Greg(foreground), Tony and Liz on Redearth Creek at the 7K campground.
Redearth Creek was in nice shape and very enjoyable…to the 7K mark. Beyond the campground there was no grooming, just a wobbly skier-set track.
Redearth Creek at 2K.
Greg, Tony and Liz were on their way back from Shadow Lake when I met them at the campground. They warned me of the carnage on the trail near the Shadow Lake turn-off, and one of them used the word “butchered” for the trail to Shadow Lake.
Redearth Creek at 3.5K
They surmised from the tracks that two fatbikers had been unable to stay on their bikes and walked the trail, creating a horrible mess of post holes in deep snow with the resultant clumps and divots. Greg estimated they were sinking thigh deep.
Redearth Creek at 4.3K
The Banff trail report offers no explanation as to why the trail is not groomed and trackset beyond the 7K campground. I skied about 1.5K past the campground on the skier-set tracks.
Crossing Redearth Creek bridge at 7K.
There was fresh snow on the trail to cover up the pine needles. Just a dusting at the parking lot, but closer to 5 cm as I gained elevation. As usual, the first kilometre is a bit thin in places but there were no rocks and the tracksetting was still good.
Redearth Creek at 7.5K. Just skier-set tracks beyond the 7K campground.
With the fresh snow on the trail, the steep downhills on the return were easy and controllable, but be careful when going across that small bridge when returning.
At Lost Horse Creek(6.9K), the creek is frozen so you don’t have to use that difficult bridge.
The air temperature at the parking lot at 3 pm was -2°C. I applied a layer of VR50(0/-4) over the Goat Creek VR40 and had remarkably good grip with no icing. Light snow was falling when I started out, but ended soon after.
I paid close attention to my GPS as I crossed the two avalanche paths. The first one, at 3.7K, is 70 metres wide. The second one, at 4.7K, is 100 metres wide.
Some grooming occurred today on the Ribbon Creek, Bill Milne, Wedge Pond trails. Check the Ribbon Creek Live Grooming Report for details.
