The most enjoyable sking today was on Fox Creek on the return. It had been groomed yesterday, had about 1 cm of new snow, and was in excellent condition with very little debris.
Elk Pass at 1.7K had lots of fresh snow.
The snow on Fox Creek, in the shade of the dense forest, was colder and had a nicer texture than the snow on Elk Pass. The temperature at the Elk Pass trailhead at 2 pm was +2°C. With the sun shining, it seemed warmer.
Elk Pass at 4K had less fresh snow.
Elk Pass trailhead had about 10 cm of new, high-density snow. It appeared to be borderline wet so I used my fishscale waxless skis which performed well. Surprisingly, there was much less fresh snow the higher I went.
Descending the other side of the big hill was still okay this afternoon, but both sides of the hill will be treacherous tomorrow morning(unless it’s groomed tonight).
Elk Pass at 4.8K
Snow conditions were inconsistent with intermittent stretches of cold snow, wet snow, and sticky snow. The lurching phenomenon was in effect when going downhill.
I could see that some skiers were trying to use wax as evidenced by the large divots in the tracks.
Fox Creek was in excellent condition and very enjoyable
I also skied for a bit on Moraine and Boulton Creek. Moraine, which had been groomed yesterday, hadn’t seen much traffic and was in pretty nice shape. Boulton was trackset yesterday and had some ice and dirt mixed into the snow.
Fox Creek
Personally, at this time of year I prefer trails like Boulton and Fox Creek to NOT be trackset. It allows for better maneuverability around sketchy parts. I’m guessing the tracksetter decided not to trackset Fox and Moraine after seeing the results on Boulton.
I am amazed at how much bare ground is already showing on the edges of the Elk Pass trail. It truly was a low-snow winter.
One of the first places to lose snow. Boulton Creek, about 100 metres above Boulton bridge.
I stopped at Pocaterra and observed about 5 cm of new snow which no one had skied in yet. Someone left a “Lost-and-found” notice on the door of the hut which I have posted in the gallery below.
From the photos in Chuck’s trip report, it looks like Moraine Lake road is a better place to ski if you’re willing to do the long drive.
I’ve noticed some “backend” issues with the website after the WordPress security update, but it still seems to be functioning reasonably well for the public. I can’t sort the photos in the below gallery, so they may display randomly. If you notice anything unusual, let me know.
