Sat 31 Dec Rec Ski is now to Drayton Valley

edmontonnordic — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:34:26 +0000

Apologies for the late announcement but I was just waiting to get the latest update on ski conditions. The rec ski in place of the postponed End to End ski thru the River Valley on Sat 31 Jan will be to Drayton Valley. We will meet at Westmount Mall in the NE corner of the parking area near Zellors at 9 AM & car pool from there. I know in an earlier e-mail I had mentioned that we planned to meet in Boonie Doone Mall, please disregard & sorry for any confusion.

Drayton Valley is 1.5 hours SW of Edmonton. The trails are set for classic & skating. For classic skiers their groomer is currently recommending a good base binder as the tracks are rather abrasive. Skating is supposed to be good & fast. Their is a cabin there that is usually heated by some of the local skiers but please bring along a lunch & a drink. We usually each give between $5 – $10 to help the club with their grooming. For details & directions please see attached documents. I will be in a white Ford F150 pick-up with a buggy whip. My cell # is 780-984-2360.

Drayton Valley trail

Mike Stern

ENSC

River Valley End to End Ski on Sat 31 Jan is Postponed

edmontonnordic — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:25:01 +0000

End to End Ski & Alternative Ski

I hope you all had a good Xmas. Regretfully, the annual End to End Ski through the Edmonton River Valley planned for Sat 31 Dec has been postponed until we get enough snow. We will try & reschedule it over another weekend if & when we receive enough snow. That is the bad news now for some good news there are places outside of the city that have snow to ski on if you are prepared to drive a bit. So instead of the End to End ski we plan to go to one of these outlying areas on Saturday instead. Areas being considered include Drayton Valley, Camrose & Red Deer. An announcement will be made later this week. We will plan to meet as usual at 9 AM in the SE corner of the Bonnie Doone shopping centre & car pool from there.

Some Local Conditions

If anybody has found some good ski conditions locally please let us know so that we can share the information. Here are some comments on a few places

Strathcona Wilderness Centre – Yvonne & I skied there today (Boxing Day) & we found the trails have become hard, fast,slick & a little icy in spots, especially for skate skiing. However there is still good snow cover on all the trails & not much melt. If they can renovate the trails it should be good again. The classic tracks were fast & a little abrasive.
Blackfoot - Two people I met at Strathcona WC had tried Blackfoot & found the trails icy. There is apparently still a lot of foot traffic on the trails close to the Waskahegan Staging area.
Edmonton River Valley - This past week I have been skate skiing along the trail between Groat Bridge (in Emily Murphy Park) & Hawrelak Pk up to the point where the ski trail meets the road. After that there are thin spots & too much crud on the trail. The ski trail still has good snow cover with only the odd thin spot at the Groat Bridge end. It is however slowly becoming harder & slicker. By skiing back along the parallel walking trail you can almost make a 4 km loop. The classic track on the ski trail is poor.

Hoping for snow

Mike Stern

ENSC

Edmonton Nordic Ski Club

Sat 31 Dec Rec Ski is now to Drayton Valley

River Valley End to End Ski on Sat 31 Jan is Postponed