Shaganappi lost a lot of snow with this Chinook weather. The Chinook Glaze is here on all trails that have not been renovated. Fat Bikers beware of ice, studded tires are a must and even then studded tires may not be enough on the death ice, be very cautious and look ahead! Snowfarming or more snow is the only chance we have to continue skiing through the March 4th weekend at Shaganappi....
EDIT: There was a fire in the ravine by the pedestrian bridge, the tire tracks pictured from the expert loop Thursday night were likely from Fire Services trying to access the area!
Ski trails: All ski trail skate lanes were renovated with two passes of the drag groomer Thursday night by a grooming volunteer. There is one section at the 26th Street/Bow Trail corner that is down to asphalt, there may be a workaround, it was hard to see in the dark. All other skate lanes have snow coverage, albeit sometimes the snow cover is very thin or some grass is present. Classic tracks are icy when they do exist, classic skiing is not recommended as we don't have volunteer capacity to put in new track setting, the snow is so shallow we can't put in new track setting in some areas, thus it will be icy everywhere there is track setting deep enough to use.
FBSS: The shared Fat Bike & Snowshoe trails are down to ice, grass, and a bit of snow here and there, depending where you are. Studded tires are a must for fat biking. Snowshoeing won't be fun on the trail system, as there's not really much snow. Snow can be found along north facing grassy areas that are sheltered by trees to the south....it is possible to find those areas, stay close to the trees please to avoid damaging the fairway turf...good luck!
Fingers crossed snow arrives next week, or this likely will be the last weekend skiing is possible at Shaganappi due to the rapid snow loss - it is a case of wait and see and do a lot of snow dancing!
Free Fat Bike Lessons: The Cycling Co. is hosting free fat bike lessons at Shaganappi Saturday, February 18th for SNO members. Please RSVP if you plan on attending. (BYOfB - Bring your own fat Bike!) Learn more.
Memberships and Donations: if you haven't already, please consider becoming a SNO paid member to help this non profit become more financially self sustaining by reaching our goal of 200 paid memberships. It costs approximately $5k to $7k to run winter operations at Shaganappi each year. Thank you to the 49 households who have become paid members in 2023!
Alternatively, one can choose a one time donation if that works better, and corporate donations will be very happily accepted too, of course!
Picture time!
Expert loop corner - before snow farming by one volunteer Thursday evening...
Expert loop corner - after mucho snow relocation by volunteer snowfarmer Steven S!!!
One pass with the Tidd Tech drag groomer over the snow farmed area...
Snow farmed corduroy!!!
Chinook Glaze on left, one pass with the drag groomer renovating on the right Thursday night.
Two passes with the renovator teeth down to break up the Chinook Glaze....
