Am I dreaming?

-Moose at Boulton creek trailhead-

Somebody better pinch me. If you were skiing in Kananaskis today, you probably thought you’d died and gone to xc heaven. Thanks for all the trip reports. My update will only confirm what you’ve already been reading about.

The moose moves on to the main course

The moose moves on to the main course. Half of the bumper is already clean.

More blog readers from afar have succumbed to the temptation, this time from Edmonton, coming here for a weekend of skiing. It was Brent and Lianne who saw the photos and drove for four-and-a-half hours to partake in our early season windfall…and I’m glad they did.

Pocaterra near Whiskey jack junction

Pocaterra near Whiskey jack junction

Brent saved me from dying of malnutrition by sharing his monster chocolate bar at the top of Elk pass. I had already completed 18K and didn’t bring enough nourishment to sustain me for the home stretch. Just like chocolate, this snow is addictive, once you start, it’s hard to quit.

Paul and Jane on Packers

Paul and Jane on Packers

I was out early today (by my standards anyway, not by Timmy and Sam’s who think 10:30 is late). I was climbing Whiskey jack at 11:10 a.m. with sun in my eyes.

The famous Elk pass snow pillows

The famous Elk pass snow pillows

When I arrived at Boulton creek parking lot, the air temperature was -14°C, and the snow was -15. There to greet me was the moose, munching away on an appetizer of some tasty twigs right at the trailhead. You could not start skiing without coming within 5 metres of her. She soon moved on to the main course when the vehicles arrived, cleaning everyone’s bumper with the iconic Rocky Mountain carwash.

Darcy and Kelly on Elk pass

Darcy and Kelly on Elk pass

Foremost on people’s minds this weekend was the weather. The forecast was calling for a high of 0°C today, but the only place that may have reached it was up on the highest elevations, as Mary pointed out in her trip report. The PLPP Discovery Centre said their thermometer never rose above -6. The snow condition did not deteriorate at all.

Elk pass

Elk pass

I used VR30(-10/-30) for most of the day, but added some VR40(-4/-12) later in the day.  The snow temperature at the top of Elk pass was -9 at 2:30 pm.

LeAnne and Brent came from Edmonton to ski here

Lianne and Brent came from Edmonton to ski here

This morning, Environment Canada was predicting a high of +8 for Kananaskis on Sunday. Now it’s +2. With the low angle of the sun, it shouldn’t have much effect, especially with a low of -12 tonight.

Tyrwhitt

Tyrwhitt

One skier who met me twice today, asked me if I was doing laps. Actually I did two loops, starting with Whiskey jack, Pocaterra, and Packers. I wanted to see what the downhill was like on Packers, and it was 99% fine, just don’t take the first big hill at full speed as it’s a bit bumpy. I completely missed the reported icy part, so MaSid’s instructions worked for me. No need to report on Whiskey jack or Upper Pocaterra as they are in fantastic shape.

Fox creek

Fox creek

The strange thing that happened when I arrived at the top of Whiskey jack is there was no one there. The picnic bench was sitting unused, and the Whiskey jack(the bird) was flitting around, waiting for the skiers to arrrive. Too early?

Arriving back at the Whiskey jack – Moraine junction, I stopped in a sunny spot and ate some of my meager rations. It’s an interesting and busy location with lots of skiers coming and going over the fifteen minutes I was there.

I then proceeded to do the Tyrwhitt loop but in the opposite direction from usual. Moraine, Fox creek, Elk pass, Tyrwhitt, Whiskey jack. All excellent. Not that I do it much, but I don’t ever remember descending Whiskey jack on such superb conditions.

7 Comments:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Nice to meet you on Ribbon Creek yesterday. We moved to Canmore recently and my husband Mark already knows of you “skier Bob”. The trail was wonderful, need to get my ski legs back, was pretty tired. I see the three of us got in the background of a couple of your pics. Thanks for the updates of trail conditions, you are a valuable resource!

  2. I’ve had many skis this year already, maybe a dozen and it’s tough to remember such a good season this early. I hope that we get more snow soon. Ribbon Creek was fabulous this weekend, West Bragg Creek was impeccable last week.
    JN have fun out there.

  3. Panorama Mountain Resort has it’s best November trail grooming ever!! All trails groomed for skating and classic and in fantastic shape!

  4. Nice to meet you trailside yesterday. Lianne and I had a great weekend skiing in Kananaskis…we’ll be sure to bring lots of chocolate again next time we come.

  5. If only I could get out there…. so far I haven’t had a chance.

  6. Nice to finally meet you out on the trail.
    Thanks for stopping to snap our pic. It was a great day to get out for a few hours of fun in the sun.

  7. Elk Pass was magic today.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *