March 30 Update: At the Canmore Nordic Centre, the man-made snow was trackset overnight. “The emergence of the ground showing through the snow has made grooming on natural trails challenging. We risk doing some gardening and digging up more dirt, so there will be limited grooming on the natural trails…
Chuck has posted some excellent loppet photos from Baker Creek west to McNair Pond. Early in the race, most skiers were still smiling. When I asked Robin if she was doing the 72K loppet, she replied “Yes, what was I thinking?!” Robin had completed 43K of her 72K loppet challenge…
Jan 22, 2021: The powerful winds of the past few days have deposited significant tree debris on most of the trails in the empire, but I see we have a lot of determined skiers around here, willing to face the needlemania. I’m amazed at the number of trip reports we…
Don’t get this confused with the trackset trail which runs from Baker Creek to Protection Mountain campground along the Bow Valley Parkway. Chuck says this backcountry trail, which actually parallels Baker creek, is a secret and skied only by locals, so after reading this, forget that you ever saw it…
After finishing with an appointment in Canmore around noon, I had a multitude of choices for skiing this afternoon. Canmore Nordic Centre? Goat Creek? Mt Shark? Redearth Creek? The new tracksetting in PLPP was tempting, but I didn’t want to drive that far. All would have been excellent choices, as…
Jan 4, 2021: Thanks to Chuck for the report and photos. At some point this winter, I expect the Sundance Lodge people will start grooming the Brewster Creek trail. It’s 11.3K from the Healy Creek trailhead to Sundance Lodge. The first 2.6K on Brewster Creek has a net elevation gain…
Polly, who is an avid reader of this blog, knew what to expect for her first time confronting the Goat Creek bridge at 7k along the Goat Creek trail on Christmas day. She managed to get across safely, but nevertheless, she has aptly nicknamed it the “Death Bridge.” I can’t…
It’s amazing what an adequate amount of snow can do for a gnarly trail like Goat Creek. I’ve never seen it in such great shape. Beautiful, well-defined, firm tracks which nobody has walked in; crisp, cold blue-wax snow, and none of those early-season rocks and roots. Before I go any…
We have a problem on our hands: Where to ski tomorrow with so many possibilities? I expect the choices will only increase and I will update this post as the evening wears on and I receive more reports. Chuck skied right out his door this morning, through the woods where…
I realize this report will be irrelevant by tomorrow if the big snowfall materializes. It’s a good thing the snow is coming because the first 2K of Cascade Valley is extremely thin. All in all, however, it was still a fun ski trip especially considering I didn’t hit any rocks…
