I love it when there’s a centimetre or two of fresh snow on top of the new grooming as it maximizes the fun for descending the steep parts of Blueberry hill.
Adrienne and Elaine on Elk pass
When I arrived at Elk pass trailhead yesterday(Feb 14) at 12:15 pm it was snowing lightly but I could still see the corduroy from the overnight grooming. The air temperature was -5°C and the snow was -4.
Unlike the Canadian ski team at Sochi, my wax recipe worked perfectly all day. A couple layers of VR45(-2/-8) covered with a layer of VR40(-4/-12) gave me excellent grip and I had no sticking in the fresh snow.
Cindy and Dan at the top of Blueberry hill
There was enough traffic on the trail to keep the tracks well-polished, but in some sections of Elk pass, as I was returning, the tracks were getting a bit shallow.
I enjoyed seeing a group of scouts on the big hill at the beginning who were having a lot of fun. They had climbed most of the way to the top and were just getting set for a fast and fun trip back down.
A cm of fresh snow made for a fun descent of Blueberry hill
I had the good fortune to be climbing Blueberry hill a few minutes behind Cindy and Dan, so the tracks were skied-in for me. With the overcast skies and low visibility, there wasn’t the usual spectacular views at the top of Blueberry but I got a great photo of Cindy and Dan that was fitting for Valentine’s day.
I took the fast ride down the big hill when returning on Elk pass. I could see Fox creek had a lot of fresh snow but was skier-tracked.
Back at the parking lot at 2:30 pm, the sun was shining and the snow had stopped.
Be careful on the Kananaskis Lakes trail. It was very slippery and a vehicle was in the ditch.
In Banff National Park, Spray river east and west were trackset on the 13th. Cascade valley and Upper Bankhead were trackset yesterday(14th).
The Skogan pass and Ribbon creek trails were trackset yesterday.
Moraine lake road and the Pipestone trails have been recently trackset at Lake Louise and conditions are reported to be superb(or even better according to Will!). If you go to Lake Louise, stop in at Wilson’s and enter the contest for the Atomic Skin-tec skis. Only two weeks left to enter!
