I’ve never seen Goat Creek and Spray River West so clean, bright, and sparkling white! It was smooth, silky, immaculate and flawless with no debris or thin spots.
Chris and Alex on Goat Creek
I know the meltdown is imminent, so I had to ski this fantastic trail one more time. You’ve already seen the trip reports from Nikolai and Kurt. As Kurt said, “Really couldn’t get any better!”
I thoroughly enjoyed this day with the nice weather and excellent snow, and stopped to talk with many skiers.
One of our trip reporters, Nikolai , on Goat Creek
I met trip reporter Nikolai at 8.5K as he was returning to the Goat Creek trailhead, another 38K day for him. I also met BarbBanff at the Spray Loop junction and she was planning a double-header as well.
Trip reporter BarbBanff in the orange jacket at the Spray Loop junction
It was -7°C when we left Canmore but the temperature had risen to 0° at the Goat Creek trailhead. Snow temp was -3. I had great success with VR50(0/-4), applying only two thin layers.
Trudy on Spray River West
The snow near the Goat Creek bridge was -1, and at Banff it was -4. The 2-3 cm of new snow last night was trackset earlier today.
Tracksetter Don was just loading up his equipment at the Spray River West trailhead when I arrived. He said he has never trackset this trail so late in the season. I thanked him for all his diligent work this winter. The new grooming configuration on Goat Creek has been a blessing.
I felt sorry for the fat bikers today. The multi-use lane was quite soft and it was tough sledding for them on the uphills. I never saw one instance where they damaged the ski tracks however, so thanks!
I got tree bombed about 500 metres from the end but even that felt good.
Lyrics to the song “Edelweiss”
This was my eleventh trip on Goat Creek this winter and I’ve had fun on everyone of them. It doesn’t look promising to make it an even dozen with the warm weather coming. I’d do it again tomorrow but I have to go to Calgary.
Edelweiss is a stark white flower which grows in the Alps. This is an unusual but lovely performance of the song:
Hi, We are planning on going to Goat Creek (starting from Canmore) tomorrow. Does anyone know what the trail conditions are lately with all the recent snow?
Thank you.
Bob would know best but I would avoid goat creek now even with the fresh snow. It’s probably a mixture of ice and rocks underneath. PLPP and lake Louise area trails would be your best bet and more kid friendly also.
Is this tour (Goat/Spray) still a go? This website post speaks of great conditions but it is from 12 March and it is now 27 March.
I would not recommend it. It would be icy in the shaded spots and slushy in sun-exposed areas in the afternoon. Hills would be treacherous. Rest assured, if it was skiable I’d be skiing it and reporting on it.
If someone begins their double header in Banff, then tops off the day with a soak in the hot springs and grub at the Golden Dragon, does that make it a double-double?