Great Divide at Lake Louise is being roll-packed.
After finishing my first ski trip of the season on Moraine Lake road, I drove up the hill to check out the Great Divide(also known as the “Old 1A.”)
Brian is set to make first tracks.
My pulse started racing when I spotted the Parks Canada truck and trailer parked at the trailhead. I think I heard the snowmobile off in the distance.
The snowmobile was making its first pass with the roll-packer.
I needed to eat lunch, so I wasn’t skiing, but Brian was there with his skis at the ready. I photographed him making first tracks on the new grooming.
Always a good sign
I’m eating elk stew from the Trailhead Cafe in Lake Louise as I post this first update. It’s amazing to be skiing on groomed trails this early in the season
Moraine Lake road
I’ll be posting an update on Moraine Lake road later. It was not as busy as I expected. I saw about 50 skiers and there were only 7 vehicles parked on the road(of course, the parking lot was full). The snow is still quite soft, and skaters were having a strenuous workout. I had a semblance of skier-set tracks so it was pretty nice for Oct 18.
Parks Canada hasn’t put up the signage yet, so there were lots of hikers making a mess of the trail at MLR. At one point, they were spread 5-wide across the entire trail.
Frozen Thunder at the Canmore Nordic Centre opens tomorrow(Monday, Oct 19).
Volunteers needed for Shaganappi:
The Shaganappi Nordic Operations Club (SNO) needs volunteer help tentatively Saturday October 24th afternoon for winter set-up of the rope fencing around tee boxes at the Shaganappi Point golf course in Calgary, AB. Contact Shaganappi Nordic Operations
I skied Great Divide on saturday, prior to the roller-packing; and was very surprised that I think I was the only one who did. Got there at noon, and there were no other tracks, other than a couple of non-fat bikers who made it all of 5m past the gate before giving up and walking their bikes back to Lake Louise Road.
Snow depths were about 15cm to 25cm, of fairly moist snow, with a bit of a slushy/icy layer at the bottom where the latent heat of the ground was still keeping things wet.
Had to break trail all the way out (on skinny track skis), and then came back following my own tracks with mixed results.
Outbound the snow was deep enough that even on the hill down to the arch / picnic tables I had to stride down (not even double-pole-able)
On the return trip, there were a few places where my own weight had packed things down to the slush layer, and a fair bit of time I was still compressing soft snow. I never broke through to bare ground though.
Overall, still phenomenal conditions for mid-october. I suspect that the roller-packing might have squished things all the way down to the slush layer, but if the week stays cold and we can get another storm or two, it should form a very nice base for the rest of the season.
Thank you, Bob, for your reports and updates. It sure looks like a great day!