The snow which we had hoped for in K-Country turned out to be rain. The trails in the north end of the park are in very poor shape. They were rained on, then froze, so there’s an icy crust and lots of pine needles. Even Wheeler, which wasn’t in bad shape two days ago is very icy.
The south end of the park was getting groomed and trackset this afternoon and conditions look much better there. I didn’t ski them, but talked to someone who did, and Elk Pass and Hydroline were already done and our guess is that Tyrwhitt and Whiskey Jack may also be done by tonight. The skiers said Fox Creek was very icy.
Abraham and I were just discussing where to take our novice skiers tomorrow and the best choice we think is the Great Divide at Lake Louise. They had 20 cm of new snow on Thursday. The trail report says it has been rolled and will be trackset tomorrow(Sat). Intermediate skiers enjoy this trail also because after the 7K mark, you get into some more difficult terrain and can go up to 10.5K one-way. Read more on this trail The perfect trail for novice skiers . Intermediate/advanced skiers can also branch off onto the Telemark trail which to this point has only been packed.
Watridge Lake road at Mt Shark is another possibility for novice skiers.
The Banff trail report says Moraine Lake road(MLR) was groomed and trackset today. I had an email from Mark, who was at MLR today, and he could vouch for all the fresh snow. They were there early, when only the skating lane had been groomed, so they were skiing in the classic tracks with all the fresh snow and said it was slow going.
If anyone skis in K-Country or on Redearth Creek tomorrow, I’d be interested in hearing how the conditions were.
