Kananaskis Lookout from Hwy 40 before Dec.1 Off-Trail skiing on 29-No

Participants: Sim, Mike (coordinator & reporter), Carl, Clifton, Ulrike, Gary, guest Tana

We postponed our departure by an hour because of the forecast cold temperatures, and regrouped at the Casino into 2 cars to minimize the parking space we'd need at the Back Door. There were about 3 open parking spaces when we arrived, but we only used one by parking behind each other. The lot is deep enough for 3 cars end-to-end while still allowing adjacent cars to enter and exit. It was -17C and no wind when we set off shortly after 10am. Parks had snowmobile-packed all the trails giving us a firm and surprisingly smooth base. Nothing was trackset yet. Partway up Pocaterra the wind picked up, encouraging us to keep moving to stay warm, especially since the sun was yet to make its appearance from behind the mountains. We were rewarded with full sunshine at the Fire Lookout. After a short break and group photo, we skied down and continued onto Tyrwhitt. The creeks in the meadows were mostly filled in, presenting only dips in the snow. We descended to the picnic table for lunch. After, we continued down to the crossing over Boulton Creek. (This section had a couple of big dips we had to carefully cross.) At Boulton Creek we ventured into E Elk Meadows, but turned around after about 20m due to lack of snow. Then back to the Back Door to complete the trip. For most if not all of us, it was our first and last ski trip of the season from the Back Door before the Dec 1 Hwy 40 closure. An excellent outing despite the cold!