S ince moving to Calgary in 2000, our favorite winter activity has been to go Nordic skiing in the Canadian Rockies. There are so many fantastic facilities to choose from. In 1988, Calgary hosted the XV Winter Olympic Games. As part of the legacy of those games was the world class facilities where the sporting events were held. One such facility is the Canmore Nordic Center (CNC) located in Canmore, Alberta. The Canmore Nordic Center was built specifically for the XV Winter Olympic Games. One will find many Olympic level ski trails which are of a most challenging nature.However, the trail designers also took a long term view to trail usage by including many beginner and intermediate trails. There is also the Olympic Biathalon Shooting Range, which was utilized as part of the 1988 Winter Olympics.
T he easiest trail, suitable for beginners, is the Banff Trail. Banff Trail are the only two-way trails at the CNC. The main trail goes through gently rolling terrain for six kilometres right up to the Banff National Park boundary. It continues on past the boundary, to the Banff townsite, but it is only skier set track after that. That part of the trail is not considered part of the CNC's trail system.
Being that the CNC was designed primarily for competitive Nordic sports, most of the trails in the area are more challenging. Skating technique is the most dominant style on these trails. There are many different lengths of competition trails, 1.25 km, 2.5 km, two 5 km's, two 10 km's, two 15 km's and a 50 km, all in a loop configuration beginning and ending at the stadium area by the lodge or the biathlon firing range. Some of the hills are quite steep, and skiers have been clocked at speeds greater than 60 kmph. To add some more challenge to skiing here all of the trails are well over 1000m above sea level.
Another popular ski area is W est Bragg Creek. This ski area owes its popularity due to its
Calgary, which means that it is not uncommon to catch an occasional rock due to thinning snow conditions.
C ontrary to the perceptions of many foreigners, most of Canada is not covered by two meters of snow during for ten months of the year. During the 1988 Winter Olympic Games that there was a distinct lack of snow in the city. There is a local weather pattern called a Chinook that often causes a scarcity of snow on the Alberta prairies. A Chinook is simply warm dry air that is blown over the mountains. It brings clement temperatures and blue skies, but also tends to suck up any moisture on the surface, even if it is in the form of snow. Thanks to the Chinooks we have great (if somewhat windy) weather, but normally very little snow at lower elevations (if you can consider Calgary's 1000m to be low!). The long and short of it is that for the last four years there have only been about five good weekend skiing days over the winter season, but on the up side there have been that many this December, so things may be looking up.
M ount Shark (MS) is located off of the Smith-Dorien Highway, which connects Canmore and Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, on the same road that leads to Mount Engadine Lodge. Mount Shark was originally suggested as the site for the 1988 Olympic Nordic site, because of the consistently excellent snow conditions, but was rejected because the cost of upgrading the road to the site. The layout of the trail system is quite similar to the Canmore Nordic Center, with one two-way beginners trail, and several one-way trails designed for competition. MS also has a biathalon range and is a popular training site for amateur ski clubs for that reason. The biggest drawback to skiing at MS is that it is quite far to drive relative to the other ski areas, and for a good distance the road is gravel which gets nastywhen the spring thaw hits.
P eter Lougheed Provincial Park (PLPP) is the best area all around with excellent snow conditions and the longest trail system. The south end of the park is at a higher elevation
(over 2, 000m) which gives it a much deeper snow pack than the north end. The south side has hilly terrain, and some conditions that are fairly extreme for Nordic skiing. The trails are in general well groomed.
PLPP has many trails for all skill levels, with the easier ones being in the North end of the park, which is somewhat flatter. It is quite easy to ski every weekend in a season and never ski the same series of trails. It is also not uncommon to see wildlife along the trails like deer, elk, moose, mountain sheep, mountain goats and a pack of wolves. P LPP is by far the largest cross-country Ski Area in Southern Alberta, and it is also the most popular. The views from the top of Lookout and Blueberry Hill are fabulous and there are many other areas throughout the park that offer beautiful views as well.