The first couple of days in Canada have had some travel aggravation. The same ski bag that got waylaid in SLC on Feb. 9 did not make it onto a NONSTOP WestJet flight from LAX to Calgary. So I had a delay waiting for and reporting that, then got to the rental car counter where there was a one hour wait. Post pandemic staff shortages persist in Canada. Then I realized I had not changed my car rental reservation when I trimmed this trip from 12 to 8 days due to poor conditions in Banff. The car reservation was on booking.com and after failing to reach anyone by phone, the online chat concluded that I would still have to pay for the 12 days. The $500 or so for a small SUV is still an OK price I guess. At any rate I left Calgary airport 3 hours after landing, and without my ski bag.
I arrived at Castle about 9AM. I had been warned it was a holiday weekend, but of course I had not contemplated a 15+ minute line to rent skis, only to find that demo skis were rented out of the main ski shop. So I got on the hill at 10AM on Volkl Blaze 106 skis after a second call to WestJet about my ski bag.
I was advised that conditions were “good but not great.” Western Canada had a lean January and the snowpack was below average with occasional firm subsurfaces, the latter a rarity on my late February visits. The good news is that it had snowed 8 inches Tuesday and another 3 inches overnight, and due to Castle’s midweek emptiness powder depth reflected both storms. Weather was high overcast, typical Great Gray North, and there were occasional gusty winds but only at the very top.
I warmed up on Outlaw, view down that to the Red chair and base area below later during a sunny break.
I next headed for Drifter, one of my favorite runs anywhere.
Drifter is 2,000 vertical and quite wide. I spread out a bit and found a considerable section still untracked.
Next time up top I skied Tamarack Bowl for an upper lap and North Bowl top to bottom. These take minimal direct sun and had no firm subsurface. Tamarack chair profile during a sunny break:
From same spot, view north down the access road toward Beaver Mines:
Around noon I took a break and made another futile WestJet call. Back up top my upper lap was near lift on Deputy. Lower down these tracks are uncharacteristically dense for Castle due to holiday traffic.
I ventured once to the South Chutes. At 2PM I pushed out to High Rustler figuring fewer people would do that.
That was true due to the gravelly traverse.
Despite the steep south exposure there was no firm subsurface here. View up from the bottom:
Tamarack Liftline at 3PM:
This was about 5 minutes. Peak was a full maze at about 10 minutes.
My last upper Tamarack lap was near these north facing trees by Showboat
I finished with Chinook and 17,400 vertical. All of my runs today had some sections of powder, estimate 6K total. The new snow was high quality and skied well even when chopped.
On a 6:30PM phone call I was told the ski bag had reached Calgary on my same flight a day later. However this info was not logged into my online baggage trace file and was still not there the next morning. And I did not have the bag even though my hotel was 2+ hours from the airport and the delivery service runs until midnight.
At 7AM Sunday morning I reached a senior employee at WestJet, who admitted that the baggage people sometimes do not update the online file. The other problem is that international delayed bags can get hung up going through customs. So I needed to go shopping in Fernie for some items in that bag, notably Sorel type boots, before checking into Island Lake at 5PM.
Accordingly I only skied Sunday morning at Castle. Weather was more challenging with thick overcast, snow flurries and more consistent wind than Saturday. Temperatures were a similar 20-25F, though all forecasts warn that extreme cold well below zero F will hit by Wednesday/Thursday.
I expected chopped powder but there was a lot of wind deposition. Overnight wind must have been strong as that snow was fairly dense. I only took a couple of pictures, this one on Drifter.
I skied 11,000, about half groomers to conserve energy for the cat skiing the next 3 days. While shopping in Fernie about 2PM I got a call from Calgary airport that my bag had just been released from customs, where it was held overnight. As it was too late to reach me before Island Lake I continued shopping. The ski bag will be sent to the Fernie hotel where I’m staying Wednesday and Thursday.
I arrived at Castle about 9AM. I had been warned it was a holiday weekend, but of course I had not contemplated a 15+ minute line to rent skis, only to find that demo skis were rented out of the main ski shop. So I got on the hill at 10AM on Volkl Blaze 106 skis after a second call to WestJet about my ski bag.
I was advised that conditions were “good but not great.” Western Canada had a lean January and the snowpack was below average with occasional firm subsurfaces, the latter a rarity on my late February visits. The good news is that it had snowed 8 inches Tuesday and another 3 inches overnight, and due to Castle’s midweek emptiness powder depth reflected both storms. Weather was high overcast, typical Great Gray North, and there were occasional gusty winds but only at the very top.
I warmed up on Outlaw, view down that to the Red chair and base area below later during a sunny break.
I next headed for Drifter, one of my favorite runs anywhere.
Drifter is 2,000 vertical and quite wide. I spread out a bit and found a considerable section still untracked.
Next time up top I skied Tamarack Bowl for an upper lap and North Bowl top to bottom. These take minimal direct sun and had no firm subsurface. Tamarack chair profile during a sunny break:
From same spot, view north down the access road toward Beaver Mines:
Around noon I took a break and made another futile WestJet call. Back up top my upper lap was near lift on Deputy. Lower down these tracks are uncharacteristically dense for Castle due to holiday traffic.
I ventured once to the South Chutes. At 2PM I pushed out to High Rustler figuring fewer people would do that.
That was true due to the gravelly traverse.
Despite the steep south exposure there was no firm subsurface here. View up from the bottom:
Tamarack Liftline at 3PM:
This was about 5 minutes. Peak was a full maze at about 10 minutes.
My last upper Tamarack lap was near these north facing trees by Showboat
I finished with Chinook and 17,400 vertical. All of my runs today had some sections of powder, estimate 6K total. The new snow was high quality and skied well even when chopped.
On a 6:30PM phone call I was told the ski bag had reached Calgary on my same flight a day later. However this info was not logged into my online baggage trace file and was still not there the next morning. And I did not have the bag even though my hotel was 2+ hours from the airport and the delivery service runs until midnight.
At 7AM Sunday morning I reached a senior employee at WestJet, who admitted that the baggage people sometimes do not update the online file. The other problem is that international delayed bags can get hung up going through customs. So I needed to go shopping in Fernie for some items in that bag, notably Sorel type boots, before checking into Island Lake at 5PM.
Accordingly I only skied Sunday morning at Castle. Weather was more challenging with thick overcast, snow flurries and more consistent wind than Saturday. Temperatures were a similar 20-25F, though all forecasts warn that extreme cold well below zero F will hit by Wednesday/Thursday.
I expected chopped powder but there was a lot of wind deposition. Overnight wind must have been strong as that snow was fairly dense. I only took a couple of pictures, this one on Drifter.
I skied 11,000, about half groomers to conserve energy for the cat skiing the next 3 days. While shopping in Fernie about 2PM I got a call from Calgary airport that my bag had just been released from customs, where it was held overnight. As it was too late to reach me before Island Lake I continued shopping. The ski bag will be sent to the Fernie hotel where I’m staying Wednesday and Thursday.
.
