Good day for a haircut

Spray River East

I was thrilled to get Chuck’s report this morning at 9:10 a.m. about the Banff tracksetter working on Spray River and was hoping he’d also be doing Goat Creek. 

Excellent tracks on Goat Creek beginning at the Banff boundary…and no footprints(or llamas)!

When we made the grooming appointment for Tessa in Canmore two months ago, little did we know it would be one of the best days ever to ski Goat Creek.

Goat Creek at 2.1K: Barb was doing the trail in both directions

Goat Creek at 7.5K: 15-20 cm of new snow here

Arriving at the Goat Creek trailhead at 2:30 pm the snow and air temperatures were both -3°C. I used VR45(-2/-8) which worked perfectly. I didn’t have to herringbone anywhere. 

As Chuck mentioned in his report, there was a ton of new snow at the higher elevations. I was guessing about 15-20 cm just as Chuck surmised. It made for fairly soft tracks and slower skiing but with this perhaps my last trip on here this winter, I was in no hurry. 

9.5K: Now on Spray River West

For something different, I took Spray River East to Banff. It was in nice shape for most of the way but being a multi-use trail, it had already seen a few footprints in the tracks but it was a minor detail. 

There is a sizeable ice flow on SR East but the ice was just soft enough that it wasn’t slippery, so easy to cross. 

Spray River East

Cheryl was picking me up at the Spray River West trailhead, so I then skied the connector back over to the SR West side and it had excellent snow coverage with no rocks or debris. I removed my skis for the steep, narrow downhill which is only about 50 metres in distance. 

It’s rare to see the first 700 metres of Spray River West in such nice shape. It takes a beating from all the multi-users but with fresh tracksetting today, it was still looking good. 

It didn’t get warm enough for the snow conditions to deteriorate, so I expect the trail will still be in great shape tomorrow. With tonight’s cold temperature, the tracks should be set up and be a lot faster, too. 

I stopped at the Canmore Nordic Centre to check the condition of the snow and it was freshly trackset and still nice and cold. I’ve included a photo in the gallery below. 

My dog has two-thirds of the backseat to herself, but chooses to sleep on top of my ski bag.

Be sure to check Alf’s and Chuck’s trip reports for the fantastic photos they’ve included.

For anyone wondering why we take Tessa to Canmore for grooming, it’s because she is very old and is comfortable with the groomer which she went to for several years while we lived in Canmore. It’s also a nice excuse to go to the mountains.