Fox Creek. Photo by Alf Skrastins
It was a pleasant change to read about the new snow on your trip reports today. It’s a rare occasion to see Fox Creek with such clean snow and crisp tracks. Thanks to Alf Skrastins for the report and photos….
PLPP-Blueberry Hill- West Elk Pass
Conditions were wonderful at the south end of the PLPP trails today. The first pleasant surprise was a temperature reading of -6C at the Elk Pass parking lot and then measuring about 4.5cm of new snow on top of last nights grooming. Perfect blue wax conditions.
Elk Pass. Photo by Alf Skrastins
The next pleasant surprise was the absolutely delightful conditions on Fox Creek trail. It was clear that the trail crew had done a lot of shovelling work to fill in the dips and level the side hill tilting. The track preparation and track setting was the best I’ve ever seen on that trail. And the new snow on top just made it magical.
West Elk Pass meadows. Photo by Alf Skrastins
Both the temperature and snow depth increased as we gained elevation. I measured 11cm of fresh snow on the Blueberry Hill trail and a temperature of -3C. It was kind of blustery at the Blueberry Hill viewpoint, so we didn’t linger. On the way back, we toured off-trail, connecting a bunch of meadows to Fox Lake and couch headquarters at West Elk Pass. The couches were covered with a lot of new snow, so they looked more like bean-bag chairs.
The ski back along Elk Pass was a soft, silky smooth glide, and we absolutely had to take Fox Creek again on the way back. So good!
More photos
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yrb4MsENxoNERtDf7
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More evidence that no one reads signs
The Chateau grooming team added this to their grooming update today. The final sentence is the real zinger…
We are seeing a very uncomfortable amount of people walking directly under and tobogganing on the west slope of Mt. Fairview that funnels onto Lake Louise (not to mention the masses walking towards the Plain of 6 Glaciers Tea House). Although the people reading this are most likely aware of the avalanche slope, we are hoping that maybe you can help spread the word (socially distanced of course) to your friends, family and fellow recreationalists. There are signs everywhere, but as we know with the signs asking people not to walk on the ski tracks, no one reads signs!
