Snow Report: Jan 24/11

The Calgary Snowmobile Club came for the weekend and what a weekend! This group had the big fire going, fancy snacks and lots of fun. Curt groomed and for the first time he groomed the B road which we have never done before. I had to go pick him up at the Corbin Hwy because he was pretty sure he could not make it back through the coulee. Found out the Bombi fits in the horse trailer yahoooo. Anyway the group reported back that the pipeline was almost unbearably rough. (as info for those who don't know...the pipeline does not get groomed although there has been talk of it -been lots of traffic on it) They did however find good snow in the trees and enroute to Wheeler Creek. We had beautiful weather after having super high winds.

Curt and Cooper went out Sunday and played in a little spot just off the trail - it is usually thigh deep but you can see what the conditions were like from Cooper in the first photo. Curt was dreading the Flathead as it was soooo rough last week but it had gotten a little bit of snow and wasn't completely awful for rough - still pretty bad but that will soon be corrected when the groomer is fixed and back. They found another 6 inches of fresh snow up in Barnes meadow and at Limestone and had a lot of fun - Cooper's favorite place to go.

Saskatchewan people have a tendancy to connect. Out in the middle of Limestone Curt saw two people stopped so he went to check on them to see if everything was okay and it was and a conversation started. Of course it was Dennis Kaltenbruner and one of his employees of Calgary. Both Curt and I grew up with his grandparents in Rouleau - hell I lived beside them - Ken and Mary. Small world. Well Dennis - Curt was floored all night and day and could not believe it. He really enjoyed meeting you. He forgot to tell you that Ken made Cooper a little wooden trike that he tried hard to ride the wheels off of. Hope to see you out here on the motorbikes!

I have been asked about the special avalanche warning. If you read it, it is an across the board warning about weak layers, setting up and loading but you still have to go to the individual areas to get more specific information. Our area report is actually showing less risk than it was a few weeks ago but the combined info still warns that the highmarking, cornices and complex slopes are not to be messed around with. (See "Slab" on the area report as of today - read all the info not just glance at the risk spreadsheet) The info combined from both our area report and the special warning gives you the "WHY" certain terrain is not worth the risk right now. Know before you go. The meadows, cut blocks, trees have lots of snow and will test you just fine. If you haven't taken a course but want to start learning the lingo or want a refresher then go to the online course at http://www.avalanche.ca/ . Hopefully it will motivate you to take a course to learn more - put the information off the avalanche reports into perspective and give you more of a working/riding knowledge so you make better choices about what you are going to ride, what you are not going to ride and why. Have fun and be safe - Cheers, V