First tracks of the season

Looks sketchy to ski....but it was a delight!
I hadn't really expected Fridays snowfall to account for much so Saturady morning I went up to the park to go for a run on Ridge road. There was indeed some snow down but not enough it seemed to matter when it came to skiing so I headed off towards Keogan without much thought. When I came out on the parkway I was surprised to see such a nice base down. Seems the blend of freezing rain along with a few cms of actual snow formed into a nice solid crust over the asphalt. Not enough to help with the gravelly trails of Ridge road but it looked to be quite good for skiing on the smoother roadways. With that in mind I turned tail and bolted back to the car, drove home, changed and grabbed a pair of skis before heading right back to the park for a ski. The conditions were surprisingly good. Just a cm or so of snow packed down by numerous skiers made for easy skating. Occasional grey patches of asphalt peeked through but they were covered in a layer of ice so the skis floated over most anything they saw. I skied up to the lookouts before the day started to close in on me but it was a nice treat.

Climbing Black Lake
Sunday I skied from MacKenzie King up to the lookouts and again the conditions were pretty good. A little sketchy beside Black lake but all in all another good ski. Tuesday the rains and warm temperatures are sure to wash away this tenuous snow but I think I'll head out tomorrow morning to get a few more kms in before it disappears. Long range is looking promising for some significant snowfall but who knows if/when that will actually pan out. In the mean time strike while the (wax)iron is hot...or rather while the snow is cold.

Nov 23 - 28th - What a difference a couple of days makes