Ski season truly underway now 
Ahhhh, that feels better. We got a good quantity of snow this week. In fact it snowed a little almost every day and now the ski season has begun in earnest. I got out each evening this week to do a little skiing under the stars with the orange glow of the city in the background). The conditions have been really good from the start. In fact I’ve already retired my rock skis to the closet, not to be seen until April (with luck) – nice! The snow we got has been really wet and sticky and was easily compacted by the groomers to form up a nice firm base. Daytime temps in the +1, +2 range and evenings below zero have made for a nice track. In town the snow has sometimes been rain resulting in a lot of slush but just up in the hills it was almost always snow, slowly building the base. With the wet snow falling and little wind, the trees are taking the brunt of this with a lot of downed branches and even a few fallen trees under the
load. To that end the groomers have had to lay the tracks somewhat narrow so as not to exacerbate the problem by bringing down branches on the snowcats as they plow by the overhanging trees.
Tuesday night – the first snowfall – was unbelievably busy on the trails but later in the week the crowds diminished. Perhaps the skiers had to rest their sore bodies after the first ski of the season. Saturday I headed up to the Lac Phillipe gate as I expected lower in the park would be busy again. The skies were sunny when I drove up but the clouds rolled in before I had my skis strapped on. To my surprise there were only 6 – 10 cars in the lot and a bunch of those people were snowshoeing so I had some fresh trails to ski on. The Pine road was beautifully tracked but the trail out to Lacs Renaud and Taylor was groomed so narrow I kept cutting into the classic tracks on either side. Decided to turn back at Lac Renaud rather than cut up the trail for the classic skiers. There will be other days to head out there and I expect this is a temporary situation with the trees bent pretty far over the trails. Of equal surprise was that the lake was still unfrozen. I had seen people skating on the lakes lower down in the park last weekend… wonder how thick the ice was? Skiing along the open water was a little strange – I guess you get used to seeing the open expanse of white, snowcovered ice while skiing along here and the dark, cold depths looked somewhat forbidding.
Renaud Shelter next to the tall pines
Ahhhh, that feels better. We got a good quantity of snow this week. In fact it snowed a little almost every day and now the ski season has begun in earnest. I got out each evening this week to do a little skiing under the stars with the orange glow of the city in the background). The conditions have been really good from the start. In fact I’ve already retired my rock skis to the closet, not to be seen until April (with luck) – nice! The snow we got has been really wet and sticky and was easily compacted by the groomers to form up a nice firm base. Daytime temps in the +1, +2 range and evenings below zero have made for a nice track. In town the snow has sometimes been rain resulting in a lot of slush but just up in the hills it was almost always snow, slowly building the base. With the wet snow falling and little wind, the trees are taking the brunt of this with a lot of downed branches and even a few fallen trees under the load. To that end the groomers have had to lay the tracks somewhat narrow so as not to exacerbate the problem by bringing down branches on the snowcats as they plow by the overhanging trees. 
Tuesday night – the first snowfall – was unbelievably busy on the trails but later in the week the crowds diminished. Perhaps the skiers had to rest their sore bodies after the first ski of the season. Saturday I headed up to the Lac Phillipe gate as I expected lower in the park would be busy again. The skies were sunny when I drove up but the clouds rolled in before I had my skis strapped on. To my surprise there were only 6 – 10 cars in the lot and a bunch of those people were snowshoeing so I had some fresh trails to ski on. The Pine road was beautifully tracked but the trail out to Lacs Renaud and Taylor was groomed so narrow I kept cutting into the classic tracks on either side. Decided to turn back at Lac Renaud rather than cut up the trail for the classic skiers. There will be other days to head out there and I expect this is a temporary situation with the trees bent pretty far over the trails. Of equal surprise was that the lake was still unfrozen. I had seen people skating on the lakes lower down in the park last weekend… wonder how thick the ice was? Skiing along the open water was a little strange – I guess you get used to seeing the open expanse of white, snowcovered ice while skiing along here and the dark, cold depths looked somewhat forbidding. 
2 comments:
Tonight's Winter Storm Warning is calling for another 25 cm. Sweet. I'm looking forward to strapping on the sticks.
hmmm, the 25 cm of snow came as rain instead. But no worries, the trails are still in good shape in spite of the rain.
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