Kananaskis Village and Wedge connector

The Wedge connector is one of our favourite places to take Tessa for a ski. It’s never busy, and the trail is super easy. There are nice views of the Wedge and Mt Kidd, and invariably we see lots of animal tracks on the trail, so it’s always interesting, too.

There was about 3 cm of fresh snow in the tracks and the temperature was -1°c. Just cold enough to preserve the good snow texture. We came prepared with waxless skis, but waxable would have worked fine, too.

Sure enough, we spotted cougar tracks and scat. There was already some fresh snow over the tracks, and the scat was frozen, so the cat was probably long gone.

The Wedge connector is 2.4K one-way. It’s one of the easiest trails for a beginner/novice skier. You can branch off onto the Bill Milne trail if you want some hilly fun. It starts at Wedge pond, about 5K south of the turn-off to Kananaskis village.

Kananaskis Village trails

After tiring Tessa out at Wedge, we did a loop on the Kananaskis Village trails. Although there was about 3-4 cm of new snow on the trails, the tracks were in good condition.

Air temperature was -1 and we switched to our waxable skis. Swix VR45 gave plenty of grip on the -5 snow.  We arrived back at the trailhead at Kananaskis Village to find brand new tracksetting on Terrace trail. The Live Grooming Report shows that Terrace, Aspen and Kovach were all freshly trackset this afternoon/evening. Should be fantastic conditions there tomorrow on the new tracks.

Trails for Skaters

Terrace trail also has a skating lane for 2K. Wedge connector and Bill Milne are also suitable for skating. Bill Milne trail was groomed yesterday and is in great shape.

Dog Boots

Does your dog get icy snowballs in its paws? We tried a lot of different boots on Tessa, but most would come off easily and get lost(and they weren’t cheap). The best boots we’ve found are the Pawz dog boots. They keep the snow out of her paws, they’re not clunky and allow her to get plenty of traction. In the city, they will keep the salt and chemicals off your dog’s feet.

They very seldom come off, but they will tear and get holes in them. They come in a package of 12 for about $15 and are available in a variety of sizes. More and more pet stores are starting to carry them and I think you’d find them easily in Calgary.

I received this email and photo from a blog reader who was in Lake Louise:

Bob,

We are fans of your site from Fort Worth, TX. This trail(Great Divide) was skier set and very fun. My wife, Debra, is done for the day.

Patrick Navratil