Good conditions before 1 pm

Upper Pocaterra

It’s spring and we have to be bear aware, as evidenced by the bear tracks I saw a few years ago on Tyrwhitt and Whiskey Jack. Today, those bears wouldn’t have had a chance to catch me as I flew down the excellent, fast tracks on Pocaterra. 

Whiskey Jack

You can still find Winter Wonderland on Whiskey Jack

I took a chance on waxable skis as I started up Whiskey Jack at 12 noon. Zero skis were not an option with fresh snow on the trails, but I already had a pair of skis with VR55(0/-3) on them, and it worked almost perfectly for the climb, thanks to the fresh snow in the tracks. I still had to herringbone the steepest parts, but that’s a small compromise to make, considering the fun of rocketing down 6K of Pocaterra later. 

The 6K downhill on Pocaterra was the most enjoyable one of the season. 

New tracksetting on Lower Pocaterra

I had the advantage of a shuttle driver today, so I was going to ski from Boulton Creek, up Whiskey Jack, and all the way down Pocaterra to the hut. I arrived so early at the Lynx junction that I decided to take the long way around, skiing on Lynx, Amos, Woolley, Meadow, and ending the day with a run down suicide hill to the hut. 

I don’t know who they were, but these skiers on Lynx knew me

All was going along well until I started encountering occasional wet snow on Woolley, then a lot of it on Meadow. I actually walked up the steep hill on Meadow. Suicide hill was safe and fun, being a north facing slope, the snow was still cold and fast. 

Woolley looks beautiful but the tracks in this location were wet

The skiers I talked to were using a variety of things for grip. Reiner had klister which was fine on the new grooming but a little sticky on some of the trails with fresh snow. Steve was using wax with mixed results. Taco was on fish-scale waxless. Karen was on skins, and Kathy on fish-scale waxless, as they climbed Whiskey Jack. No matter what you choose, there is a compromise between grip and glide. 

Ray Perrott reached 1000K of skiing yesterday

I ran into George at Boulton Creek parking lot as he was finished skiing. He said he gave up because the snow on WJ was sticking to his fish-scale skis, making it hard to move. A reminder to skiers using fish-scale waxless, apply this polish, or some version of it, to your grip zone to help prevent sticking. Toko says it also works on skins.

Congratulations to the newest member of the 1000K club, one of our regular trip reporters, Ray Perrott. He accomplished this feat yesterday at the top of Whiskey Jack(that’s 1000K for the season, not just yesterday!).

Did you ski on any of the trackset golf courses in the city of Calgary this winter? Foothills Nordic Ski Club asks that you take a few minutes to complete the Satisfaction Survey, whether you are satisfied or not. Results from the survey will be considered as they work on further improvements to ski facilities in the city. Please complete the survey by March 31.