SkierBob at West Bragg Creek on Dec 29, 2015
I can’t remember when we’ve had so many good choices for skiing on the first day of the year. The chinook which has been imminent for the past two days still hasn’t done any damage. In fact, all the trip reports are mentioning how cold it is.
With a predicted high of -3 for today, it should be terrific skiing on the new tracksetting on the Kananaskis village – Ribbon creek – Skogan pass – Bill Milne – Wedge pond trails. I like Barry G’s description of the steep Ribbon creek downhill – “Ribbon Shriek.” Sounds like a keeper.
West Bragg Creek may have the best snow and tracksetting ever for new year’s day.
In Banff, Redearth creek was trackset yesterday. The other Banff trails such as Cascade valley and Goat creek should still be in nice shape.
Mt Shark was trackset two days ago, and with the cold weather preserving the snow, I expect all the trails in PLPP will be in great shape. The PLPP webcam is registering -19 this morning, and the Weather Network is predicting a high of -7.
If you’re going further, the trails at Lake Louise and Pipestone should be fantastic. Baker creek to Castle lookout was recently trackset. It’s cold in Lake Louise at -26, with a forecast high of -10.
The Canmore Nordic Centre weather station is registering -15 this morning and that agrees with my thermometer. Environment Canada says a high of +2 in Canmore, while Weather Network predicts -5. Today is the first day of Hugh Burton’s Canmore Nordic Centre Ski Challenge. I’ve never seen so much bright green on the CNC Live Grooming Report.
Here’s the latest installment in the “Goat Creek Video Series.” At 7k, just before you reach the Goat creek bridge, there’s a steep winding downhill, then a quick turn is necessary at the bottom to get onto the bridge. See it all here…
Happy New Year to you and as always, thank you & your followers SO much for the invaluable trail reports helping us determine …. WHERE TO GO 4 SNOW!
Just wondering about all the talk of a Chinook. A Chinook is typically a warm, moist Pacific weather system that deposits precipitation onto the Coast Range, Monashees, Selkirks, Purcells and Rocky Mountains. Once all that moisture has been squeezed out, the dry air that descends to the prairies is called a Chinook.
Right now I’m at Sol Mountain Lodge in the Monashees and we’re sitting under a massive high pressure system. Clear skies and no precipitation in sight for at least another week. It seems to me that a Chinook would be impossible in the midst of a massive high pressure ridge.
The warm air is likely just a south-westerly flow of dry air from the USA desert states.
Awesome powder skiing here in the Monashees…with a 3 metre snowpack.
Happy new year Bob and everyone. Just finished a wonderful ski at PLPP – over Elk Pass from the visitors centre. Cool temps (-20 to start) but fast snow. Tracks are all in great condition. For something different, we skied the old Lynx trail as well.
ARTISTRY ABOUNDS
Today we skied the Cascade Valley, and these two photos describe the day: https://picasaweb.google.com/110857225306442901854/HappyNewYear?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJjHxo2rnrGzZg&feat=directlink
Thanks Don for this morning’s timely grooming!
Happy New Year All
Skier Bob, Skier Cheryl and Skier Tessa our beautiful Springer Spaniel wish all of you a Happy New Year filled with lots of skiing!
Had a wonderful time teaching a wee Scottish-Bahraini lass how to ski. People complaining about how “hard” Pocaterra has become need to reorient themselves towards the William Watson Lodge area. Spruce Road, the WW Access, Lodgepole and the lower part of Braille are ideal for teaching. In the afternoon we crossed the road and did Wheeler and Amos. Great skiing.
Thanks for all you do for us skiers, Bob. Have a wonderful year.
Happy New Year to you Bob!!
You make it look fabulously easy! Thanks! Beautiful!