Tuesday evening all trails were groomed after spending most of the afternoon working on the Bow Trail re-route. The Bow Trail re-route is quite fun but make sure you walk down any hills in icy conditions. Follow the corduroy paths! There are also two snow bridges across the cart path with scoop shovels nearby for the addition of snow to the bridges as the snow melts away.
With the need to clear snow off the greens to protect the health of the turf under the winter tarps, golf course summer staff have cleared the snow off the asphalt cart path that runs parallel to Bow Trail. Unfortunately all that snow clearing has now rendered all the snow relocation work done by 10+ volunteers on the weekend useless... aaaargh, indeed!
Snow coverage on most trails is still excellent with the exceptions of the usual suspect locations such as the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of Condo Alley (junction 6 to 7 on the map) and a few trail sections near or under trees.
Keep in mind we are now into spring skiing in Calgary. Spring skiing means that typically in warm daytime temperatures the snow is saturated with water and gets really soft and slushy. If overnight temperatures drop close to or below zero, expect hard boiler plate conditions the next day that will only soften with sun exposure and/or really warm temperatures. Crack of noon spring ski club!
The skiing is still quite fun when the snow softens up, and there is still a lot of nice exploring to do at Shaganappi when conditions are soft.
Have fun while the snow lasts and the golf course is still open to the public!
Skidoo, automated groomer and track setter with downtown Calgary in the background.
Chinook temperatures make for soft snow conditions. Left side of the photo are ski tracks laid in soft snow. The right side of the photo is some very rudimentary corduroy using the knives of the renovator set very shallow.