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My favourite ski conditions today on Hill’s Homestead – an inch of fresh powder on a soft groomed base. It started snowing steadily around 3pm with temp. -4. There’s a good set track on Kane, sporadic on Hill’s. Darren will be grooming the next 2 days. All parking lots are plowed out.
Kane Valley Snowshoe Trails
We have been working on marking and GPSing a series of snowshoe trails in the Kane Valley. The objective is to give people an opportunity to use the area without trodding on the set X-C tracks.
We now have descriptions and some GPS information on the trails at
http://www.murphyshewchuk.com/kane_snowshoe.html
with more info to follow as time permits. Any comments or constructive suggestions will be appreciated.
Murphy Shewchuk
Snowing hard this morning, no wind and -8 in Kane Valley. whooppee
Back to winter powder conditions on the groomed trails – blue wax and soft snow – super skiing! No wind today and temp. was -3 in the afternoon.
Grooming Update: All main trails are groomed and tracked as of Sunday. Temps are
-3 this afternoon. Conditions are excellent.
Lots of fresh, soft snow on the trails today – about 8 inches. Raven’s (beginning at junction with Menzies), Gulch and Menzies were all groomed and tracked. Vale too had been groomed. Thank you to the groomer. The skiing was excellent. Temperature ranged from -5 to -9 during our ski and if the cold weather stays, the skiing should be wonderful everywhere.
P1 needs a blank regsitration form. The current one is full!
February 20 outing. We skied up from P1, Menzies, then Vale to Lunchbox and back via Ridge today. Sticky around noon, better after lunch. It was much better skiing in the barely visible set tracks. It was snowing lightly as we left at 2:30. Perhaps there is enough snow to make a new grooming worthwhile.
Fresh snow – about 8cm – on Kane. Probably all the trails have recieved snow in the past week. Skiing was good and snow only a little bit sticky at times. No grooming necessary as there isn’t that much snow on the trail.
We met a couple of snowshoers who had snowshoed the length of Kane leaving two tracks on the groomed portion of the trail. Since the base underneath the snow that had fallen was hard, the snowshoe tracks did not leave any deep holes. I guess there are still people who are unaware of the rules.
I skied Hills Homestead Feb 15th. The trails are in good shape considering the weather we have had. Good job.
I was planning a trip to Manning park Saturday Feb 18th and have room to take 2 or 3 people. I would enjoy the company.
contact me at cr_rose48@hotmail.ca or 250 378 7068
We haven’t had any real snow to speak of for almost a month, which makes grooming a challenge. I think we all agree we would love to have some set tracks and better snow for skiing, however setting tracks in ice is difficult (if not impossible).
Mother nature’s challenge aside; we did get almost an inch of snow on Monday night and I skied Hills Homestead today. A solid base, with enough fresh snow to play with. Hills and Kane both have portions of set tracks. It was very enjoyable.
Kane Trail – No new snow. Trail icy and fast.
I skied the trails on 9 January and 4, 5, 8 February and was disappointed and frustrated about the lack of set ski tracks. The trails were groomed to full width, but ski tracks that would allow moving in a classic nordic style were few and either broken, absent or obliterated by the groomer.
Personally, I found the conditions better 10 years ago when skitracks only existed, though sometimes I had to break them for later skiers.
I wish to recommend that well-set ski tracks be maintained at least on selected trails, for example Ravens Ridge, Gulch, Vale, Menzies, Matthew’s Loop (in my opinion the best nordic trail), Kane. One track on one side would be sufficient.
Skied Kane, part of Ravine and Sundown. Trail hard packed and icy in places. The short section that was track set was very appreciated.
Need registration form (a couple might be a good idea) at P2. the current one is full, full, full so I didn’t sign in.
If anyone is wondering who cut back some of the fallen trees that were lying next to the trail, that was Gerry S. Should be safer for skiers and the groomer.
There is one ‘log’ near the bottom of Aspen that is touching the trail and could damage the groomer if it comes too close to it. It might be a good idea to remove a piece of that log. It’s almost invisible since there is quite a bit of snow between the trail and the trees.
There has only been 2cm of snow in the past week, on an icy packed base. Grooming is a bit of a challenge. Darren groomed yesterday, with the the rake and groomer on the south side of the road, including Hills Homestead and several go overs on Matthews! The east part of the Tolko Loop will remain closed for the rest of the season, due to massive blow downs, but the connector on the Tolko Loop is open.
Grooming on the north side will resume tomorrow. Temp is -10 and bluebird!
We snowshoed from P2 to Mathews Shelter and back on February 2, 2012. The snowshoeing was great but there are now about 7 trees that have fallen across the trail that Tanya has marked out. We have made a trail around each of the trees so that the trail is good, but I guess a warning, particularly on windy days, to be careful. The snow was perfect for snowshoeing but seemed a little icy on cross-country ski trails that we crossed.
2 cms of fresh snow today. Skiing on the south side (Kane etc) reportedly good. Temp stayed around -2 today up here.