Two good choices for the weekend

I skied at Canmore Nordic Centre this morning where the skiable distance is up to 5.4K thanks to the partial opening of the Olympic trail. The competition trails of Centennial and Olympic are up to 2.3K and I wouldn’t be surprised if more was available soon.

Lynn was having good results with her grip wax at Canmore Nordic Centre

I was frightened by the warm weather and decided to use my waxless skis, but I talked with two classic skiers who were using wax with no significant problem. Darcy was using V50(-1/-3) and seemed to be making it up the hills okay. The snow temperature was -2°C and air temp was +1.

After a leisurely lunch and a drive to Lake Louise, I had about one hour to ski on Moraine Lake road. Cheryl dropped me off at the trailhead at 4:15 pm while she went dog-walking near the lake.

The Canmore Nordic Centre was a busy place today

After yesterday’s trip reports I was anxious to see the conditions for myself. The first thing I noticed was some fresh snow on the trail. Not much, maybe a centimetre at most, but it helped. I was expecting the worst, however, and had come prepared with my rock skis.

About 200 metres from the trailhead, I met Jessica who had been all the way to the end. You can tell by the grin on her face that she enjoyed it, and reported that conditions were fine. As with all reports, the two S-bends are the only real concerns, and any hazards are easy to avoid.

Moraine Lake road at 3.5K was in nice shape

In my opinion, conditions were slightly better than when I skied on MLR on Monday. Poles hit pavement occasionally up to Paradise creek at 2.6K, thereafter it only gets better. I was running out of daylight by 5 pm, but I had made it to 4K and about 150 metres of net elevation gain. Just as I stopped to take a picture and turn around, I heard a loud noise coming from the trees. I didn’t see anything, but it scared the wits out of me. I kept looking back as I quickly put it in road gear for the return trip.

There’s 1-3 cm snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow for Lake Louise.

I hope you’re reading the entries on the Mountaineer Lodge contest. I got quite a kick out of Gord Miller’s comment. I remember the day well! If you’re planning an overnighter to Lake Louise, The Mountaineer is offering a special rate for SkiHere readers.

Photos from Canmore Nordic Centre and Moraine Lake road…

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