Beautiful day at the back door

Sarah and Josh on Upper Pocaterra near Whiskey Jack junction

Everyone I met today was a SkierBob reader. Of course that only makes sense because they all read about the back door conditions right here.

Back Door trail

We are getting lots of reports on the PLPP south trails from skiers who are accessing them through the back door. By the way, the official name of the back door trail is actually “Kananaskis Fire Lookout Access Trail.”

The Back Door trail to Upper Pocaterra is 650 metres. It parallels the highway for 90 metres, then makes a right turn and spits you out on Pocaterra where you can go south towards the best snow, or north towards Packers.

Pocaterra left, Whiskey Jack right

When I arrived, eleven vehicles had squeezed into the parking lot, and three more were on the shoulder of the highway.

None of the PLPP trails have been groomed yet. The high elevation trails have lots of snow and have been packed down well from all the traffic. If you read Mike W’s and Sara M’s trip reports, you can get an idea of conditions on the lower elevation trails which are generally poor.

Back Door trail

I went prepared for backcountry conditions with my old, flatter, wider skis and poles with big baskets. I certainly didn’t need the poles, and I could have used my best skis. There’s a supportive crust under the fresh snow which prevents your poles from hitting bottom.

The temperature was -6° at 12:45 pm, and I had excellent grip with VR45(-2/-8).

There were a lot of skiers on the trails and it was nice to chat with everyone.

At some point these trails will be groomed. It’s speculation on my part, but I imagine they are waiting for more snow at the trailheads which are at lower elevations. Do you have your Kananaskis parking pass?

Jezebel was asking about acronyms:

PLPP = Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

WBC = West Bragg Creek

MLR = Moraine Lake road

GDT = Great Divide trail

If anyone can think of others, please leave a comment.