Sara Renner was a happy skier today
I only stopped in to take a few photos but ran into Sara Renner and her husband Thomas Grandi as they were finishing their ski on the natural snow trails. Sara was so enthusiastic about the conditions that I decided to go for a ski and see for myself.
If you’re skiing on Frozen Thunder, conditions are great. You couldn’t expect much better if it was mid-January. The snow is cold, the tracks are near-perfect, and the skating lane is excellent.
Glen Crawford was enjoying the skate skiing on Banff trail. Yes, that’s Chandra’s dad.
The natural snow trails are “early season” with occasional rocks and grass which can be easily avoided except for a couple places. Most of the trails have been rolled and there is a firm base of about 4-5 cm. The nice thing about packed trails is that you can usually see any hazards.
Canmore Nordic Centre
The places where you need to be careful are under the bridges. Nothing that 10 minutes of shoveling wouldn’t fix. I was able to skirt the dirt today but some extra snow would sure help, and there’s plenty at the side of the trail.
The skiers I encountered today were all happy with the conditions considering it’s Nov 6.
Meadowview had very good snow cover
The narrow side trails such as Bruin looked to have a lot of grass still showing. I wouldn’t recommend the competition trails(Olympic and Centennial) unless you enjoy dodging rocks at high speed. The hills were “Rock city.” I kicked a lot of them off the trail but there’s still plenty. It’s too bad because the home stretch of Meadowview, which joins onto the competition trails, was wonderful.
As you can see in the photos the snow guns have created a lot of snow in the stadium area of the nordic centre and continuing cold weather ensures a lot more will be made.
The nordic centre’s trail report states: “All Ski conditions are marginal with early season and Low snow pack, Please use Caution.”
If you want an informative update on current ski conditions on the Great Divide, and to see excellent photos of grizzly tracks, check today’s trip report from Chuck.
SkierBob 101(for those who are new to this blog): Yesterday we learned all about the Trip Reports page. Today’s lesson is for those skiers who want …lessons! I was reminded of this important page when Chip mentioned the value of taking lessons in his advice to Anne-Marie. On the main menu, on the “Resources” tab, you’ll find the button “Ski Lessons” for the list of places/people who give lessons, or you can go directly Ski Lessons.
