Lake Louise

Conditions were reasonably good on Moraine Lake road yesterday at Lake Louise.

Cindy Anderson was enjoying the nice conditions on MLR

The snow temperature was -6°C at 12 noon, air was -3.There was about 6-8 cm of new, consolidated snow over the latest grooming, but the tracks on MLR were still in nice shape. Occasionally you could feel a bit of crust, so it must have warmed up the day before on the sun-exposed areas.

Moraine Lake road, about 2.3K from the trailhead

I started out with VR45 and added a smidgen of VR50 before I started up the big hill at 2.6K. No problems getting grip, and the tracks were fast and well skied-in despite all the fresh snow. I experienced no clumping or icing on my skis whatsoever.

I went all the way to the end of the grooming at 9K. It was partly cloudy but you could still see about eight of the famous 10 peaks.

The fast downhills on MLR had no wet snow on the way back, so there was no “hanging on for dear life” situations. The snow conditions were consistent with no surprises.

Fairview had about 20 cm of consolidated fresh snow

After returning 7.2K on MLR, I turned left onto Fairview where I ran into some wet snow conditions in the sunny spots. There was about 20 cm of new snow on the trail. Surprised that no grooming had occurred here.

Tramline was in great shape and was the only trail where recent grooming had occurred.

Great Divide

I drove over to the Great Divide where conditions looked much like they did on MLR. My hopes were lifted when I spotted a snowmobile with an implement at the trailhead but it was the dogsled people who were grooming the dogsled trail.

Air temperature at 3 pm was +3. It was nice to be using waxable skis one more time.

I spoke too soon when I suggested the Banff tracksetting was over for this winter. Yesterday, according to the Banff trail report, Cascade valley and Upper Bankhead were done.

All the trails at Mt Shark were groomed last night. Check the Groomer’s Reports for the update from Jody. It sounds like a “waxable” day there.

Daily grooming continues at Canmore Nordic Centre. The CNC page has been updated with this weekend’s events. Minimal disruption to the recreational trails. I ran into Paul, the head groomer at CNC, at the grocery store yesterday. It sounds like we’ll have grooming there until Easter. Thanks to all the groomers at CNC for your excellent work this winter. I bet you’re looking forward to sleeping at night, rather than working!