Thank you to everybody who left Trip Reports! It’s nice to see all the activity again.
When Tessa and I parked at Stoney trailhead at 1:30 pm it was -6°C. Later in the day, it got as warm as -4. It was much milder than the forecast predicted, but still cold enough to prevent any deterioration of the snow.
What’s everybody looking at?
I skied a short loop with my springer spaniel on Hay meadow, Ruthie’s, and Lower Skogan with a side trip to Troll falls. Ruthie’s, as you know is almost vertical, but I had good grip and did minimal herringbones.
Kristen on Hay meadow
Hay meadow was the busiest I’ve ever seen it with lots of skiers and eagle watchers. We met Kristen, the youngest girl I’ve ever seen on skis, Tobi the beagle, lots of chariots, and snowshoers.
Re: Eaglewatch; This is the 23rd consecutive year that a spring raptor count has been conducted at this site. Read more Eaglewatch.
Troll falls
The conditions on Hay meadow and Lower Skogan were just as Tracksetter Jeff described in his trail report: “Lower trails on the north side of Ribbon parking lot had about 5-8 cm of snow over an ice crust. Skiing should be okay but the bottom of the track will have some crushed ice particles.” This means the tracks were fast. I had no problem getting grip, but if you did, it would have been easy enough to step into the corduroy where the snow was softer and grippier.
Beautiful snow on Upper Kovach
The short Troll falls trail was a lot of fun today with the fresh snow. Dodging the trees was easy on the fresh snow.
Happy to be on waxable skis, VR45 worked well but I had to add a layer later in the day.
Young David is trying out his new skis today, followed by dad Chuck
After tiring out Tessa, I drove up to the village and skied the perimeter loop counter-clockwise, with a side trip down Terrace to Ribbon creek. Overall, conditions were quite nice on all trails. The snow at higher elevations near the Kovach Lookout was excellent with no signs of any old ice in the tracks.
The trip back down to the village was wonderful. All those S-turns had good snow cover and were thrilling as usual.
I met a lot of blog readers so it was another busy day of stopping to chat with other skiers. Always happy to make your acquaintance!
Thanks for the report, looks like I’ll be heading there this week end!
Out of curiosity, what makes these marks on the trees (3rd picture in the slide show), I’ve a lots in that area?
The marks on the trees are made by Elk feeding on bark.