-Michelle was enjoying some skiing on Moraine Lake road during her lunch break.-
About 4 cm of new snow was on top of yesterday’s tracksetting at Moraine Lake Road(MLR) and Tramline. By the time I arrived, however, the tracks had been skied-in well.
Moraine Lake road was trackset yesterday but already had about 4 cm of new snow
It was still snowing lightly. I started out from the MLR parking lot and headed up Tramline which is now double trackset. What a beautiful trail on a day like this, with the trees covered in snow. I talked to Peter Thomas who had skied all the way down Lower Tramline to the train station about the conditions at the bottom. He reports that it was good all the way except for the last sharp turn as you reach the end. It still had a few rocks, but they were marked with an orange cone.
Tracksetter Jeff was working on the middle parking lot
I skied Moraine Lake road next, and it was a rare occasion to hear my poles hitting any pavement. The S-bends now have good snow cover.
The tracks on MLR were still well-defined and in good shape. The new snow slowed me down just enough that I could stay in the tracks all the way down the big hill(see video below).
The S-bends have good snow cover now
Upon arriving back at the trailhead I noticed that Tramline had been freshly trackset, so I drove up to the Chateau parking lot and investigated. The new tracksetting extended up from Tramline and into the middle parking lot where I ran into tracksetter Jeff. This is “Chateau Jeff,” not “Parks Canada Jeff” who has been sending me email updates. The trail was trackset all the way to the boathouse.
Brand new tracksetting on Upper Tramline
Chateau Lake Louise is responsible for grooming and tracksetting Upper Tramline, Fairview, the lake, and the middle parking lot. Jeff was trying out the brand new snowmobile and seemed very thrilled with it. He also said he’d put me on the mailing list for updates, which thrills me!
Just as Diane mentioned in her trip report, Fairview needs a lot more snow before it can be groomed.
The Great Divide had a lot of fresh snow on top of yesterday’s packing, so it should be on schedule for tracksetting soon. It was snowing moderately when I left Lake Louise and snowed all the way to Banff. It tapered off near Canmore. I don’t have any more than 3 cm in my snow guage.
Here’s a video of the descent on Moraine Lake road. Turn up your volume…
