Real Ski Report: Great conditions, but beware of the backcountry

Last weekend's snowstorm transformed mountain resorts into winter wonderlands for skiers, creating some of the best conditions of the season. And there is no shortage of that white stuff as we head into the weekend.

Paul Karchut says avalanche warning means backcountry users might want to consider XC or resorts instead

The Calgary Eyeopener · CBC News · Posted: Feb 10, 2017 2:47 PM EST | Last Updated: February 10, 2017

It's been a good week for skiers but backcountry users beware:a special avalanche warning has been issued for large portions of the backcountry. (Paul Karchut/CBC)

Each week, CBC Calgary's Paul Karchut speaks with dozens of dedicated skiers and boarders across eastern B.C. and southern Alberta to get the real scoop on conditions at resorts, on cross-country trails, and in the backcountry.

Last weekend's snowstorm transformed mountain resorts into winter wonderlands for skiers, creating some of the best conditions of the season.

And there is no shortage of the white stuff as we head into the weekend.

Around 50 centimetres fell at Sunshine Village and the snow safety crew is working on opening the Wild West — an area skiers haven't been able to use all season.
Lake Louise and Kicking Horse both god a big hit of snow Thursday with the resorts seeing 15 and 25 centimetres.
Panaorama, a hill that often misses out on the big snow storms, saw 25 centimetres of snow in the past 24 hours.
Fernie got one metre of snow since last Friday, and ski conditions have been cold, but phenomenal.

Kimberley, another hill that also doesn't normally get hit with big blizzards, got 114 centimetres and has created the best conditions James Grey has seen in 13 years.

Have you hit the slopes recently? Send your powder pics to calgaryphotos@cbc.ca.

They're running out of places to put all the snow.- James Grey,

"It's been wonderful, school was closed both Monday and Tuesday and all the locals were up on the hill," he said.

"The path was just loaded with snow, huge piles everywhere and I think they're running out of places to put all the snow. But these are good problems."

But Castle Mountain takes the snow crown this week after getting 143 centimetres since last Friday. Skiers were hitting the hills wearing snorkels and crews were working overtime to try to get the parking lot cleared. People were parking up to three kilometres away and staff wound up turning cars away.

Weather warming up

It's not all great news for Castle, however, as the lower mountain didn't get below freezing overnight and the hill has seen a bit of rain over the last 24 hours. The weekend, the forecast calls for temperatures as high as 6 C on Sunday.

So if you want to keep it cold, it's supposed to stay below freezing at Sunshine, Lake Louise, Norquay and Panorama.

Revelstoke, Fernie, Kicking Horse and Kimberley will hovering right around that freezing bubble.

Not much precipitation is expected. This weekend looks like it's going to be mainly sunny with cloudy periods, with only trace bits of snow.

Avalanche warning

An avalanche warning is in effect for a large portion of the backcountry from Friday until Monday.

The warning applies to:

Kananasksi Country.
Waterton Lakes National Park.
South Rockies, which includes the Castle area.
Lizard Range and the flathead region around Fernie.
Southern Purcells around Kimberley and Cranbrook, B.C.
Kootenay Boundary from Nelson down to the U.S. border.

While this weekend may be promising blue skies and fresh powder, the avalanche warning means it's likely not the best weekend to hit those affected regions.

"Anything that we're suspecting is going to occur in the upper snowpack is going to probably trigger down deep and wake up that weak-faceted base and trigger a large avalanche that's probably going to reach down into the valley floors," said Mike Koppang with Kananaskis Public Safety.

Skiers who decide to go out are advised to be really conservative with their terrain choices.

Check out avalanche.ca for more in-depth details.

Great cross-country options

The Pocaterra snowplot in Kananaskis Country got 55 centimetres of fresh snow this week and trail grooming staff is playing catch-up.

Mount Shark was partially groomed Thursday night, and the trails around the Pocaterra hut are on the schedule for Friday night.

In West Bragg Creek, every trail in the whole network, with the exception of the Telephone Loop, has been groomed and trackset.

The Nordic Centre is also promising some great skiing everywhere from the Morraine Lake Road to the Lakeshore Trail.

Mountain events

It's going to be a big weekend for cross-country skiing, which could make for some busy trails.

West Bragg Creek is hosting the Alberta Youth Championships, while the Ski for Light event for sight-impaired skiers has been going on all week in the north end of Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. It wraps up on Saturday.

It's also Family Day weekend in B.C., so certain areas to the west could also be a bit busier than normal.