Though we had flown to Spokane and driven 7 hours to Trout Lake, we had to drive still farther to find any snow that the Tropical Punch had not rained upon. We stayed in Golden for 2 nights, and daytripped to Lake Louise Wednesday.
Lake Louise can be summarized simply. This was my 5th day at Louise in 4 different seasons, and it had the best weather and worst conditions of those visits. Nonetheless the Banff/Lake Louise press release claiming the best current conditions in Western Canada is absolutely accurate.
Most sections of Lake Louise had some decent skiing. The backside was mostly packed powder for about 1,000 vertical, transitioning to hardpack that had been though a partial melt freeze. Larch was a groomed version of a similar mix. Ptarmigan was sketchy as on my March visits except for the groomed Old Ptarmigan run.
Ungroomed sections on the front side had many more obstacles than my prior trips, and partially softened in the afternoon. The lower mountain on the front had heavy spring conditions but we only came down there at the end of the day.
This was really the only "normal" ski day of the trip, totalling 24,000 vertical.
Lake Louise can be summarized simply. This was my 5th day at Louise in 4 different seasons, and it had the best weather and worst conditions of those visits. Nonetheless the Banff/Lake Louise press release claiming the best current conditions in Western Canada is absolutely accurate.
Most sections of Lake Louise had some decent skiing. The backside was mostly packed powder for about 1,000 vertical, transitioning to hardpack that had been though a partial melt freeze. Larch was a groomed version of a similar mix. Ptarmigan was sketchy as on my March visits except for the groomed Old Ptarmigan run.
Ungroomed sections on the front side had many more obstacles than my prior trips, and partially softened in the afternoon. The lower mountain on the front had heavy spring conditions but we only came down there at the end of the day.
This was really the only "normal" ski day of the trip, totalling 24,000 vertical.