Tom Brady conditions G. O. A. T. Creek
Trip date: Thursday Feb 03, 2022
Submitted by Bob Truman
Particpants:
Discussion:
For those who don't follow the NFL, Tom Brady is considered the Greatest Of All Time(hence, the acronym GOAT), just like today's conditions on Goat Creek. I did a 10K out and back(20K return).
If I hadn't known there was a new grooming crew in Banff, I would have been mystified when I reached the tracksetting at the Banff boundary. The grooming on Goat Creek was about two feet wider than it has ever been in the past, and the tracksetting was excellent. The new tracksetter is obviously passionate about his job.
The snow was clean, firm and fast, but still edgeable on any of the hills where I needed to control my speed. I was even able to ski all the way down to the Goat Creek bridge(aka the death bridge) at 7K. There is a snowmobile packed track beside the ski trail on the descent to the bridge on which you can walk if conditions are too risky or scary.
I continued over the Spray River bridge and went a kilometre further on Spray River West.
I encountered Lon and Chris, two friendly gents from Prince Albert, SK. on the trail. Chris has skied here a few times so he could advise his friend about all the precarious spots on the trail to watch out for. Two years ago, Chris was delayed by an hour at the Goat Creek bridge while a helicopter rescue was in progress. A skier had an incident at the bridge and had to be flown out. I remember some discussion about this on my blog back in the day. Chris and Lon played it safe and walked down.
The air temperature at 12 noon was -8 and the snow was -10. Easy waxing with VR40(-4/-12).