March 1, 2021:
Ski mania continued unabated in February. The daily average of 10,054 unique visits to this blog is up 116% over last year.
Since Oct 1, 2020 we’ve received 1.48 million visits.
******
Kananaskis sees record visitors for 2020
Estimated number of visits to Kananaskis Country
- 2015: 3,597,678
- 2016: 3,706,633
- 2017: 3,733,772
- 2018: 3,793,782
- 2019: 4,103,965
- 2020: 5,394,168
“The 2020 season saw a jump of more than 1.2 million visitors to 5,394,168 compared to 2019. It also shatters the five-year average of 3,787,166 by more than 1.5 million estimated visitors.”
Read more in the Rocky Mountain Outlook
Comment from Greg regarding the Kananaskis Parking Pass:
“$50 is good value. I have used my Pass over 30 times. Hoping to hit 40. In the fall, I thought I’d have to take up snowshoeing. Instead I’ve skied more than ever. Thank you to all who saved the season.”
Tracksetting Feb 28/Mar 1
Castle Lookout to Baker Creek on Feb 28. Photo by Chuck
If you’re looking for cold snow today, Lake Louise is your best bet. The Pipestone trails were trackset yesterday.
Chuck was at Castle Lookout/Baker Creek yesterday where the snow was still cold.
Peter Lougheed Provincial Park tracksetting: Elk Pass(partial), Hydroline, Lookout, and Tyrwhitt.
“Grooming under mostly clear skies on Sunday night, with light intermittent flurries, totalling <1cm of fresh snow by the time grooming was completed at 02:00. Expect 1- 2 cm’s of snow on top of Friday night’s grooming, and all other trails will have from almost 5cm’s to possibly 10cm’s, depending on location and when they were last groomed.”
The temperature at the Lower Lake this morning at 9 a.m. is zero. The predicted high is +3 with wet flurries.
Horse damage at West Bragg Creek
West Bragg Creek:
Update from Boomer Groomer:
“Chinook winds, above zero temps, snow fleas and equestrian damage are all factors contributing to suboptimal ski conditions. Avoidance of Mountain road is advised if you want to avoid isolated slush/ice flows, snow fleas and soft skate lanes (due to a deep renovation to try to eliminate 6” postholing by a horse.)
There will be a mixed bag of conditions including glazed tracks in sun exposed areas. Best to stay on shaded core trails if you are classic skiing. Might be time to start applying sunscreen!”
Some of the core trails were trackset early today. Check Nordic Pulse for details.
The temperature at the WBC trailhead this morning is +5 with a predicted high of +9.
Banff: Cascade Valley and UpperBankhead were trackset yesterday.
If there had been no grooming, better to get some LT gear and break your own trail (not that you would have always had to), vs. going snowshoeing. At least the down would still be fun, fast and efficient.
Here’s another stat from xcountry gear sellers in Canada. Skier Bob is almost National now
https://ccsaa.org/2021/02/cross-country-ski-retailer-survey-report-mid-feb-2021/?fbclid=IwAR0zpp2iJCBBJu5CH8dJSLFjrUGjnWqmn7feTkfgFPd4CAWov3ZUC7S80EM
Over 5,3 million people is a lot of skiers for Skier Bob to count!
I blame much of the increase numbers of skiers skiing the eastern slopes on Skier Bob and his great website that people from around the world look at. Without this website, there is less talk about XC skiing in Alberta. The more talk the more people that get interested. There is no doubt COVID helped increase numbers this year, but those new skiers got a lot of information from Skier Bob as to where to ski and crash head first into their ski tips. New skiers with ski tips imbedded in fore heads have Skier Bob to thank if they viewed his website.
Going out on top?
or
Gettin’ out while the gettin’s good?