Hidden L, Little Richardson NE slope Off-Trail skiing on 7-Jan-2026

We had a good trip to Richardson Ridge (NE)

The Fish creek road had not been recently plowed and their was some initial conversation about poor auto designs with regards to the (in)ability to turn off traction control on the fly.

The ski out on the other hand was freshly groomed, and quite pretty with the fresh snow hanging on the trees. We met the skoki skidoo both on the way in and out as the separate skidoo trail is not being used yet, possible to get some more packing on the skiier trail.

We had a good view of the new lift on the resort side of richardson ridge, lots of terrain between it and where we were heading, but it will be interesting to see if the terrain along the ridge gets more attention in the future.

We gave the halfway hut a miss, instead setting an optimal track for the ski out by traversing early. There were some old tracks detectable, but any holiday traffic was well covered. As we climbed the wind became more noticable and we had a brief lunch stop at the base of the ski slopes before setting an uptrack through the glades then traversing to the more open slopes for a couple runs.

Our third and final run was back closer to our uptrack with some pairs finding tighter trees.

Higher up on the ridge things looked moderatly wind effected, but the sheltered part of the ridge that we skied was very good snow conditions, soft on top and supportive at the boot deep level.

The sun tried to burst through the clouds and we did get some brief bursts of better light and views.

Thanks to all who made it out, we had a great group.

Participants: Gordon, Jenny, Rainer, Greg, Jean, Rick

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