Elk Pass & Blueberry Hill
Elk Pass. Mar 31,2010
6 cm of new snow and fresh tracksetting created some wonderful conditions for what will probably be my last ski of the season.
The snow was cold, the tracks were excellent, and I was able to use my waxable skis. There was no slush or soft spots. On a couple of the steeper hills there was a hard crust with the worst place being the south side of the big hill at the beginning of Elk Pass. I removed my skis and walked down, and I saw a lot of other boot prints going the same direction.
Went out to Mt Shark on April 2 – tons of snow but I guess I should have checked the trail report first because it wasn’t groomed and we planned to skate ski. Would have been fantastic if I had the classics in the car. Oh well. Went to the Nordic Centre and had a great ski.
Very good skiing on Easter Friday at Blueberry Hill. The higher trails had been groomed and set the previous 2 days, and a couple of cm’s of new overnight made for soft skiing and easy waxing. Temps only reached a degree or two above freezing, so snow conditions remained good, save for some of the more sun exposed hills.
Here’s a field report (a bit dated) from skiing in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Went out on March 27th and skied Elk Pass to Blueberry Hill in short sleeves. There had been recent snow over grooming but it was quickly turning to a mix of slush and ice.
But March 29th there was a fantastic snow storm. A few centimetres of new snow near the Elk Pass parking lot. Near the junction of Hydroline/Patterson there was easily 20cm of new snow that we broke trail through and the snow was still coming down hard. The Hydroline trail itself was hard to find with all the new snow. We also did Fox Creek which was in very good condition considering how warm it had been 2 days earlier.