On arrival at Bow Pass, the proposed trip to Observation Peak/Ridge was changed to Bow Summit so that we could see what we were doing in more familiar terrain.
This turned out to be a much better day than expected as we struggled to arrive at the Bow Summit parking lot in a snow storm along the unploughed highway 93 with 15 cms new powder by 9.30am despite a 6.30am Calgary departure. We skied a total of 8 yo-yo's (one for each skier plus a bonus run) in the aforementioned 15-25cms powder. Very nice especially when the snow eventually stopped in the early afternoon and we enjoyed some patchy sunshine. Six seasoned male coordinators managed to keep the one expert female member under control (or was it the other way around).

Manfred was the only one familiar with the area so we generally followed his lead. Although the first run was disappointingly short, as we progressed southwards the runs became longer and better. The snow was about 25cms deep and quite light and consistent between the scattered trees making for some very sweet runs.

Manfred heading up to our high point

John in the Pow!

Philip in the Pow!

We saw several other groups in the area but never got in each others way. As trail breaking was an issue we sometimes used previous uptracks though mostly cut our own: thanks guys. Total elevation gain was about 1120m for a 6+ hour day.


Mission accomplished, slope trashed

Group at Bow Summit

On return to the parking lot we talked to another group who had skied Observation Peak on the opposite side of the road. They had encountered tight trees and heavy afternoon snow, so Manfred's suggestion to ski the Bow summit side was a good one.

Of note, when driving back, both cars experienced bad vibrations above 90kph, presumably due to ice unbalancing the wheels. By Exshaw, it was much better, but initially quite unnerving. Thanks to Manfred, John, Carl, Philip, Damian and Sim for joining me C&S David.