available only on the Sundance Canyon trail. Instead of skiing 1.7K from the Healy creek trailhead, you’ll be skiing about 5.2K from the Cave and Basin(after walking 500 metres from the parking lot). All three trails were recently trackset. Cascade valley and Upper Bankhead must be in excellent condition.
- Ribbon creek/Kananaskis Village/Skogan Pass/Bill Milne
These trails, except for Skogan pass, have been recently groomed and trackset. The bridge over Ribbon creek is not quite finished, but it is okay to walk across. I would imagine grooming Skogan pass may be on the agenda for this week. Jeff’s job description includes “Bridge-builder,” so he might be finishing that project in order to drive the Pisten-Bully across.
- PLPP and Mt Shark
Grooming is ongoing. Mt Shark is about due for some action. PLPP Visitor Centre is now open Wed – Sun 9:00 – 4:45 pm.
- Lake Louise and Yoho
The weather forecast looks a little colder for this area, but the skiing conditions sound pretty fine. The tracksetters are posting updates for Yoho and Emerald Lake on the KHSC website. Tracksetter John posted this today, referring to the Emerald connector: “The connector track is still early season rough but should be good and fun. The hills [especially the Reconnector] are groomed smooth but watch out for lumps and ridges and tweeks in the tracks where the tracksetter hopped sideways.”
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Tomorrow(Monday) is your last day to “Like” Lifesport on Facebook to be eligible to win a Fischer ski bag.
Thanks Bob for actively promoting the Para-Nordic World Cup. We also need to recognize and thank the coaches and the many volunteers needed to make this event happen. Especially those hardy volunteers doing course and stadium set up that are out there pre-dawn at the coldest part of each day.