Lake Louise - January 6, 2012

We took a trip out to Lake Louise today to check out the conditions and get some fresh turns in. Lake Louise had 11cm in the past 24 hours, with most of that during the day with a few cm overnight. The conditions, particularly in the back bowls were among the best so far this season. Best runs of the day were Whitehorn 1 first thing in the morning, with untracked snow further down the ridge from the top, and Hiker's Paradise, which had room for untracked turns even mid-afternoon. 

The base is covering substantially more than it did two weeks ago, with most of the major rocks covered for now - making some of the more technical lines on the mountain quite enjoyable. ER7 recently opened, along with the other little chutes to skiers left - everything is looking pretty good. There's good skiing in the trees off Ptarmigan, and Top of the World on the frontside of the mountain, especially if the light is looking flat in the back-bowls.

The wind picked up later in the day, which might move some snow around for Saturday skiing.

On two other notes: (1) The highway between Hwy 93 south and Lake Louise was covered in packed snow / ice and was quite slippery both directions. Drive carefully and leave space between cars!

(2) There was an avalanche out of bounds in West Bowl near Lake Louise today (photo), remote triggered by a nearby skier which slid to ground on the basal facets. Be careful out there! 

Cheers!