Mary beat me to the punch(speaking of drinks), but I’ll add a few comments about conditions at the Canmore Nordic Centre, and a few photos.
Jessica was using the Salomon version of the Skintec ski
I had low expectations, but as soon as I stepped onto the snow I was happily surprised. All the man-made snow was in excellent condition, with tracks that were fast yet I had good grip with my zero skis. Conditions for skaters were excellent.
When descending a steep hill such as Centennial or Olympic, there was still enough loose snow to easily snowplow.
Centennial trail
As Mary mentioned, the natural snow trails are in bad shape. It certainly looked that way from what I could see at the end of the man-made snow. Icy and thin.
While skiing on my waxless skis, I couldn’t help but wonder if hard wax would work in these conditions. I had a pair of waxable skis in my vehicle, so when I finished, I waxed with Swix violet and had reasonable grip on the training grid. As conditions were today, klister would have been perfect if you were willing to mess with it.
Temperatures are getting colder, so I would expect waxable skis with hard wax may give suitable grip over the coming days at the nordic centre.
It was nice meeting you out there on the trails at the nordic centre today Bob!
The skating was good, actually great, Meadowview to the meadows. I kept going farther on Banff trail but it was pretty icy so I turned around. The meadows back to lodge was perfect however!
It was definitely fast today, lovely conditions – pray for snow so that the natural trails get back into shape!