Skogan!
Trip date: Friday Mar 22, 2024
Submitted by SteveR
Particpants:
Bob and I
Discussion:
Fine conditions on a quick out and back to Skogan Pass this afternoon. A dusting of new over the early morning grooming, with winter snow for the most part, although I did experience a few moments of sticking when the sun popped out on an open south facing section. The hard base was evident in spots lower down, but pretty much vanished beyond the Screamer. As we ascended, we noticed the tracks of an ATV or tracked vehicle that had gone up the trail ahead of us, chewing up the trail in a few spots until leaving the Skogan trail at High Level junction. We met them just below that junction as they were coming back down and it turned out to be two ATV's, one on 4 wheels, the other a half-track. I don't know what they were doing there- I assume some kind of "official business" (Trans Alta checking on powerlines?) but they didn't do the grooming any favours. Two corners in particular were left with deep ruts that could be challenging after a melt/freeze. Near the top we met a rush hour of descending skiers, including our very own Helen, but otherwise saw no-one else. Other than some cautious slowing down at the two aforementioned corners, the whole descent was fast yet easily controllable- great for arcing a few parallel turns here and there while keeping eyes peeled for any ruts left by the ATV's (which thanks to the previous descending skiers smoothing things out, were mostly a non-issue in the soft snow). It should be good for a while yet, maybe even better with a few cm's of new fluff on top.