All the trails in the Ribbon creek and Kananaskis village area are in wonderful condition. Even the snowman at Kovach lookout is in better shape than he was a few days ago. I thought he might disappear at the hands of the snowcat blade, but he’s still there, watching skiers come and go.
Gary, Kerrie, Peter and Chris on New Ribbon creek.
Near the top of Ribbon creek, Chris’ backpack thermometer read -15°C. The snow temperature at the Ribbon Creek parking lot was also -15, so easy waxing. I’m glad I applied some cold glide wax to my skis this morning.
Diane and Kate at the upper Kovach – Aspen junction
Saying good-bye to the snowman, I headed down from the lookout and enjoyed excellent snow on the S-turns. At the Aspen junction I met Kate, and her friend Diane who was celebrating her birthday today. They started the same time I did, but went clockwise.
Ribbon creek
I started by climbing Hidden and Coal Mine. When I reached the New Ribbon Creek junction at 1K, I was tempted to continue on climbing up Coal Mine, but coming back down it is a sustained, steep, fast descent and I was afraid it would be “brass monkey” cold, so I turned left. The descent on New Ribbon Creek is also steep, but the corners slow you down, and it’s not as long.
Wedge connector
I knew from the Live Grooming Report that tracksetting was occurring on the Bill Milne and Wedge Connector trails, so when I finished skiing I drove over to Wedge pond. The new tracks looked inviting, so I skied to the end of the Connector(2.8K) on tracks which had already set up nicely and were firm and fast.
The Bill Milne and Wedge Connector are a skater’s paradise.
I stopped at the Barrier Lake Visitor Centre and received some clarification on the new brochure which originally stated that dogs were not allowed on the Ribbon creek trails. It was a misprint. Dogs are still allowed. I also noticed a couple other errors. It still has Marmot trail showing as a ski trail, and at the end of the groomed portion of Ribbon creek, it states, “Trail groomed beyond this point.”
In PLPP, Whiskey jack, Upper Pocaterra, and Packers were trackset today. This must be the earliest ever for tracksetting on Packers.
You know conditions are great when…I post four updates in one day!
When it says dog-friendly, is that off leash as well? Or do dogs need to be leashed?
It’s all explained on this page
http://skierbob.ca/dog-friendly-ski-trails/
Hi there,
Can you tell me how many km of trails are out of Ribbon Creek and how many are currently groomed? I usually drive by and continue to PLP because I didn’t think Ribbon Creek had many km of trails…hoping I’m wrong.
Thanks, Rhonda
I added up the distances from the new brochure(correcting the ones I know are wrong), and it comes to 51K. 31K have been groomed in the past two days. -Bob
Vindicated!