West Bragg Creek - end of season
Trip date: Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Submitted by Alf Skrastins
Particpants:
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.