Chip and Peter on Tyrwhitt
What a fantastic day of skiing! For our annual ski trip on the Tyrwhitt Loop, Peter, Chip and I were once again lucky to enjoy the best conditions of the winter. The Tyrwhitt Loop is my all-time favourite, and today it was pure enjoyment.
Starting out from Boulton Creek
I got pretty excited when I checked the PLPP Live Grooming Report and saw that Tyrwhitt had been trackset last night.
Elk Pass
The snow and air temperatures were -5°C at Boulton Creek at 10:30 a.m. Starting up Whiskey Jack, Peter had plenty of grip with his exotic Holmenkol(-1/-6) but Chip and I used a mixture of VR45(-2/-8) and VR50(0/-4) to climb the 200-metre net elevation gain to the Pocaterra junction.
There’s some minor tree debris on the lower third of the trail. 2K up WJ, there’s major tree debris – actually a fallen tree across the entire trail. There’s a spot where the branches have been cleared and it can be stepped over if you remove your skis. Limbo is possible for the agile.
Fox Creek
It has now been a month since snowmageddon but we’re still seeing the effects with trees continuing to fall on the trails.
Judging from the speed at which we all ascended WJ, it appears that I’m not ageing quite as well as Peter and Chip. Peter was relaxing at the picnic table with his warm coat on when I arrived at the top.
Winter Wonderland continues
Tyrwhitt on last night’s tracksetting was a dream with beautiful fast tracks. The gradual, curvy downhill from the meadows to the picnic table was heavenly.
Elk Pass had a few cm of fresh snow but the tracks were still well-defined and quick. The big hill was easy to descend with the fresh snow. We spotted cougar tracks as we got closer to the Fox Creek junction.
Strathmore golf course’s first tracksetting of the winter
We ended the loop with the lovely single-track on Fox Creek and Moraine. Fox Creek has some tree debris and one fallen tree which was easy to get around.
The loop is 18K with a net elevation gain of 260 metres.
******
Strathmore golf course was trackset today.
Lots of tracksetting at Lake Louise today: Great Divide; Lake Louise surface; Lower Telemark; Tramline; Townsite; Moraine Lake Rd skate lane.
Tyrwhitt Loop Jan 21, 2020
