Training Log Archive: revy

A little warmer today (-14) and faster too due to a grooming. I was on classic and green wax worked well. Overall in slow/cold conditions I think classic is the way to go as easy to grip wax and the classic track speeds up faster with skier traffic. The whole gang went out today - had a few stops for technique practice. Tough thing about Dawn Mountain is that the trailhead is pretty much at the top of the whole trail system so you are always climbing back to the cabin. We used HawkOwl this time and it was more pleasant than the choice yesterday. A few solo km with the dog and a few extra km at the end just with Courtney. Garmin crashed and remained dead after rebooting so estimating distance.

Afternoon at Kicking Horse. Several laps on the Stairway to Heaven chair. Turned out our plan was fortuitous as the gondola broke and was shut down for over an hour while we pretty much had a private hill by staying in the alpine. Lots of leg burn from the tele turns. Had a couple good steep mogul runs that suggested that I do in fact remember how to tele ski. Despite being in the sun most of the time it got a bit cold and the last top to bottom run was a little miserable.

C • Tele! 2

Meds04 reunion at Kicking Horse so a chance to ski the Dawn Mountain trails (just me and Courtney as the rest of the gang was a the ski hill). Pretty cold (-18) and a skiff of snow on top of the grooming made it a slow ski. Offset on the flats (instead of 1-skate) and moderate hills seemed like hard hills. Wore long johns, boot covers, a buff and over mitts. Face got cold at times but otherwise OK for temp.

One positive of the cold temperatures this year is that skiing at McPherson is a good option again. And when you only have the morning to ski being able to get a good day in so close to town is a nice bonus. Joined by Stuart today - checked out the couloir off the edge of the fingers into the bottom of the womb. A bit narrow at the top but good width lower down. A few variable bits of snow but otherwise good and no tracks (the Fingers were well skied...). Then uptracked through the lower womb. Not quite to the top due to time constraints. Only one track on the skiers left glades - snow was great.

Cold ski... first bit with the dog wasn't too bad but after about 40minutes my face was just not happy. Not sure if it is more sensitive due to some recent frost nip. Trying to keep my face happy meant my hands got cold so pulled the plug. On a positive note the dog seemed energetic for 6km today - although maybe be was cold too and wanted to get back to the car;) Easy waxing with green today.

Best day of skiing this year;) Credit for the joke to CO....

Didn't make it to midnight last night - celebrated Toronto New Years instead with fireworks, some Prince songs and Auld Lang Syne. Initially I thought it might be sunny enough today to go explore the alpine towards Perfect Glacier but it was still partially overcast and the skiing in that direction did not look that exciting. I knew there was still some good turns to be found in the lodge trees so today was about getting some good turn in rather than exploring new areas.

Started with Wizard Gully (top of 1 and bottom of 2) which was really nice. Perhaps the only run we did all trip that was pretty straightforward to ski (other than the alpine run off Swiss Col). Next we climbed the other side and skied Talisker (xmas trees were a little tight in spots but fun). Back up towards the lodge and another wizard gully shot followed by skier's left of Boulder Boogie. This was quite enjoyable with a moderate upper pitch and them some pillows into a decent lower glade. Climbed up the moraine uptrack and finished with a last rip down Wizard Gully #1. Fun narrow line but best with a small group (we were only 4 but this point).

Overall had lots of good skiing. I felt like we got a good sense of the tree skiing at the lodge. Seemed typical Roger's Pass trees - that's to say complicated. Would be easier to ski with a smaller advanced group. Might consider a trip back later in the season to ski some of the alpine though it did not look as interesting/long/sustained pitch as some of the other northern Selkirk Lodges.