End of the trail

At the end of Terrace trail, skiers stare in anguish at the insurmountable barrier of Ribbon creek

Hmmm…it could be an appropriate title for the last post I ever make on this blog. Not to worry, I’ve got a few Ks(and keystrokes) left in me. It has to do with the “abrupt endings” we’re experiencing this year.

Cascade trail ends at 6.4K where the bridge is gone. Photo by Chuck O’Callaghan

Due to the June floods, some of our ski trails now have unexpected endings. A few of these “unhappy endings” are scheduled to be fixed, as you probably read on the recent posts about Banff’s Spray River and Goat creek.

Chip and I had an “end of trail” experience on Terrace today as we skied the perimeter of the Kananaskis village trails. Right now,  Terrace ends at Ribbon creek and you can’t get across but I have a notion that we’ll be seeing a bridge here soon.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Terrace trail in such wonderful condition on Nov 21

As you can see in Chuck’s photo, Cascade valley ends abruptly at 6.4K and I don’t expect we’ll be getting a bridge here this winter. Although it wasn’t groomed yet, Chuck scouted out the new portion of the Cascade valley trail which will continue on the Lake Minnewanka road to Upper Bankhead. I’m guessing it’s about a 2K extension, and what terrific scenery. Make sure you view Chuck’s amazing photos.

Now the fun starts….descending from the Kovach lookout

There were shouts of delight as Chip and I began skiing on Terrace trail near Kananaskis village this afternoon. Air temperature was -6°C, the snow was cold at -7°C and the tracks were silky smooth.

Take note that you can’t start at the Ribbon creek parking lot to ski these trails right now. That should change soon as we’re expecting to see a bridge across the creek soon. The only access is from Kananaskis village.

A portion of the the Bill Milne trail was groomed and trackset today

The final 1K of Terrace trail takes you on a fun downhill to Ribbon creek. This was the only trail which had some thin spots but were easily avoided. The last 100 metres has been re-routed and is a series of small hills which are a lot of fun.

We were using Swix VR45 and had plenty of grip, even on the steep hill to the Kovach lookout. The S-turns were in good shape with lots of snow cover. When you get back to the village on Kovach, you’ll notice the final 100 metres has changed here as well. It comes to an end at the paved path, and we had to walk 150 metres to get to the parking lot. When the construction ends, there will be a groomed trail all the way to the parking lot.

Jeff groomed and single trackset the Bill Milne trail as you can see on the map. There’s a wide enough lane on the Bill Milne for skate-skiers.