Elk pass has lots of new snow

There’s already up to 10 cm of fresh snow over last night’s tracksetting on Elk Pass. The snow depth is variable and to my surprise, there was more in the mid-section than on the top of Elk Pass(at the Trywhitt – Hydroline junction).

Heather and Gary at the Elk Pass – Fox Creek junction

When I started out, the trail had about 3 cm of new snow. It got deeper further on, and the tracks were completely obliterated and the trail was chewed up from 2.5K – 5.5K as you can see in the photos.

Skiers returning from the Elk Lakes cabin

The air temperature at 2 pm was +2°C and the snow was -1 and it was snowing. I used my fish scale waxless skis and they gave good grip but the glide was painfully slow in the fresh snow. Some people were having a modicum of success with wax while others were not. I could see some pretty big divots in the tracks from skis which were clumping.

Tyrwhitt had about 5 cm of fresh snow

I met Heather and Gary at the Elk Pass – Fox Creek junction. They were using purple wax and reported overall good results with some occasional clumping. I met a group of five skiers who were returning from the Elk Lakes cabin who were having major clumping problems. A couple had given up and were carrying their skis.

Fox Creek

As I neared the end of Elk Pass there was a lot less fresh snow on the trail, and the tracks returned. I skied a short distance down Tyrwhitt to take a picture. There was only about 5 cm of new snow, and one track had been skied in by two skiers.

Elk Pass

The skiing was quite pleasant on Tyrwhitt and I wanted to go further, but my feet weren’t very happy in the boots I was wearing today. With my fish-scale waxless skis, I have to wear boots with SNS bindings. It felt like the start of a blister, so I turned around and headed back the same way I came.

Rather than taking the big hill on the return, I skied on Fox Creek which was in very nice shape with about 3 cm of new snow which did a good job of covering all the debris.

There was about 2 cm of fresh snow at Pocaterra, and I’ve included a photo.

It was snowing lightly when I left the park around 5 pm.

Ski Tour Canada is back in action on Friday at the Canmore Nordic Centre with the seventh race. Ladies 10K starts at 9:45 am and men’s 15K at 1 pm. Canadian Alex Harvey is 4th in the men’s overall standings.