I met Kim and Brian at the top of the Elk Pass hill
Update Sat Apr 1: Trails groomed last night/yesterday: Whiskey Jack, Packers, and Upper Pocaterra in PLPP. Moraine Lake road at Lake Louise.
Update Fri Mar 31 @ 8:15 a.m: All the trails at Mt Shark were groomed last night.
Hannah was waiting at the top of the Elk Pass hill for her family to catch up.
Congratulations to Mary Perrott for reaching 1000K this season! I met Mary and Ray as I was starting out today. They had already skied a fair bit and I probably should have paid more heed to the things they told me about the conditions. With all the skiing they do, I’m glad they are regular trip reporters on this blog!
Two members of Hannah’s family on Elk Pass
I was hoping to do the Whiskey Jack – Tyrwhitt – Elk pass loop today and was looking forward to skiing on last night’s new grooming when I reached Tyrwhitt. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Lots of fresh snow on Whiskey Jack
The snow was already wet when I started out around noon from Boulton Creek. I was doing fine on my fish-scale waxless skis as I climbed Whiskey Jack in lots of fresh snow(3 cm at the bottom, 10 cm at the top), but near the top, the snow started sticking to my grip zone. I had treated the fish-scales with the non-stick polish but I guess it wore off quickly. BarryG later told me that it really only works well below freezing.
Fresh, wet snow on Tyrwhitt was sticking to both sides of my skis
I struggled as far as the Tyrwhitt meadows where there was lots of fresh snow over last night’s grooming. I finally was annoyed enough to abort this trip and turned around. It was a slow trip back down.
Congratulations to Mary Perrott for reaching the 1000K milestone this winter
I drove to Elk Pass and had much better success there using my Skintecs. There was only 1-2 cm of fresh snow on last night’s grooming to the north Hydroline junction. Thereafter, more fresh snow was on the trail but it was well skied-in and I had good grip and glide. I went as far as the Blueberry Hill junction. I had a pleasant, if not fast, run back down to the Fox Creek junction.
Fox Creek
My most enjoyable skiing of the day was on Fox Creek. It was recently trackset, and although it has a few rough spots, overall it was fun and fast.
Survey deadline is tomorrow
Did you ski on any of the trackset golf courses in the city of Calgary this winter? Foothills Nordic Ski Club asks that you take a few minutes to complete the Satisfaction Survey. Results from the survey will be considered as they work on further improvements to ski facilities in the city. Please complete the survey by March 31.
