Chilly yes but we still need some snow...

Woke up this morning with intentions to head up to Nakkertok to watch some of the Eastern National races but the man on the radio said it was -23C (windchill -31C). As I thought about it - under my covers - that temperature sounded too low for race officials to start a race. It was going to warm up through the day into "legal" racing territory but when exactly that would happen I wasn't sure. Even if it was "legally" warm enough to start a race, I didn't think it would ever get warm enough to stand around and spectate... so I opted to go skiing myself instead.

A little fresh snow on a chilly day

Headed up to P19 where I found the wind had died down and it was actually quite comfortable. Skied the Taylor Lake loop and then headed down trail 50 before getting into the backcountry and climbing trail 54 black. There was 4 inches of fresh snow on top of a hard, frozen base and things started out well. As I got higher up the trail however it became clear we don't really have enough base for this trail as of yet. Small creeks to be crossed had a thin layer of ice (someone had taken a brief dip). Roots and rocks were exposed in spots making things tricky. The final climb up to Lusk lake - which more or less follows a creek bed was just that... a rocky creek bed. It was easy enough for me to skirt from side to side and pick my way uphill but I wouldn't want to descend through it. Still, upon reaching the top of the pass and skiing along Lusk Lake the conditions improved and before long I was back to the groomed trail 54 blue. Made a quick stop in Renaud hut to warm up a bit and have a bite to eat before skiing back to P19. Not too many folks out braving the cold but I suppose that would be expected. Those I did see seemed to be enjoying another sunny, bluebird sky day. A little dump of snow would really help conditions on the whole but - with the season now probably half over - I guess we have to take what we can get.


Lusk Lake cabin is always a happy sight

Ski while the skiing is good

A beautiful weekend to ski to be sure. The sun shone, the skiers skied and the tracks were beautiful. I opted to ski out of P7 on Saturday under a brilliant sunshine. Haven’t had too much of that in the last month or so. Normally I wouldn’t go near P7 on a sunny Saturday (and fight for a parking spot) but with a weekend of races down low in the park I took a chance that some of the crowds would be down there. Proved a successful gamble as the lot was pretty quiet considering the beautiful day. I even managed to find some quiet tracks as I headed in to the practice loop at Camp Fortune. Everywhere else I skied there were mobs of people enjoying the day but on the practice loop – I counted 3 sets of tracks before me on the fresh corduroy. It’s certainly a fun loop with lots of fast transitions from steep up to steep down. Strangely the last km of the loop hadn’t been groomed recently but no bother, I skied it anyway and enjoyed it almost as much. Still a little ice in the trees that was falling here and there. I guess that won’t last much longer with Monday’s predicted rains.


Bit of an obstacle on trail 36... Maybe too thin for the groomers?
Sunday I opted for a “Petit loop du Meech” and skied out of P11. As I drove past P8 and P9 cars were overflowing out onto the road but P11 had only dozen or so cars parked there – sweet! Trail 36 hasn’t been groomed recently so perhaps that kept people away. That said I found it in reasonable shape. The descents were a bit of an icy torment but not unmanageable and the classic tracks on more gentle terrain were holding strong. Once I reached Meech Lake I chose to ski across it for P12. Bit of a cool breeze coming down the lake but the skiing was good. Decided to rewax before climbing McCloskey as the icy descents on 36 had stripped most of the wax clean off my skis. Fresh wax meant a short climb up to Ridge and then off down towards Fortune. Decided on one last exploratory run onto Fortune Lake where I rediscovered lucky trail 13. It hasn’t been an official trail in about a dozen years or so and there was nothing lucky about it for me today. It had lots of branch debris to push through and “leg hold traps” (snow covered branches) lying in wait to slow me down but it was still nice to ski on an old trail like that. The sun even managed to hang on for me to finish my ski before the storm clouds started to take root overhead. Tough weather for the next day or so. With luck it won’t be as much of an impact on the snow as the weather men are predicting. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Fingers crossed for some cold winds to whip the rain clouds into a snow bowl. Certainly don't want to see more freezing rain...


Tough conditions a month ago at the Biathalon range

All fixed up now so the "Biathalon Bears" can practice their craft

Grey day to celebrate MLK

This past weekend was pretty grey and dreary but there was some lovely skiing to be had. Most everywhere I went there were freshly groomed tracks and fast conditions. Add to that most of the ice up in the trees came down on Friday so we're mostly past the bombardment from above phase. Monday I skied to the Tower and then poked around some of the BC trails like Western, 22 and 18. The snow was pretty coarse and my wax only lasted about halfway on my loop before I had to resort to skating the climbs and double poling the flats. Still nice to be out though. Conditions off the groomers were a little tougher (icy and choppy) so I think I'll wait until we get some fresh snow before heading back in there. There was evidence of the trail clearing crews hard at work. These folks sure must be tough. They're working the trails on foot - no snowshoes, no skidoos, no skis... just postholing down the sides of the trails all day clearing and cutting bush (and leaving the ski track in good shape down the center). I took a few more pictures on Monday but clearly I wasn't alone out there as there are some very (very) similar shots to mine here. Similar (photographic) eye I suppose ;-).

January Thaw

Early morning commuter heading in to check on the huts
Headed up to the park early this morning to get in a ski. Don’t usually go for the early morning skis until later in the season but I’d missed my chance to ski Thursday night so decided to make the early trip up. Grey, drizzly skies greeted me as I pulled into P10 at quarter to 7. Grim weather but I had seen the groomers rolling along the Doldrums so I knew I would have fresh tracks. Indeed all the primary trails seemed to be freshly groomed so the skiing was quite nice. In spite of the +2C weather (and rain falling) the tracks were actually firming up nicly with the cold supplied by the snowpack beneath them. This made the skating fast but the classic tracks looked to be glazing over and might prove to be icy. I skied up along the Parkway to the lookouts but had to use my imagination as thick fog blocked any view. No stunning sunrise either as the dark, gloomy grey brightened only slightly to light, gloomy grey as the sun came up. A quick loop around 1A and B before heading down Burma for the trip home. In the woods the conditions were a little bit tougher than the parkways. The warm temperatures were bringing the last of the ice on the branches down and the delicate sound of breaking "glass" filled the air as the ice dropped from above. I probably was less than an hour behind the groomer riding the fresh corduroy but the trails had already built up a good layer of icy chunks and bits of branches making the skiing a little more like riding ball bearings. It was manageable on skate skis but I would think the classic tracks would fill up fast and be a bit of a pain. Once I shot out onto the parkway it was apparent that the wider open parkway skiing might be the ticket for today. Far less debris and nice new tracks Could be the answer for the weekend which shows more of the same weather ahead. Maybe we can get rid of the last of the ice covered branch debris with this warm weather and get back to some more wintry weather in the days to come.

Tough to make out the ice chunks but lots of little twigs on the foggy Burma road (and the ice chunks are there!)

Beautiful weekend for some skiing

Even the bright shiny orb called the sun was out on Saturday which has been a rare sighting in the last couple of weeks. With sunny skies I headed up to P19. I figured the upper part of the park would be comparatively quiet and I wouldn’t have to fight for a parking spot with the hordes of skiers clambering for P10 and P7. Sure enough I was rewarded with easy access and relatively quiet trails. After skiing the lower valley and up 55 to Taylor Lake I took a tour up to the Pontiac lookout on trail 56. I thought this was a “backcountry” trail and would receive no grooming this year but looks like a skidoo ran up to the lookout at some point recently. Perhaps it was the maintenance crews trimming and cutting fallen branches. Unfortunately they hadn’t pulled a grooming sled behind them so I was left with a somewhat flat track to ski up which slowed things up a bit but no matter. The warm sunshine and shiny ice on the trees made up for the slower skiing. Love this trail punching through the tall pines. Reminiscent of the skiing at Vernon although the pines are 2 or 3 times as tall out there. Also did a quick ski around the Ste Cecile loop and it too was in pretty good shape – free from branches and logs and reasonably well groomed. As it was somewhat cold out I wore my wonderful new fleece layer (just purchased). Unfortunately it proved too effective and I over heated 10 minutes into my ski… gonna have to assign that fleece to -20C (and colder) skis and work on a layer that works for… ummm, “slightly cold” conditions.

Mind your head under the arch
Sunday I got one of the last places to park at P7 and checked out the backountry trails skiing 6, 22, 17, a bit of 11 and 8 along with sundry other groomed trails. To be honest I prefer the backcountry trails with some fresh snow as today the tracks were somewhat hard packed and “skied out”. Still they proved a sometimes interesting challenge to negotiate so a good afternoon was had. Still a few branches here and there to dodge but – unlike my last post – there have been enough skiers smashing through them that the blocks of ice are mostly gone. Not quite so painful if you fail to duck at an inopportune moment. I could have used a few layers (inches?) of binder wax on the skis today though. Icy trails and blocks of ice left in the track as they fall from the tree branches above did short work on my wax. I was forced to stop a few times to reapply some fresh wax or flounder helplessly up the climbs.



I must say I am impressed with how quickly the crews have worked to clear the trails from fallen debris after the ice storm. Having done a little “post ice storm” clearing myself in the past I know it to be long, labourious work. Skiing the trails over the Christmas break and seeing trails choked with bent over trees and down fall it’s hard to believe most of that has been refreshed. The NCC website suggests 80% of the network is now free and clear. That's 160km of trails cleared so good on them to work through this. The only big ticket omissions at this point are Ridge to the Fire tower and trail 36 but hopefully those are on the work sheet for this week.

Can I have a do-over on Christmas vacation?

New Year, new snow!

Snow!
A beautiful layer of snow fell overnight! By no means is it enough to cover all the damage from last weeks freezing rain but its certainly a good start. Pete and I went for a New Year's Eve (well, afternoon really) ski along the Pine road as the fresh snow started to fall. This ski has become a bit of a tradition as Pete typically works a half day on New Year's Eve and then schedules in a ski before making the drive for home. I on the other hand am not working at all this week so I traditionally sleep in, prepare the pack with some celebratory liquids, wax up some skis and wait for him to book off work. It's a tough job but I always feel up to the challenge. Conditions were quite good although there were still a lot of sticks and twigs exposed at that time but it was certainly encouraging to see the snow falling hard.

Icy trees
Today - New Year's day - I felt a little optimistic as snow had been falling all night so I threw the wider skis in the truck with the hope of skiing some of the backcountry trails. Things were pretty nice although there certainly has been a lot of damage from last weeks freezing rain. Quite a lot of downed branches and even a few trees along with iced up trees bent over double on the trails. I pulled a few medium sized logs off the tracks but there are still a few much bigger ones here and there that will need to be cut. If the NCC isn't going to groom the backcountry trails this year I wonder who will? For that matter does grooming include cutting deadfall and brushing back the trails? If it does how will they get there if not with a skidoo (and will that ruin the track?)? Perhaps if I think about it for a bit longer more snow will bury all the hazards and I won't have to worry about it.

Took a little work to pull this broken branch off the track
While the logs might be one issue there is also a lot of branches doubled over with the prodigious weight of ice coated to their branches. This makes for some awkward skiing in the woods. Forces you to mosey left and right to avoid them. That isn't too bad when the trail is flat. Bigger problem is screaming down a steep incline to be faced with a load of ice covered branches in your way. Bit like going through those beaded curtains... at speed... and the beads are blocks of ice... and they're quite heavy... and there are often rather a lot of them (from the voice of experience;-). If we can get a few (more) skiers to go crashing through the branch traps, the ice (or maybe the branches) should break off forming some nice tunnels. Could make for some interesting trails. Either way it sure is beautiful skiing in the park right now. More snow over the next couple of days should make for a happy start to the year.