We left Calgary under sunny skies, through strong winds at the edge of the mountains and into the forecast light snow after Castle Junction. We unfortunately got held up for over 20 minutes just 1/2 kilometre before the Pipestone turnoff as the road crews were doing some snow clearing that apparently required complete closure of the westbound lanes of the TransCanada. In the parking lot the car thermometer registered -4C but the falling snow was melting on the windshield. But this did not affect the skiable snow which was quite good for the most part. We headed up to Pipestone Pond where we took a break under calm conditions:

light snow at Pipestone Pond - Barb and Ron

As can be seen, the mountains were socked in so there were no views of the peaks. We chose to go up Drummond and Merlin trails before gliding down to our lunch spot at the north end of the Pipestone loop where we ran into some former members now resident in Canmore:


Past Ramblers Allan & Evelyn with Barb and Ron

From there we descended the east side of the loop where a snow squall occurred with strong winds blowing powder snow off the treetops, but it only lasted about 10 minutes before becoming calm again. With the lower east side of Pipestone trail closed we doubled back up Drummond and Merlin where the skies were hinting at clearing:


Evan and Barbara, note hint of blue sky at upper right

It was a nice run down the west side of the loop, sometimes through sun dappled forest. And with the clearing skies we had a panoramic view of the sun-drenched Louise ski area at Pipestone Pond.

Chalk up another excellent winter day for participants Ron C/S/P, Barbara and Evan (photos).

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