Thanks for all the trip reports and photos today, very interesting and entertaining. It truly is amazing to see these conditions in mid-April.
Elk Pass. Photo by M&J
Stanley Glacier. Photo by Chuck
East Elk Pass meadows. Photo by M&J
Helen Read in Patterson meadow. Photo by M&J
Vanessa and Colin on Upper Pocaterra
It’s wonderful to end on such a high note. I enjoyed incredible conditions for my final ski trip of the season. I stayed on last night’s tracksetting and with the cold snow, it was all fun. Almost too good to be true for April 11.
Starting out from Boulton creek
The temperature around noon at Boulton Creek was -3°C and it didn’t get any higher than -2. There was no wind but the sky was mostly cloudy, which is a good thing.
Whiskey Jack
The conditions while climbing Whiskey Jack for the 203rd time were excellent from the get-go. I had good grip with VR45(-2/-8) and no clumping whatsoever. The S-turns and steep hills were not icy and it appeared that downhillers would have no trouble negotiating the turns.
Happy skiers on Upper Pocaterra
Descending the steep hill on Packers was fast and controllable. The ice flow was completely covered and not an issue. Usually by this time of year, edge-creep is starting to encroach on the trail but no sign of it yet. Near the bottom of Packers the tracks were somehat glazed but it only added to the exciting and fast descent.
As a further bonus, I did not see any collembola(snow fleas) in the tracks on any of the trails.
Arriving at the Pocaterra/Packers junction
I was having a wonderful time heading downhill on Pocaterra but I screeched to a halt at the Backdoor access trail to take a photo and to relive some early-season memories. I also thought I might see Helen coming up the trail after reading her comment last night. I should have skied over to “Lionel” because she was indeed on the trail. I ran into her at the Pocaterra parking lot after she completed the 18K loop and I was happy to thank her in person for all the trip reports this season.
Getting ready to tackle Whiskey Jack
There were lots of friendly skiers to chat with at every junction and photos to pose for. Natasha and her friends mentioned seeing bear tracks on Rolly Road. I’ve posted a couple photos in the gallery.
I had one last objective before calling it a season, and that was to ski the “secret” trail which I’ve known about for years but never ventured on to. Now I can say I’ve done every groomed trail in PLPP.
This was a mediocre ski season regarding overall conditions. We’ve had worse but the contrast with last year is significant. It was unique, however, for a few reasons…
I’m looking forward to #204! Hopefully in November.
April 11, 2021: Could this possibly be a blue-wax day?
The overnight grooming in PLPP should be in near-perfect condition today for some excellent skiing. The trails which were trackset last night, shown in green on the map, were Whiskey Jack, Upper Pocaterra, Packers, and Wheeler. There was no fresh snow on top of the new grooming, so the trails should be fast.
Wheeler. File photo
If descending Packers, watch out for the ice flow which only has a thin covering of snow.
The temperature is staying cold enough for wax. The Lower Lake this morning is at -17°C with an expected high of -1.
Moraine Lake Road at Lake Louise was trackset yesterday. Thanks to Dave for the unexpected good news.
Some snow flurries are in the forecast for this afternoon.
At Canmore Nordic Centre, trails on man-made snow were trackset overnight.
Lionel: Plenty of room for double tracksetting and a skate lane
Lionel
An update to this with better photos has been posted Lionel
This trail would create thousands of happy skiers every winter. Wider than Moraine Lake Road, exactly the same distance, without the long drive to Lake Louise. Alf Skrastins has explained the logistics of bringing it back to life in today’s trip reports. Alf started at Pocaterra hut and skied an 18K loop back to the hut. He found the old Sounding Lake trail in order to access Lionel, which is actually Hwy #40. Check Alf’s comment on the Trip Reports for a detailed photo story on how to get to Hwy #40 from Rolly Road/Pocaterra Hut, and how to complete the 18K loop.
Lionel. The guard rail could separate the ski trail from the snowshoe trail. Photo by Alf Skrastins
Alf further elaborated in an email…
“The closed portion of Highway #40 is the Kananaskis Version of the Moraine Lake Road. It’s a wide, easy ski with plenty of snow and no hazards. It would be the best “green” ski trail in all of Kananaskis Country.
The new snow on top of the melt-freeze crust got deeper with every southward kilometre. After about 6 km, you could see the “back door” entrance to Pocaterra… which also used to be part of the Lionel trail.
Returning on the groomed Pocaterra trail
The “back door” segment had the deepest snow. It joins Pocaterra Trail at a T-intersection.
For snowshoers, it would be very easy to set a separate trail (and pack it by snowmobile) at the west edge of the road cut, adjacent to the forest. In a few places, you could duck in and out of the forest, just to add some variety. And at the major creek crossings, you would bring the trail up to the west side of the guard rails. The guard rails would provide an obvious physical separation.
It seems like re-activating Lionel as a ski trail should be a no-brainer. The highway is much wider than Moraine Lake Road, so adding a skate lane should be no problem. Even if this was the only skate ski trail in PLPP, it would be a good length(9K) from the winter gate to the “back door”. If the winter gate was the only place where skate skiers could park, then you would only need “classic XC skiing only” signs at the junction where Lionel joins Highway #40 and where the “back door” branches off. But at least that way skate skiers who drive all the way down to PLPP have somewhere that they can go… rather than turning around and driving back to Ribbon Creek.”
April 10, 2021
Tracksetting will continue in the south end of PLPP, but last night’s grooming on Lower Pocaterra, Lynx, Rolly Road and Come-Along was the last of the grooming in the north end.
Pocaterra near Lynx junction. File photo
“A few light flurries fell during Friday night’s grooming, with a heavier spell of snow falling just before the grooming ended. At 4:30AM, almost 1cm of new snow had accumulated overnight, and it was snowing lightly at the time- expect at least this amount on all the new grooming. The new snow that has fallen over the last few days has shrunk down to about 5cm’s at the north end of the Park with up to 10cm’s or more existing at higher elevations since the last grooming. This will be the last grooming of the season from the north end of the Park.”
It’s -5°C at the Lower Lake in Kananaskis this morning with an expected high of -1. Snow flurries are in the forecast for today, tonight, and tomorrow.
In the past 24 hours, Lake Louise received 5 cm of snow and Nakiska got 4 cm.
Canmore Nordic Centre on April 9. Photo by Jeannie McBroom
April 9, 2021
Jeannie’s caption for the above photo: “Corduroy is back in style”
Anna(Thursday April 8): “Elk Pass parking to Blueberry Hill Kananaskis is a winter wonderland! It snowed for a good portion of the day with the temperature around minus 3 or 4. Very enjoyable skiing, but slow.”
Lake Louise and PLPP received a significant snowfall yesterday. As Anna reported, Wednesday night’s grooming in PLPP will have lots of new snow on top. There was no grooming on Thursday night. The north end of PLPP has received about 7 cm.
Canmore Nordic Centre received enough snow to trackset the main natural snow trails including Banff, Meadowview, and Bow.
At Lake Louise, MaSid started out in 7 cm of fresh snow, and it snowed more while he was skiing.
Nakiska is reporting 10 cm of overnight snow.
Mt Shark tracksetting
“From almost 10 to over 15cm’s of fresh, dry snow was groomed and trackset at Mt Shark overnight on Thursday. No new snow fell during the grooming, but intermittent strong wind gusts were moving around some loose snow and dropping countless very small tree bombs. Though there is a possibility of one more night of grooming next week, this may be the last grooming at Mt Shark for the season.”
The temperature at 8:30 a.m. at the Kananaskis Lower Lake in PLPP is -6°C with an expected high of +3.
The Smith-Dorrien(Spray Lakes road, Hwy #742) is reported to be in poor spring driving condition with lots of potholes.
Elk pass near Patterson junction. File photo
April 8, 2021
The south end of PLPP received 8-10 cm of new snow last night. The forecast is calling for more snow and sub-zero highs every day until Monday. Last night’s tracksetting included Elk Pass, Blueberry Hill, Patterson, Hydroline, and Upper Lake.
Upper Lake Connector. File photo
“Periods of snow moved in to the Park on Wednesday evening, very heavy at times, with about 5cm’s falling in the south end before the grooming began, and another 3 to 5cm’s falling during the grooming, accompanied by high winds. The snow tapered off around 2:30AM just as Blueberry Hill was being finished; at 5:00AM there was no snow on the Elk Pass grooming, and between a trace and up to 5cm’s on the remainder of the new grooming, and at the time there was a mainly clear sky in the south end. At that time there was a total of about 5cm’s of new snow in the north end. Though the temperature dropped a few degrees below freezing after midnight, the new snow insulated the moist snow underneath, and there is likely to be some slick spots especially early on Thursday.”
The temperature at the Lower Lake at 7:30 this morning is -6 with a predicted high of -1. More flurries are expected throughout the day. An additional 14 cm is in the forecast between today and Sunday night.
Canmore Nordic Centre. File photo
Canmore Nordic Centre:
“There will be limited grooming on the natural snow ski trails moving forward due to melting/thinning snow base.”
The forecast is calling for small amounts of fresh snow at CNC but temperatures are still above zero during the daytime. The man-made snow trails should still be in good shape with regular grooming.
Sara M at Spray warden cabin
April 7, 2021
If you’ve been reading the PLPP trail report this winter, it advises… “Plan for rapidly changing conditions and bring extra socks.”
Sara M crosses the Spray River
Yesterday, Sara M completed an epic trip which started at Mt Shark, accessed the Spray Warden Cabin, then finished on Goat Creek for a 43K day, much of it an obstacle course. Not to mention she walked a further 10K from Goat Creek trailhead to Canmore!
One of the easier sections of Sara’s trip
Read Sara’s trip report and see her photos for all the scary details and the formidable challenges she faced. Here are a few highlights…
“At this point, the river has many smaller branches and I had to wade one of them”
“the road was washed out and I had to bushwhack in the trees above the river”
“There was a lot of deadfall that completely crossed the road, requiring either a careful step over, skiing off the road and around, or removing skis and climbing over”
“I had to use my skis as axes to anchor myself as I kicked steps to cross a particularly steep wall of snow”
“The burned section was ~3km long and it took me a little over an hour to cross, and I’m amazed that I didn’t break any equipment”
“Long story short: I would not recommend skiing from Mt Shark to Goat Creek”
All this after driving to Mt Shark on another obstacle course, the Spray Lakes road.
******
Snow and colder weather on the way
Last night’s tracksetting in PLPP included Lodgepole, Braille, Sinclair, Meadow(partial), Spruce road. The steep hill at the north end of Lodgepole(suicide hill) will no longer be groomed this season.
It didn’t freeze last night in PLPP, and the temperature at the Lower Lake this morning is +3°C. A wind warning has been issued, but there is also significant snow in the forecast along with cooler temperatures for the coming week. Snow-Forecast.com is predicting 20 cm over the next six days and sub-zero highs.
Descending from Kovach Lookout, Feb 26
April 6, 2021
I would like to put a name to the skier in the above photo if anyone knows who it is. It’s one of my favourites from the past winter.
This is my second instalment of photos from the past winter. Thanks to everybody who submitted photos, many of which are included below:
It’s time to put faces to many of the names you’ve seen on here who have submitted trip reports and other comments over the years. I’ve collected a large album of photos which I’m displaying in the gallery below. The 86 photos only account for about 5% of the total, so I’m missing a lot of important people. If anyone wants their photo added to the gallery, email it to me.
I’d like to give special mention to Steve Riggs and Alf Skrastins for their reports during this blog’s infancy in the winter of 2008-09. Their comments gave me much-needed encouragement.
In the beginning…
I posted this in April 2009 after my first winter of blogging:
Chuck’s favourite way of being photographed
“It’s been a lot of fun blogging about skiing this past winter, and I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent comments, reports, and photos which were sent in. I am pleasantly surprised at the interest which this blog received: it has been viewed 16,463 times since I started it in November!”
Winter of 2008-2009: 16,463 readers
Winter of 2020-2021: 1.7 million readers and counting
One of the things I’m happiest about is that people like Chuck did not have to toil in obscurity. Can you imagine not having access to Chuck’s(and many others) amazing reports and photos? My blog statistics show that Chuck’s name has been referenced 1906 times in the comments. That counts his comments and the times that someone has responded to his comments.
