Winter Wonderland in PLPP

It had been a long week with 15-hour work days, so I was itching to get out.  And, as luck always has it, the night before I need to get up early, I wake up at 3am and can't fall back asleep.  The worst conditions I found were actually in the driveway: an inch of pure ice, and my car had already slipped a couple of feet without me even driving.  Needless to say, I was a little worried as to how I might get out - ice, a slope, and a curve.  But, it all worked out.

A couple of us met to ski Tyrwhitt, which is supposedly the nicest XC trail in PLPP.  We did a clockwise loop including Whiskey Jack, Tyrwhitt, Elk Pass, Fox Creek, and Boulton.  Last week's conditions didn't look so hot due to the warm weather and lack of new snow.  There was apparently ice and pine needles. By Thursday a couple of trails were groomed again, and we followed our instincts and believed in a little fresh snow and good tracks.  Indeed, this would be our day and reports later called these the best conditions of this season.  We were very happy to have had a head start.

We were the first skiers to arrive, and we found the totally fresh tracks that hadn't even made their way onto the trail reports.  There wasn't any sign of a single person's pole pokings, the snow was awesome, and a -12ºC start made for a great wax day.  It was, in a word, stunning!  The tracks were fast, and the black uphills not bad at all.  Tyrwhitt was a winter wonderland.  The sun was out, some clouds were still low, trees had fresh snow, and we were finally there.  Elk Pass was cold due to its exposure, and we decided to check out the trail to Elk Lakes Cabin for a tiny bit. 

The day also offered a great selection of skiing.  We did 9km on the new tracks, some off-trail (and I was surprised to only sink to my ankles on classic skis), and then got into some powder for the black downhill from Elk Pass, followed by some skier-set tracks.  And yes, a couple of us are now convinced that we'll be getting a second set of skis; the question is just whether it'll be this winter or next.  For next week we're already planning another combo ski trip with 8km on non-groomed and 15km on groomed trails.  Then next month we'd like to ski into Lake O'Hara.  I can't even imagine what that'll be like in winter, and will have to think about whether to rent different skis for that or now... and look into avy conditions.  Lots to look forward to.

Here are some photos from yesterday: