Valley.
Paradise Valley. Photo by Chuck
Thanks to Chuck for the report and photos. Chuck remarked... “Ski season is far from over in Banff National Park.” See all Chuck’s photos including another bird besides the Chickadee. I’ve probably seen a Savannah Sparrow somewhere but I didn’t know what it was.
Chickadee. Photo by Chuck
A lot of excitement today surrounding the announcement of the Kananaskis Conservation Pass. The new pass will cover grooming, so the Kananaskis Parking Pass will go down in history as a one-hit wonder. It was a #1 hit in my opinion. I’m surprised nobody asked Ken Hewitt about the slush fund of about $80,000 which was collected over-and-above what was required to pay the government.
CTV has an online poll asking people “Do you support user fees for Kananaskis Country?” As I write this, it’s 767 – 712 in favour. Poll Question.
Thirteen winters have melted into spring since this blog started back in 2008 but I will soon be writing my final update. I’ve seen the first draft of a new blog to replace this one. It is a work in progress but I’m impressed. I’ll be posting a link to it when the website is ready. I’m pretty sure you’ll easily forget about me. 
(Truthfully, I knew someone could do a better job and I’m thrilled).
Pocaterra trailhead.
The vultures are circling and getting ready to pick over the bones of whatever is left on the PLPP north end ski trails. I usually post photos like these a lot earlier, but the season has been prolonged by the fresh snow and cooler weather over the past few weeks. The high tomorrow(Wed) in PLPP is +8°C after a low of zero tonight.
Boulton Creek
For the record, the two photos on this update were taken in previous years. I’m not sure if the Pocaterra trailhead has puddles of water, or snow, or dirt. I know the hill above the Boulton bridge is one of the first spots to lose snow.
Shoulder season has always been a difficult time of year for me: skiing is over but it’s too wet and muddy for decent hiking. I’ve gravitated more towards bike riding in recent years and today I was out on some of the paved paths in Calgary. I heard a Chickadee but wasn’t able to spot it, so Chuck’s photo was timely. Saw lots of crocuses.
Hi Bob et al. Regarding …” I’m surprised nobody asked Ken Hewitt about the slush fund of about $80,000 which was collected over-and-above what was required to pay the government. ”
Well… I don’t expect that there will be any problem finding worthwhile projects to spend the money on. With the Conservation Pass now announced, and grooming confirmed for the future, the 4 person committee has now scheduled its first meeting for next week to review a draft set of selection criteria. I’ll report back here afterwards.
1) Snow couch funding throughout the empire where decent seating unavailable! (-;
2) Some minor support/seed funding/advertising for the new blog to keep it afloat initially while it gains readership and sustainable advertising revenue.
3) New trail assessment/analysis/development: Lionel is an easy one (no real labour required to prep the ground); bringing back grooming to existing trails at sawmill (and perhaps a bit of money for improved (more frequent) grading of road.
4) Realignment of snow shoe trails that intersect groomed ski trails to decrease the chance and opportunity for conflict, increasing the investment benefits of every grooming run and making them last longer.
5) A forum (and thank you) for parking attendant volunteers to express what they would want done with the money as it was their free labour that allowed for the excess (and proof that a user fee system was palatable) and that labour was granted without any promise, condition or knowledge of future solutions such as an annual access pass.
Hopefully consideration will be given to passing it over to Bragg Creek Trails as it appears that far from being ‘grooming confirmed’, their funding is now in severe jeopardy with the government charging a fee to cover their grooming, but not providing any of these funds to them to cover the cost of grooming.
Your groundbreaking blog will never be forgotten Bob.