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2024-03-15 at 20:05 - comment by MaSid
Well done Mike. LMAO @ #7!! But glad to know packers didn’t eat your lunch.
My guess is after cold temps and snow mid next week, I’ll be back breaking trail, perhaps venturing down tobermory for something different. We will see.
PLPP Hills and Obscure* Trails Special
Report Submitted by Mike W
(trip) Date: Thursday Mar 14, 2024
Submitted: Friday Mar 15, 2024 at 19:08
Participants:
Me on my skinny skin skis
Discussion:
* "Obscure" meaning trails I don't often ski on!
Started out from Pocaterra at 09:00 under clear skies, calm winds, and -10C. First tracks "Following the Grooming" on Lodgepole, Meadow, Lodgepole, Braille, Spruce Road, and William Watson Lodge Access back to the Kananaskis Lakes Trail (road). Tracksetting was hard and fast. Then headed N on Meadow, S on Woolley, Amos and Wheeler to the Lower Lake Group Camp trail, the most "obscure" trail of all. Despite being trackset 5 days earlier, I also got first tracks on that trail!
Then Moraine, Fox, Elk Pass, Blueberry, Patterson, Patterson Meadows, Elk Pass, Hydroline, up Lookout S, down Lookout N, and Pocaterra all the way back to Pocaterra Hut. +6C when I returned to the car. Notable notes:
1. All trails were in great shape (for skin skis). Needles in the tracks may cause problems for waxables.
2. Look up to avoid tree bomb hangfire, especially ascending Blueberry.
3. Snow started to get sticky descending Blueberry (about 13:00), but not yet catch-and-release.
4. My first time in Patterson Meadows. Took the S variant popping you out on the Elk Pass trail. No problem with skinny skis. In fact I had no problem trying trailbreaking in fresh snow, with only ankle-high ski penetration.
5. The snow got really sticky ascending Lookout S (about 15:00), enabling me to go straight up without herringboning except for one switchback.
6. The snow started to refreeze on the descent on Lookout N (about 16:00) making it a bit tricky handling some ridges and ruts created by what appeared to be heavier-duty skis made by an earlier descender.
7. Was originally planning to go down Whiskey Jack and up Packers but I had run out of food and Steve & Jo were nowhere to be found to feed me!
8. Was expecting Pocaterra to be sticky all the way down, but it wasn't; just a tad slower than usual. The snow was still powder as I arrived at the Hut.
9. The snow seemed to be heat-affected much more by solar radiation than by air temperature. With much warmer and sunny temperatures tomorrow, I'd recommend planning to end your ski by noon and selecting trails that have a lot of tree shade.
Total distance: 49.30 Km
 First tracks on Lower Lake Group Camp, trackset 5 days earlier!
 Top of Blueberry Hill.
 Gnorma, the Blueberry Hill gnome.
 Patterson Meadows.
 Tree down on Lookout S.
 Top of Lookout.
 My route.
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