Up and Down at Ribbon Creek
Trip date: Friday Jan 07, 2022
Submitted by Bob Truman
Particpants:
Chip, Elaine, and me
Discussion:
We all know there's some serious up and down on the new Ribbon Creek trail, but in this case I'm referring to the temperature.
It started out at -23 in Calgary. It was -18 at Barrier Lake. As I approached Ribbon Creek, the temperature made a sudden leap to -3 where I met Chip and Elaine at 11 a.m. I thought I overdressed with the two layers on my lower body. 10.9K later back at Ribbon Creek it was -14.
We skied the Ribbon Creek - Kovach Lookout - Village loop on wonderful conditions. The Ribbon Creek drop of doom was thoroughly enjoyable with a bit of fresh snow on the trail. The S-turns on Kovach were delightful. My favourite was the home stretch on Terrace down to Ribbon Creek. I felt like I was flying as I manouvered through the turns, passing half-a-dozen skiers and ending with the roller coaster hills near the bottom.
With acknowledgement to former tracksetter Jeff who coined the term, conditions were ultra fast but controllable and safe on the "Steppenwolf" snow.
Chip and Elaine headed for Calgary but I wasn't finished. I did the 7K Evan-Thomas loop on last night's tracksetting.
I'm enjoying today's trip reports and photos from readers.