Tim and Carolyn had just finished skiing the Banff trail on natural snow. This picture was taken in the exact spot where the snow was very thin before the recent snowfall
At the Canmore Nordic Centre the air temperature was -13°C, the snow was -10, and it appears from the forecast that it will only get colder for the remainder of the week.
Excellent conditions on the Banff loop
I know this is a worn out phrase, but it didn’t feel that cold once you got moving. The lower section of the Banff loop was in superb condition. At the end, there are now good tracks to the mine meadow where the natural snow begins.
I arrived at the meadow in the dark, but luckily I ran into Carolyn and Tim who were just finishing the Banff trail on the natural snow and reported good snow coverage. The photo is exactly at the spot where it was very thin before the recent snowfall, and you can see it’s fine, good tracks and all.
Cold-weather wax
The upper half of the Banff loop is still not groomed and has mountains of man-made snow covering it. Shouldn’t be long before it’s ready.
Waxing will be easy this week with the cold snow. Not only do we use green wax for grip, but if you want to glide a lot faster on the cold sandpaper snow, your glide zones could be hot-waxed with green glide wax.
Yesterday was glorious skiing in blue conditions. A lap of Banff Trail at lunch time in warming sun sent my spirit soaring. Back out for a night ski with the head torch, I may have passed Tim and Carolyn as they were returning to the meadow, as I passed a small group but was then alone for the next 30 minutes. I dropped down Grey Wolf onto Bow, and returned to the meadow via Meadow View. Those latter two trails have regained some condition, though still a bit twiggy on Bow.
-Lincoln