A blue sky, excellent snow and good tracksetting (kudos to the GBCTA tracksetters) made for a great day in the foothills. When we arrived at 10am it was a little cool to begin:


Barbara & John at the West Bragg parking lot. Brrr... -18C.

We chose the south side trails and started off on East Crystal Line which allowed us to warm up with the wax working well on the uphill. Then we continued up Iron Springs (-10C at the top) leading to a nice glide on the down side. At Iron Creek trail junction, two of us had never done that trail so we took this side trip east:


At the end of Iron Creek trail at Range Road 54. Guest canine appearance by "Hudson"

We returned and descended to the Elbow trail where Barb selected an excellent spot for dining:


John, Barb & Ron at the sunny lunch spot beside Elbow ski trail.

We returned via the Elbow trail, Loggers Loop and Lower Crystal to the busy parking lot (-5 degrees C). We found out how busy as we left, the big new parking lot had filled since we arrived and there were cars parked a half kilometre along the access road.

Total ski was 18.7 km.

Thanks for joining me for this excellent day, to participants Barbara & John. Ron C/S/P

Animal report: hundreds of geese flying west as we were heading out Highway 8. Umpteen dogs on the ski trails. A herd of mule deer just west of Bragg Creek.

---