Tour de WBC
Trip date: Monday Mar 13, 2023
Submitted by Mike W
Particpants:
Me
Discussion:
Last night when I saw that Telephone Loop had been groomed that afternoon, and seeing that I had yet to ski it this year, my plans for today were set. Looks like Helen and SteveR had the same idea. I took my skin skis to handle the forecast temperature range from -12C to +8C. It was -10C at 1015 when I set out, and I ran into Helen at the start, who had parked next to me. After a quick chat, I eventually caught up with SteveR who had started about 15 minutes earlier. The trackset was shallow but serviceable. More details in Helen's and SteveR's reports. After Telephone, I continued on to Moose, Mountain View West, Mountain View, Loggers, Elbow N & S to the Fullerton parking area, back via Iron Springs, Iron Creek, and Crystal Line E for a full perimeter tour.
By the time I started on Mountain View the temperature was above 0C and the snow was getting sticky in the sun. Mainly just "catch" rather than "catch and release". Best progress was to keep crossing to whatever side had tracks in the shade. Elbow and Iron Springs/Creek hadn't been trackset in a while, but the trackset was still deep and clean. Overall better than Telephone. There was even good trackset on most of Elbow S to Fullerton parking. But by this time the temperature was well above freezing and there was so much suction in the tracks that it was faster to ski on the hiking part of the trail where the bootprints broke up the suction. +9C when I got back to the car, for a total temperature change of 19C!