Friday morning update

Dec 18, 2020

Mt Shark 

Most of the trails at Mt Shark were groomed and trackset yesterday and last evening. 

“The base is still very thin in places, and expect early season conditions throughout the trail system.  Many early season natural hazards exist including a thin base with exposed rocks and small stones, particularly at lower elevations or in sun exposed areas, as well as exposed brush, bumps and uneven surfaces, particularly over water crossings.  A lot of snow was moved into the trees at the end of the stadium, and the thin spots there are now covered, enabling tracksetting through that area.”

The extra 5k of the 15k Green loop was not groomed this week, but left to accumulate more snow. Check the Mt Shark trail report for details on each individual trail. 

You need a Kananaskis parking pass to ski at Mt Shark. 

Pocaterra Hut is now closed to the public. 

The Moraine Lake road parking lot is scheduled to re-open tomorrow(Sat). 

Snow on the way

The weather forecasts are now calling for substantial snowfall on Monday in the areas which need it the most; West Bragg Creek, Kananaskis Village/Ribbon Creek, and Banff. The three forecasts which I look at are all predicting at least 10 cm for West Bragg, and Windy.com is predicting 34 cm!

Some places will start receiving small amounts of snow later today. 

Unfortunately, the snow is preceeded by strong winds, and wind warnings have been issued for most of the SkierBob domain. Expect some tree debris on the trails until the fresh snow comes to cover it. 

A winter storm warning has already been issued for the Lake Louise area…

“Light snow is expected to develop today and intensify this evening. Amounts of 10 to 20 cm are expected by Saturday morning. Locally strong winds with gusts near 80 km/h will also result in blowing snow along some sections of the highway.”