Questions

Skijoring clubs

Mireille from Quebec sent an email….

“We’re planning a move there in 2-3 years and I was wondering if there is any skijoring club and/or skijoring trails in the Canmore or Lake Louise area. Looking forward to skiing in your beautiful Rockies again! Keep up the great work with your blog!”

There are also two new questions on the “Ask a Question” page. 

Glenmore Reservoir

“Just wondering about skiing on the Glenmore Reservoir. Lots of people do, but I can’t seem to find any information about conditions or whether it’s even allowed (though my internet search skills may be the issue!)” -Dean

3-Pin bindings

“I have modern equipment but I do love to ski on wooden skis with 3-pin bindings fairly regularly too. The track setting at some locations is such that the bindings drag due to width, especially in icy conditions. Do you know how 3-pins will function at the Nordic Centre? Conditions are always so great there and Id love to take some family members who only ski on wooden skis with 3-pin set ups.” -Tyree

12 Comments:

  1. There isn’t a skijoring club specifically, but there are a few groups on Facebook for all dog-powered sports – check out Kicksled Calgary or AB Mush for Fun. They occasionally hold events, including races and learn to mush clinics.

    As for trails, anything dog friendly has worked for me. I love Bragg but also find it more difficult because of the the prevalence of off-leash dogs – mine always wants to say hi so my quick release gets a lot of use, hah.

    • Thanks for the info Anne-Marie! I’ll check it out on FaceBook.
      I also saw a pic on This blog of a man skiing with his dog on Bill Milne trails. But I can’t figure out where that trail is and how you get to it!

      • Mireille, the Bill Milne trail can be accessed from a number of parking lots in Kananaskis: Ribbon Creek, golf course, Wedge Pond, and Kananaskis Village.

  2. I skied Glenmore Reservoir tonight. There is no formal track setting I am aware of. The tracks which have been layed down are by skies. Many on east west part are wind filled. The ones parralel to North Glenmore Park are deeper. The same can be said to those by Heritage Park H. The crossing tracks are filling in with snow. I have not expored by the sailing club or the south side yet.

  3. Dean – technically the Glenmore Reservoir is Closed from Nov 1 thru April 30, however I don’t think I’ve seen any enforcement except when people are being really dumb. Be cautious – the reservoir water levels can change resulting in ice well above the level of the water, or resulting in slush on top of the ice. If I were to ski on the reservoir I’d stick close to shore and preferably along the east shore near Glenmore Landing. Be aware of where the river flows in at the west end, between the canoe club and Heritage Park and by the causeway as all those areas have unpredictable ice

  4. 3 pins won’t fit in the tracks at the Nordic Centre, but you can always ski outside the tracks on the corduroy which should work fine for wide skis.

    • Was tracksetting wider in the past?

      • Probably wasn’t any track setting back in the original days of three pin and double leather boots. This was how the Rockies were climbed in winter, glaciers traversed etc.

        • I skied in set tracks in 3-pin gear (not back-country gear) as a child, as did many others well into the 80s. My telemark gear was certainly too wide, but most gear sold in the 70s and early 80s was 3-pin. There were certainly set tracks.

          • We skied in the late 80s at Hollyburn in the North Shore mountains on set tracks with 3-pin Scarpa leather boots on 60-49-54 skis, and do not recall any problem with track width. We still use those skis today, but changed out to modern bindings and boots.

    • CNC is not the place for widening out exquisitely groomed track by way of aggressive binding rub. Obviously the track is a vertical wedge and ski height below binding also determines the track sidewall erosion but having said that, 3-pin & tele bindings are very angular and will definitely damage track even if your skis are <65mm. Yes, in the old days everything happened and for instance, many tracks were also wider from centre to centre point for a variety of reasons. We are in a modern era, so use appropriate gear when skiing at Canada’s nordic training centre of excellence …please.

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