Boxing day bliss

-Skiers had fast tracks and beautiful scenery on Elk pass today-

Before I tell you about our outstanding ski trip in PLPP, let’s take a look at some other business.

I’m glad we’re receiving reports from skiers in the other parts of PLPP because I’ve been fixated on the south end. Ray said conditions were pretty good in the middle, but it doesn’t sound like it would be advisable to ski Packers, at least not going downhill.

Yesterday, we received a report that the first 4K of Pocaterra is still marginal and needs more snow to cover the pine needles. The forecast is calling for 1 – 3 cm of snow by Saturday night. Every little bit helps.

Chuck’s report and photos from Redearth creek today are enticing.

Tyrwhitt meadows

Thanks to everyone for taking a minute to give us your trip report. It’s very helpful to other skiers when trying to decide where to ski.

I hope you didn’t spend the day shopping because you would have missed out on a dazzling day of skiing in the south end of PLPP. Chip and I arrived at Boulton creek to find the sun shining, no wind, an air temperature of -12°C and snow temp of -9. I applied VR40(-4/-12) and didn’t have to worry about waxing for the remainder of the day.

Tucking and cruising along Tyrwhitt

We started up Whiskey jack around noon and found about 5 cm of fresh snow on the trail. The tracks were skied-in well, and 99.9% of the pine needles have now been covered. There’s a 10-metre uphill section as you start out on WJ which has been snowplowed by downhillers and still has some exposed debris but it was of no consequence.

While climbing the extremely steep section about half-way up, I remarked to Chip that we weren’t even doing the herring-bone. It’s sure a lot easier when you can just stride up normally.

Happy skiers on Elk pass

We saw our first skier about 300 metres from the top. I think he was skiing. He went by so fast, it was hard to tell!

Tyrwhitt, with the fresh snow, wasn’t blazing fast like the other day, but it was fast enough to be enjoyable and the meadows were resplendent in the sun.

I was worried that people had spent the day shopping and were missing out on this wonderful day of skiing because we had only encountered 15 other skiers by the time we reached the Tyrwhitt/Elk pass/Hydroline junction.

Conditions on Moraine are getting a lot better

That all changed on Elk pass. There were many skiers over the next 6K on Elk pass, and all that traffic had helped to polish the tracks. We noticed a significant uptick in our glide and yet the fresh snow made the downhills fun and easy.

That’s one reason we decided to ski the big hill and it was a good choice. I hit 50 Kmh on the downhill. I don’t go that fast unless excellent conditions prevail.

Chip applies the brakes after the fast downhill on Elk pass as he arrives at Boulton creek junction

We stopped at the Boulton creek junction and took the narrow trails through the trees. The conditions on Boulton/Fox/Moraine have improved considerably over the past week with some new snow. They’re definitely skiable albeit a bit bumpy in places. It’s confusing to name the trails here because most of Boulton creek is no longer groomed due to flooding damage, but from the Elk pass junction, Boulton creek trail takes you for 600 metres where you then come to another junction. Take Fox creek for 200 metres, at which time you arrive at the Moraine junction which is the home stretch back to Boulton parking lot.

A good way to sort out these trails, and to see exactly which is which, is to look at the Live Grooming report for PLPP. Click on the name of the trail. It will then be hi-lited on the adjoining map.

Air temperature at Boulton parking lot upon our return was -9°C. We encountered 60 skiers from the top of Elk pass until we finished.

More photos from today’s skiing…

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