Spray river bridge at 6K was installed today. The bridge links the Spray river east and west trails. Photo by Chuck O’Callaghan
With highs around -10°C, it’s shaping up to be an excellent weekend for xc skiing!
Groomed and trackset in Kananaskis since the recent snow:
- Bill Milne
- Wedge connector
- Skogan pass
- Pocaterra
- Come Along
- Lodgepole
- Meadow
- Sinclair
- Wheeler
- Spruce road
Update – this info is from PLPP tracksetter Jody: “Hi Bob, Unfortunately the PLPP Snow Cat is actually down at the moment. We limped through the last mechanical issue only missing one night of grooming, but the cat cannot move in its current state so there may be no grooming or tracksetting in PLPP for this weekend. And just for the record, Wheeler, Spruce Rd, Lodgepole, Sinclair and Meadow were groomed during the snowfall, and the majority of snow fell afterwards. Also, at the north end of Pocaterra (“new Pocaterra”) the snow is still quite thin with some exposed dirt and possibly rocks therefore I would still recommend rock skis on this section for now. Hopefully the cat is up and running again soon.”
I’m pleased to see that some packing occurred on the Sandy McNabb trails today. See the Kananaskis trail report for details.
The list of recently groomed/trackset trails at the Canmore Nordic Centre is too long to post!
The Banff tracksetter is busy with the following being trackset today:
- Sundance
- Healy creek
- Brewster creek
- Cascade valley
- Upper Bankhead
The bridge is in
In Banff, we should soon see some tracksetting on the Spray river. Thanks to Chuck’s reconnaissance, we know the bridge at 6k has been installed. This is the Spray river bridge which links the west and east side. See more of Chuck’s photos.
The following Lake Louise trails have been trackset:
- Moraine Lake road
- Great Divide
- Fairview
- Upper Telemark
- Tramline
- Bow River
I just received an email from Tracksetter John re: Emerald Lake and Yoho:
“I got a nice track around the alluvial fan at Emerald Lk today, and a track or two on Kicking Horse Fire Rd from the natural bridge. I graded and widened the Connector and Tallyho out to the Field Info and hope to get a good track on it tomorrow.”
We know from the Trip Reports that Confederation Golf Course is trackset and in good shape.
I’ve been skiing here for 15 years and I found trails at the Canmore nordic centre today that I’ve never ever seen groomed! And there’s still more to explore this weekend! Also skied Moraine/Louise yesterday – we were out just behind the tracksetters and it was a bit soft and slow to start off but setting up really nicely by the time we left.
Wow, that is quite the compilation!
Was someone intentionally keeping us in the dark regarding Spray River bridge dates? I kept reading it would be flown in on the 23rd, and now there it is!
Packing also occurred at West Bragg Creek today. We were there this afternoon and it was a fantastic winter wonderland 🙂
Sometimes projects go better than expected. The early opening of the pedestrian bridge in Banff during the floods is a happy example of that. Let’s just enjoy it!
Only that I thought it might be fun to ski up and watch the bridge being flown in, and perhaps they wanted to avoid crowds of sightseers?
You’re right. That would have been fun to watch. A friend skied out there today and said the trail is skiable but hasn’t been trackset yet. I hope they do it soon!