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2024-04-01 at 15:00 - comment by MaSid
A few hardy souls were out skiing today (you could hear them coming, in the AM anyway). Seemed a lot of folk were hiking the mud on the north (sunny) side of the parking lot. Still mostly compact snow and some ice on the hiking trails in the north facing terrain, but the dirt patches are growing. Didn’t use spikes at all. No sign of horses on the horse trails. Potential snow later in the week may mess this up, but hopefully cool enough for continued skiing (touring without grooming). And yes, hats off to the whole team of people that have made this all happen, past and present. It’s been a difficult season.
2024-04-01 at 08:05 - comment by SkierRoger
Alf, thanks so much for your hard work and dedication this year. I know it’s been quite a challenge. You wear it well.
2024-04-01 at 07:48 - comment by HenryL
Alf, your photo of the remaining snow on the ski trail reminds us of the change of seasons, and how you'll probably already be waxing your Gmoser boots. I recall our early season camping trip to Whaleback Ridge. The call of spring in the Rockies. What a feeling.
West Bragg Creek - end of season
Report Submitted by Alf Skrastins
(trip) Date: Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Submitted: Sunday Mar 31, 2024 at 23:11
Participants:
2 of us
Discussion:
March kept delivering bursts of winter to West Bragg Creek, right up to the Easter weekend. For the first time this decade, the skiing lasted right to the end of March.
We started out at 11:00am trying to guess the sweet spot between hard-frozen trails in the morning and soft, sticky snow in the afternoon.
At first, the tracks were glazed from the combined effect of yesterday's sun, hundreds of skiers, and a hard overnight freeze. But, you could always find just enough grip on hills, by moving over to the less travelled snow along the side of the trails. In the afternoon, as the snow softened, there was more reliable grip in the tracks, but that eventually gave way to "catch and release" conditions, where your skis would suddenly stick to sun exposed patches of snow.
We did the Mountain Road-Mountain View West-Moose Loop in the clockwise direction. By the time we got near the end of the Moose Loop, it was certainly looking like the end of the ski season had arrived.
The WBC ski grooming season has ended. As of April 1, the trails are open for all users to enjoy.
 Still very good conditions on shaded sections of many trails, like Moose Loop.
 But the snow won't last much longer on sun exposed areas, like this part of Moose Loop
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