Our timing was right for getting in some good skiing at Nipika Mountain Resort. With 10 cm+ of snow on Sunday/Monday, 45K of the 50K of trails have already been groomed and trackset. The temperature was -4°C and NO WIND.
Lyle Wilson(in black) and Noah were out checking the trails after work today
Nipika is located on the edge of Kootenay National Park and about a half-hour from Radium. It takes just under two hours for us to drive from Canmore.
Nipika is dog-friendly
It’s truly amazing what Lyle Wilson has created here with some imagination and plenty of hard work. We enjoy coming here not only for the excellent skiing, but because it’s dog-friendly and Tessa can run off-leash. Lyle’s done wonders to make this into a family-friendly getaway in one of the most scenic places you’ll ever visit.
The Cross river runs under the Natural Bridge
We arrived in time to get settled in our cabin and go for a late-afternoon ski to the Natural Bridge. As you can see in the photos, the snow and trail conditions are good except for the odd early-season grass/twigs/dirt which are easy to avoid. The skating lane is always an option if the tracks are compromised.
Nipika has created a haven for fat bikers with groomed single-track trails with minimal disruption to the cross-country ski trails. Occasionally you’ll encounter the fat bike trail as it crosses a ski trail at right angles.
It was peculiar to not see the usual welcoming committee of Rufus and Murphy today. It felt like something was missing. They’ve been a fixture here for so many years. I wrote a blog post about Rufus last summer Nipika says good-bye to Rufus. I was happy to see a trail named in his honour.
Thanks for all the trip reports today.
Bob, Where is your ad for Nipika, any deals through your site, I want to take a group of women from East Kootenays there over a couple of weekdays.
The ad for Nipika is on the sidebar of this blog, but it’s promoting the loppet. If you wish to book, here is the link to the main website http://nipika.com/