West Bragg Creek

Mountain Road at West Bragg Creek

Wonderful trip reports coming in from all over today, thanks!

Mountain Road at West Bragg Creek

West Bragg Creek is a showcase for how to develop a multi-use recreation area and it was great to see all the skiers and multi-users enjoying the excellent conditions today.

Karlee on the left, mom Sharon on the right, and I’m still trying to remember the middle girl’s name.

After seeing Steve Riggs’ pictures of skiing in WBC with his dog it was too tempting to pass up, so Tessa and I checked it out today. 

Thomas helped me find my way around on all the new trails

I’d have to go along with Steve’s assessment that it might be some of the best ever conditions at WBC. It’s nice to be back in my warm weather gear again. Tessa likes these temperatures, too. 

Mountain View trail at West Bragg Creek

The temperature at 1:30 pm was +1 but I didn’t see any significant deterioration of the snow, not even on Mountain road which is in the sun all day. When I took a snow temperature in the shade it was -6°C.

I started out with VR45(-2/-8) and it worked well wherever the snow was in the shade but I added VR50(0/-4) for a little extra bite on those sunnier aspects. 

Seeing all the dogs is half the fun for me. 

West Bragg Creek

It was fun skiing a brand new trail(new to me, anyway), Mountain View, on the great conditions. I didn’t encounter any hazards and there was one section about 60 metres long which saw extended sun today but the snow was still fine. That was probably the only stretch on Mountain View where I actually needed the VR50’s extra grip. 

Brewster Creek, Healy Creek, Sundance Canyon

Tracksetting has now occurred on Healy Creek and Sundance Canyon in Banff National Park. I inquired about Brewster Creek and got the following response from the owners of Sundance Lodge:

“Hi Bob! The Brewster Creek Trail (the trail to Sundance Lodge from the Healy Creek Trail) is listed on the Parks Canada website as having icy sections, but it is single track-set for most of the way. Please note that due to trail conditions, there are some sections that are good for walking. “

I guess that means there are a few places where you need to remove your skis. Dogs are allowed on these trails.

Also in Banff, Tunnel Mountain was trackset yesterday and as Jane reported, Redearth Creek was done today. 

Baker Creek to Castle Lookout, and Castle Lookout to Castle Junction were trackset yesterday. 

Quote of the day from Lori: “An excellent day and I highly recommend skipping work tomorrow and heading to PLPP!”