Kananaskis Fire Lookout…and more

I broke trail in 2-4 cm of fresh snow on the Kananaskis Fire Lookout trail

I waited for the perfect day to finally ski up to the Kananaskis Fire Lookout this season. The snow is so amazing that I was able to stride the entire way up the north side; not one herringbone!

Alison and Eric on Whiskey Jack

The temperature at Boulton Creek at 2 pm was -8°C and the snow was -7. My skis already had VR45(-2/-8) from yesterday and it worked well. Whiskey Jack had 1-3 cm of new snow over the recent tracksetting but six skiers had been up the trail ahead of me today.

The Ratliffe family; Karen, Will, Michael, and Rose at the Whiskey Jack/Pocaterra junction.

At the top of WJ, I met the Ratliffe family who had come from Elk Pass and reported some fresh snow on the trail but the tracks were still okay. They were doing the Tyrwhitt loop. 

I arrived to pristine, untracked, powder snow at the Lookout junction. The only tracks were that of an Easter bunny who hopped along the trail for a couple hundred metres. 

The wall of snow on the Kananaskis Fire Lookout trail

There was 2-4 cm of fresh snow over Saturday night’s tracksetting and it had to be the easiest climb I’ve ever done to the Lookout. The thermometer at the Lookout registered -7. 

Woolley

I wouldn’t recommend coming up the south side unless you really enjoy breaking trail. The south side hasn’t had any recent grooming. 

The fresh snow on the trail made for a controlled descent; in other words, quite slow. It took me five minutes to descend rather than the usual four. 

Wheeler

I continued down Pocaterra on good tracks to the Lynx junction, then onto Lynx. I think Scott and Courtney must have had a lot of fun coming down the big hill on Lynx with the 1-2 cm of new snow on the recent tracksetting. 

After skiing 16.2K I finally reached the new tracksetting on Amos and it felt like my skis shifted into a higher gear. As Darrell has already reported, fantastic, fast and firm. I completed the day on the new tracksetting on Amos, Woolley, Meadow, and Wheeler. 

The snow did not suffer any deterioration today and should be even better tomorrow.

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  1. Nice to see you today Bob, along with surprisingly few others out enjoying “February in April”. Conditions are so amazingly good right now – well worth taking a day off this week and sneaking out. Mid winter snow quality, full season snowpack depth, cold air, cold snow, warm sun.

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