Adventure Aborted in Winter Wonderland

Trip date: Saturday Apr 06, 2024

Submitted by Diana Piggott

Particpants:

Yours truly yet again

Discussion:

I arrived fairly early at West Bragg Creek, and got on the trail by 8:45. The snow seemed quite cold, but alas, I had missed the powder. Melt - freeze conditions left crunchy tracks, and a variable soft crust that was *sometimes* supportive.

I took Mountain Road to Moose Connector, made first tracks down the short steep hill, but at the bottom found not only other ski tracks, but what looked like grooming for fat bikes. That definitely made the going easier, except up the steep hills.

At the Moose Junction, grooming went north, but I decided to do a bit of the south side, not feeling strong yet. A young couple passed me at that point, going north and planning to ski the whole loop. I hope they made it, and might even post a report? On the south side, I followed tracks of a couple of skinny skis as far as the first creek crossing, where I was surprised to see them turn off up Tom Snow trail. Curious, I followed them, but after a bit the trail went up a steep hill, and the skinny skiers removed their skis and apparently started hiking. Having no idea where the trail went, I turned around, did a little more of south Moose, and then back to Mountain Road.

Across the road, I skied up Moose Connector to lower West Crystal, and back to the parking lot. By then, the sun was coming out, snow softening and getting a bit sticky, and West Crystal was getting quite busy with skiers who described conditions as "rough" and "challenging". It was snowing moderately from about 9:45 to 10:45.