Saturday night update

-Skogan Pass below High Level junction. Photo by Ray Perrott-

I didn’t ski today, so I’m posting some photos from Ray and Mary Perrott’s trip to Skogan Pass. Ray and Mary have sent dozens of reports this winter, and I’d like to extend an invitation to everyone who submits trip reports to send me a photo of yourself and I will do a special posting with all the photos near the end of ski season. Send it to bobtruman@shaw.ca

We experienced an extreme temperature inversion today. I’m speculating that elevations below 1600 metres stayed cold and above that it got very warm. My thermometer in Canmore at 1402 metres did not get higher than -9°C.

Ray sent this trip report to go along with the photos:

Skogan Pass – a very interesting day here. We started at Ribbon Creek parking at 10:30am to a cool, breezy -17C.

Up Hidden Trail and across Nakiska base area to the Skogan/Ruthie’s junction. Then we headed up the Skogan Pass trail, most of us using VR30.

Just beyond the High Level junction, we were in the warmer air of the temperature inversion, upped our wax to VR40, and still had poor grip on sun exposed trail sections. The last section to the pass was good – mostly shaded, and the temperature at Skogan Pass was +3C.

The trip down was very good, though some high sections were getting a bit icy. Below the lower Skogan Loop junction, the snow stayed cold enough to be unaffected by the sun.

Made a side trip to Hummingbird Plume lookout on the way back – great conditions. The big ice flow on Lower Skogan is alive and well (and barely negotiable). -12C and snowing lightly back in the parking lot.

******
Another Spruce Grouse encounter

I met Kevin and Dauminique Dowler on the Kananaskis Village trails on Tuesday. They sent this report and a couple neat photos of their encounter with a Spruce Grouse later in the week:

Hello Bob,

It was cool to run into you on the Ribbon Creek trails this week. Dauminique and I had some great skiing this week. Here’s a pix of her while she was trying to get her camera out to get a pix of this grouse along the trail in PLPP Thursday.

It was at the junction of Amos and Wheeler nearest the Boulton Creek parking area.

The grouse was walking in the snow and made its way to the ski trail then snooped around us. When Dauminique was trying to get her camera out it jumped up on her back and perched there.

She was slowly standing up to see if we could get it on her shoulder when it lifted off and flew up into a tree. A second grouse was up higher in the same tree. They weren’t happy with each other being in the same area and had some calls to each other, then landed and had a squabble and flew off.