Mosquito creek and Hwy 93N observations

Mountain Conditions Report

<p>Took my skis for a walk up Mosquito Creek. Temperature was minus 20 in the morning but felt cooler with down-flowing breeze. Warmed up to minus 4 in the afternoon.</p> <p>Highway 93 north of Lake Louise is definitely in poor condition and police, fire and 3 ambulances were responding to an incident when I was driving south. Plan to slow down and take extra time to get to where you’re going in one piece.</p> <p>Took a look at Observation Peak slopes from the road and it looks totally wind-hammered. I would give the west facing alpine terrain in this area a miss until conditions improve. Other sheltered terrain looked like it was capable of providing good turns for those who chose wisely.</p> <p>As for Mosquito Creek, the wide trail has been pounded in by a snowshoer dragging a sled along with some skier traffic and a bit of boot packing. This made the trail a bit off-kilter in sections. I tried hard to put in an alternate ski track in some places. Plan to take skins if you are heading up on Nordic gear. I found the trail to be tedious. A lot of the north facing slopes above the creek were cross loaded and ravaged by the wind. Great views despite the frigid morning.</p> <p>The snowshoe track had what I thought was a Wolverine stalking it! (I could be wrong…)</p>