After two days of city riding (Bowmont and Nose Hill are in great shape) I was going to save the legs on Saturday, take care of accumulated yard chores, and do a long ride on Sunday. FOMO was already taking hold by early afternoon though, and then my wife started talking about hiking tomorrow..............garden tools were quickly dropped and I headed out to ride SS-Pnuema-ROS. Conditions were very good and typical of this time of year with scattered minor small puddles and seeps along the way. Once on to Diamond T-Tom Snow at the bottom, things got a little bit splashy in the usual places as expected. As I sometimes do- I exited to the road at the Pnuema-ROS junction and continued up to Special K, and then down Pnuema from there onto ROS, adding a little extra elevation and spice to the descent. And.....a reminder of why I almost never tackle that section going up- all those bouldery spots make it gnarly enough going down!
Lots of people out on Moose yesterday but in case anyone is still wondering about conditions:
Ings-Highway-Sulphur-Pnuema-Shaft. Usual puddles & mud patches going up. Shaft was near perfect - a bit soft at the very top and that was it. I haven't seen Shaft that smooth for a few years. Creek was running high, hub deep crossing.
Anyone have any clue about cox hill. Did it for the first time last summer and loved it but not sure about its timing in the spring. Thanks
Last year's dry early conditions were an outlier. Typically, right now would be a bit too soon for JP Ridge and Cox. There will be plenty of dry trail of course, but almost certainly- some substantial areas of drifted in snow and wetness remaining. I'm waiting a bit to get JPR-Cox, and Powderface Ridge also, at their best.
Did a loop up upper and lower stony Squaw on Saturday, conditions varied from a bit snowy/muddy up at the top with a few patches of ice, to bone dry and loose. all of lower portion was great, the upper section was a bit softer, but all in all a great ride, I imagine it has only gotten better!
Anyone have any clue about cox hill. Did it for the first time last summer and loved it but not sure about its timing in the spring. Thanks
Last year's dry early conditions were an outlier. Typically, right now would be a bit too soon for JP Ridge and Cox. There will be plenty of dry trail of course, but almost certainly- some substantial areas of drifted in snow and wetness remaining. I'm waiting a bit to get JPR-Cox, and Powderface Ridge also, at their best.
Rode Strange Brew from Sugar Daddy, Ranger and Snakes yesterday. Conditions were good with the odd puddle and almost dusty in between, with the exception of lower Snakes (a wet mess in a few spots).
Brad Creek is giving most of WBC the green light (http://www.braggcreektrails.org/report/).
Friday - FG and 727 were running well. 727 had 1 large puddle...but overall was fairly dry. Family Guy was running great Saturday - Prairie View was running great. Sunday - Merlin had a few small puddles...but nothing major. Buddy seen a black bear on Braggin Rights though...
Last night...Sugar Mama was almost nearly perfect. 1 soft spot and 1 puddle. Bobcat is dry with a soft cookie dough section. Ridgeback is perfect. Up Snakes and Ladders was wet at the bottom with a couple mud sections. Strange Brew perfect and Boundary/Snagmore almost perfect. The mud puddles from Saturday are now dark cookie dough and clean.
For those interested I made it to Highwood pass from the north gate today. The avalanche debris near Elbow pass parking can be climbed over (as I did) or walked around on the right. The last 500m to the pass is all snow so walking (or skiing!) is the only option. Fenders were handy for the descent otherwise you'll get soaked. The highway on south side of the pass was all snow as far as I could see.