Smiling Faces

Jessica and her dog Willy lead a group of skiers on the Bill Milne trail

I was thinking of calling this update “The transition from ice to snow” because a few days ago, you could ice skate on the Bill Milne trail. Today, after last evening’s Pisten-Bully magic, it was like real snow again.

Anna, Sandy, Doug and Doug. Who wouldn’t be smiling today?

I waited for it to warm up and in mid-afternoon it was -7°C with a snow temperature of -9. No wind with a bright blue sky. I used blue wax but I really didn’t need much kick because the tracks were fast and I could double-pole 99% of the time. Effortless double-poling.

The dog’s names are Taro and Neeko

To illustrate the fast conditions, when I was getting ready, I set my skis in the tracks, on what I thought was level ground(after all, it’s the Bill Milne trail). I turned my back for a few seconds and when I went to click in to my skis, one of them was gone! It was 50 metres down the trail.

On a sunny day, the scenery on the Bill Milne trail is as magnificent as anywhere in the Great Canadian Rockies.

Mithum and Merritt on the Bill Milne trail

Making the Kovach parking lot available is a wonderful development. No pandemonium, no searching for a spot. The Bill Milne trail is accessible right from the parking lot. We just need to get the skiers to pony up. Only two of 14 vehicles had Kananaskis Parking Passes displayed.

There is also a large parking lot available at the golf course. I hope the two extra parking lots eased the congestion at Ribbon Creek.

The Mt Shark trail report was finally updated and indeed, Watridge Lake trail was trackset on Friday.

The Parks Canada trail report indicates that Baker Creek to Castle Lookout was trackset yesterday. On Dave’s trip report, he indicated the tracks are in great shape.

Light snow is falling in Calgary tonight, and there is a bit more in the forecast for Monday.

For the skiers whose names I probably spelled wrong, please email me with the correct spellings.