Yoho Valley Road(YVR)

Yoho Valley Road. Photo by Chuck

Nov 15, 2020: Thank you to Chuck for the photos and report. The tracksetting on YVR(not to be confused with Vancouver airport) ends at about 5.5k. You can ski further on the ungroomed trail, but there is avalanche, icefall, and rockfall danger at about 6.5K, just before you arrive at the switchbacks. 

Yoho Valley road. Photo by Chuck

As you can see in Chuck’s photos, there is already about 10 cm of fresh snow over yesterday’s tracksetting, and if you venture past the tracksetting, you’ll be in 25 cm of ungroomed snow. 

Yoho Valley road also goes by the name Takkakaw Falls road. 

Dogs are allowed on-leash on YVR.

If you enjoy skiing in Yoho National Park, please consider making a donation to Kicking Horse Ski Club who are responsible for grooming the trails. 

By the way, I’m enjoying all the new acronyms that people are coming up with LOL. 
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Back Door parking issues

We’ve had reports that Conservation Officers(COs) were ticketing vehicles parked on Highway(Hwy) 40 in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park(PLPP) at the Back Door, officially known as the Kananaskis Fire Lookout Access road. 

Update: I no sooner posted this when I received a call from a PLPP CO explaining that vehicles were encroaching on the driving lane. I suggested that a warning could have been the first course of action but she was adamant that this is unacceptable and it sounds like they wanted to set an example. The CO said the situation there has been dangerous for pedestrians and other motorists the past few days.

Hopefully, now that we are paying for grooming, we will soon get some groomed trails starting at the traditional parking lots in PLPP where we can park without being fined. it appears from the trip reports that Elk Pass has plenty of snow at the trailhead now. 

This parking situation is going to be a problem this winter with so many people wanting to access the trails in PLPP. For example, the Elk Pass parking lot will fill up fast on the weekends and parking will not be allowed on the road. You have the option of parking at the huge Upper Lake parking lot and skiing 1K on the pleasant, groomed Upper Lake access trail to Elk Pass.