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2022-12-30 at 21:16 - comment by DEMOCRATIZE AB
Howdy Norman,
Under one of your pictures you mentioned large baskets are needed on poles to ski beyond Stoney Creek.
I was up in the Cascade Elk Trap area earlier in the week skiing on poles with broken baskets. I found the poles with no baskets worked not too bad in the somewhat shallow snowpack. They did hit the ground a fair bit but they still were functional although the length felt more like downhill poles when they sunk to the ground. What I was noticing in the typical rotten Rockies snow we have this year is that my poles with baskets get stuck easier on shrubs below the snow surface than my basketless poles. This causes significant yanking on my separated shoulders which I really hate. Once the snow deepens though, basketless poles will be useless. With all the baskets I have been breaking this year alone, I will stick with basketless poles in shallow snowpacks under 60 cm of depth. I even find the basketless poles are good on hard packed trackset trails. Mind you there is some sort of "bump" on them to hold the baskets in place which helps prevent some sinking.
I am glad you are one of the long distance skiers enjoying the trail beyond Stoney Creek. Later in spring when the rotten Rockies snow hardens, your regular poles will be fine to get you in further to hear the howling wolves while enjoying the views of the Flints Park area.
Ski cheers
Cascade River to Stoney Creek and beyond
Report Submitted by Normand
(trip) Date: Friday Dec 30, 2022
Submitted: Friday Dec 30, 2022 at 19:47
Participants:
Me
Discussion:
It was tempting to tackle Shadow Lake and more, after reading Helen’s report of REC yesterday. But not knowing if there would be any grooming done on REC from the lodge operators, I went for a nice trackset ski outing on the Cascade Fire Road. Very good and fast conditions for the first 6.5 km to the Cascade River bridge, then quite good one track set to the 14 km mark. I continued on a very good skier track for 1.3 km, then fresh snow on the next kilometer made it quite slow and soft with my skinny blades. The return from the Stoney Creek warden cabin was a great cruise on hard pack set trail but not icy conditions.
Total distance: 32.50 Km
 In spite of the recent cold spell, the Cascade River is going strong.
 Single skiers-set track at the old destroyed Stoney Creek bridge.
 Heading back from the km 16.3 where I turned back. Ski poles with large baskets are a must, as I was hitting the ground though 50-75 cm of snow.
 Where is everyone?
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