Thanks to Banff National Park for improved and timely grooming

Banff tracksetter on Cascade Valley

I don’t know how many of you remember the 2015-16 ski season, but we had very late and sporadic grooming from Banff National Park(Lake Louise grooming is not included in this, they are a separate entity). In fact, grooming only occurred during the weekends.

Banff tracksetter on Spray River East

The Visitor Experience Manger for Banff, Greg Danchuk had a meeting with me over the summer in 2016 where he assured me things would be different and much improved for the 2016-17 ski season, and I’m happy to say he was correct. Tracksetting was prompt when there was a snowfall, and the new grooming configuration on Goat Creek worked incredibly well.

That was continued into this ski season and it has raised expectations among skiers. This recent interruption to the grooming had me and many others concerned. Greg sent me an email tonight saying, 

“Had team member out a day and trying to catch up with all that snow put the grooming behind.”

Yesterday, as I was emailing Greg asking about the grooming, Cascade Valley was being trackset. Today, although it doesn’t mention it on the trail report yet, Goat Creek and Spray River were trackset. 

In my reply to Greg, I mentioned that we are appreciative of Tracksetter Don’s hard work and long hours to make the trails nice for us. Working long hours on an open snowmobile, sometimes in extreme cold can’t be that much fun. 

Prompt updates to the trail report will be the next thing on our agenda. 🙂

Let’s count our blessings. We have been enjoying a winter with good snow and great trail conditions. Every little blip, like yesterday’s wind and warm temperatures, has been immediately followed by snow and cold.

Usually by the middle of February we’ve had a number of meltdowns, rain, wind, needle-mania, icy conditions, and the dreaded snow fleas. Last winter, for long periods of time, we were restricted to skiing in PLPP or Lake Louise, the only two places where the snow was skiable. 

Knut Nystad prefers to remain invisible, because if the team underperforms, he becomes a figure of national ridicule

Snowfall update: Today I received about 5 cm of new snow at my place in Canmore. 

Best story yet from the winter Olympics…

Tough Job: Norways’s Olympic Ski Wax chief is only noticed when he fails

“If we screw up we’re on the front page of every newspaper in Norway,” he said. “We become idiots, overnight.”