Friday, January 8, 2021

January 8, 2021 - Banff National Park - Pipestone Loop Cross-Country Skiing

Mandy and I hopped in the car at 6:30 this morning and headed out to Lake Louise to get an early cross-country ski in at the Pipestone Trails.  We arrived at the trail head around 8:15, with the sun just coming up.  We had been watching the temperature as we drove out and unfortunately it went from about -6 C in our driveway to -17 C at the trail head.  Oh well, we weren't going to turn around now.  We were first on the trail.  There was lots of new snow in the area, but the trail groomers had done a great job grooming the trails.  It didn't take long to warm up once we got moving.

Hoods Off After A quick Warm-Up
Early Morning Sun


We noticed during our outing that our glide wasn't that great.  At times it seemed that we were doing little more than walking on skis.  Towards the end we ran into the first people we would see and were discussing it.  They told us the reason was that it was so cold.  We were happy to hear that it wasn't entirely us or our gear's fault.  And it is a good point to remember for future outings.

Frosty Lashes

Home Stretch

Eleven kilometers and a couple of hours later we were back in the car with the heat blasting and the seat heaters on max.  Despite the cold and the lack of glide, I think it was a successful outing and a great way to start the day.  It was a bit of a drive, and if there was more snow closer to home I think we wouldn't normally drive all that way.  It was a great alternative though, and I would recommend it to anybody.

Trails: Pipestone - Merlin - Drummond - Pipestone

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