Peter on Bill Milne trail
What a phenomenal day of skiing on Wedge, Evan-Thomas, and Bill Milne trails. There have been some very positive trip reports(thanks, everyone!) but I think we found the best place to ski today. In the above photo, can anyone guess why the trail has the flat portion in the middle of the corduroy?
Clae and Terry Wagler on Wedge Connector
Peter and I hit the trail around 12:30 pm from Wedge Pond on the finest conditions you’ll ever see. The thermometer in my car said -12°C but the sun was shining, the wind was calm, and the snow was surprisingly fast for being so cold.
Bill Milne trail
The snow temperature was -15 and VR30(-10/-30) worked well all day with no rewaxing required. The air temperature upon our return at 3:30 was -6. We made some clothing adjustments mid way through the day because it was getting too warm.
Kazzy with Chris and Peter on Bill Milne trail
It was busier than I’ve ever seen it on these trails and everyone was happy and smiling including Kazzy the dog who submits occasional trip reports.
Peter is standing on the bypass trail(yes, it was partially trackset!). The regular Bill Milne trail is on the left, but impassable due to an ice flow.
We skied the Wedge Connector, Evan-Thomas, crossed the road over to Bill Milne and skied as far as the Kananaskis River bridge which was 9.8K.
The bypass trail around the ice flow has been much improved since I was on this trail a week ago. It’s 900 metres in distance and 600 metres of it has been groomed with the snowcat.
A 300 metre portion of the bypass is skier-set track in the ditch and as Tyler mentioned in his trip report, a small amount of road debris is mixed into the snow. If you were worried about your skis, you could always walk this stretch on the road.
Check the photo gallery at the end of this post to see more photos of the bypass trail.
The bypass trail on Bill Milne
On our return, we skied through the Mt Kidd RV Park, crossing the road and skiing the small hills on the way back to the trailhead at Wedge Pond.
We cut off 2K by not taking Evan-Thomas and Wedge Connector on the way back.
After skiing 9.8K on Wedge, Evan-Thomas, and Bill Milne, This was our turnaround point.
We met Tegan who was out for her second-ever cross-country ski trip and was doing well. The Wedge Connector is a great trail for beginner skiers because it is wide and mostly flat. If you go far enough there is one small hill.
Evan-Thomas
This was a nice reprieve from the extreme cold we’ve had lately. Is everyone ready for tomorrow’s snowfall and more cold temperatures? I see the mountains are going to be warmer than Calgary over the next few days.
Snowfall predictions for Calgary and Bragg Creek are widely divergent. Weather Network is predicting 15 cm, Snow-Forecast.com is 10 cm, and Windy.com is 5 cm.
Other places which could use some snow are Banff and Canmore. Weather Network is predicting 15-20 cm for Banff but Windy.com is only 6 cm.
Wedge, Evan-Thomas, Bill Milne Feb 14, 2019
Great highlight reel of your ski. Parks has sure stepped it up with the bypass grooming, signage and such. Well done. And btw, your 3rd picture of the happy skier wearing the Finish touque kick-double poling is indeed a great photo capturing the all the elements and the essence of xc skiing in Kananaskis!