The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts the prairies are in for a colder-than-normal winter. The forecast also predicts above normal precipitation for Alberta. If you’re making plans,
“The snowiest periods will be in mid-December, early January, mid- and late February, mid- to late March, and mid-April.”
Frozen Thunder at Canmore opens on Oct 22, 2016. Photo from last year’s Frozen Thunder.
Environment Canada is forecasting a warmer and wetter winter, based on its July 31 report.
Being an old farmer myself, I know better than to trust any of these forecasts!
Ski season is still a few weeks away, but ski blogging season officially starts today, so welcome back!
This photo shows the first grooming on Moraine Lake road which occurred last year on Nov 5.
Frozen Thunder at the Canmore Nordic Centre opens on Saturday Oct 22, and with any luck, we’ll be skiing on Moraine Lake road at Lake Louise in early November.
If you’re coming to Canmore for Frozen Thunder, a race notice has already been posted. The races will be held October 28, November 1, November 3. The races are sanctioned by CCC. If you’re an avid racer, make sure you familiarize yourself with the new 83% rule.
Martin was skiing on good trackset conditions on the Great Divide on Nov 9 last year.
CNC passes 10% off
Individual season passes to the Canmore Nordic Centre are 10% off until the end of October. You can buy online from My Alberta eServices. The season pass is not valid for Frozen Thunder.
If you’re looking for good used skis, there’s always an excellent selection at the Canmore Nordic Ski Club’s Ski Swap which occurs on Oct 30.
We’ll be having a contest to see who can guess the date of the first tracksetting on Elk pass
Tony Daffern has posted an update regarding Improvements to PLPP ski trails on the Kananaskis Trails blog. This is all good news for skiers as the smooth treads will result in better early-season conditions.
I’ve been busy working. September and October are the months where I contact businesses regarding advertising on this blog for the winter. I’m pleased to say we have Emerald Lake Lodge back on with their xc skier’s special rate.
Lifesport under new ownership
Norm, the long-time owner of Lifesport has retired but fortunately a new ownership group has taken over. They are still in the same location in Kensington. All the best to Kit, Rick and the crew.
From Nov 1 to March 31, this blog averages 4,157 visits per day. If you know of a business or organization who wants to reach the xc skiing community, send them to my advertising page.
GETTING READY FOR WINTER
Local Squirrels are predicting lots of snow, as indicated by this mushroom placed 8 feet above the ground, and this Pika looks unimpressed with the challenges ahead. Please click this link to see the photos:
https://1drv.ms/a/s!AhVZXBE7vMV7d5cvvzfPpYXF0ig
Actually, this is more of a test post because Picasa does not work any more, and I don’t like Google+. So the above link is for an album in my Hotmail Outlook. I hope it works for you.
And if you want to see the Pika feeding while you celebrate Thanksgiving, check out this You Tube Video:
Both links worked fine!
Thanks Gord, I’ll give OneDrive a try for for our first Trip Report of the season… today!
I was up on Powderface Ridge today in thick fog. There’s quite a bit of snow up there: as much as 4 cm in sheltered glades, not to mention rime frost. It made a nice foretaste of winter!
2cm on the ground here in Okotoks; me thinks my rock skis will see a nice Kananaskis meadow at b4 the end of the weekend! Happy Thanks-snow-giving weekend!
Seeing the amount of early snow higher up, I wonder if there is potential for a contest. How about whether a SkiHere.ca member will cross country ski somewhere else before Frozen Thunder gets put in?
My contribution: Building clouds over Sunshine Meadows:
https://youtu.be/QwH5IgSIk4Y
Kimberley BC cross country ski team trained on fresh snow at Kimberley Nordic Center on Thanksgiving Monday. They were happy to get in some training on good snow before having to travel weekends to Canmore to train on Frozen Thunder.
Hi Bob. This post has really got my juices flowing. See you once again on Frozen Thunder!
Jeff, remind me, where do you live?