I broke trail in 2-4 cm of fresh snow on the Kananaskis Fire Lookout trail
I waited for the perfect day to finally ski up to the Kananaskis Fire Lookout this season. The snow is so amazing that I was able to stride the entire way up the north side; not one herringbone!
Alison and Eric on Whiskey Jack
The temperature at Boulton Creek at 2 pm was -8°C and the snow was -7. My skis already had VR45(-2/-8) from yesterday and it worked well. Whiskey Jack had 1-3 cm of new snow over the recent tracksetting but six skiers had been up the trail ahead of me today.
The Ratliffe family; Karen, Will, Michael, and Rose at the Whiskey Jack/Pocaterra junction.
At the top of WJ, I met the Ratliffe family who had come from Elk Pass and reported some fresh snow on the trail but the tracks were still okay. They were doing the Tyrwhitt loop.
I arrived to pristine, untracked, powder snow at the Lookout junction. The only tracks were that of an Easter bunny who hopped along the trail for a couple hundred metres.
The wall of snow on the Kananaskis Fire Lookout trail
There was 2-4 cm of fresh snow over Saturday night’s tracksetting and it had to be the easiest climb I’ve ever done to the Lookout. The thermometer at the Lookout registered -7.
Woolley
I wouldn’t recommend coming up the south side unless you really enjoy breaking trail. The south side hasn’t had any recent grooming.
The fresh snow on the trail made for a controlled descent; in other words, quite slow. It took me five minutes to descend rather than the usual four.
Wheeler
I continued down Pocaterra on good tracks to the Lynx junction, then onto Lynx. I think Scott and Courtney must have had a lot of fun coming down the big hill on Lynx with the 1-2 cm of new snow on the recent tracksetting.
After skiing 16.2K I finally reached the new tracksetting on Amos and it felt like my skis shifted into a higher gear. As Darrell has already reported, fantastic, fast and firm. I completed the day on the new tracksetting on Amos, Woolley, Meadow, and Wheeler.
The snow did not suffer any deterioration today and should be even better tomorrow.
Nice to see you today Bob, along with surprisingly few others out enjoying “February in April”. Conditions are so amazingly good right now – well worth taking a day off this week and sneaking out. Mid winter snow quality, full season snowpack depth, cold air, cold snow, warm sun.