by Keith and Heather Nicol
Keith "1 skating" one of the flat sections |
“Lake Trail” and “Far
East” rank among the skier’s choice when it comes to favourite cross country
ski trails at Mount Washington Ski Resort located near Courtenay, B.C. We wrote
about Far East in a previous post (http://keithnicol.blogspot.ca/2018/03/cross-country-skiers-love-mount.html)
and we recently skied Lake Trail with Bruce Moffat and had a perfect day for
it. The plan was to meet at 1:00pm so we got in some turns on the mountain in
the morning. It was another sunny spring day and several people said as we
arrived that they were quitting for the day since they thought the cross country
trails had gotten too soft. But we knew that Lake Trail is well shaded and much
of it faces north and out of the sun so we hoped that our late start wouldn’t
penalize us.
Bruce skiing along Lake Helen Mackenzie |
Turns out we were
right and the conditions were very good. We took skating skis and they glided
very well over the hard packed trail. If you have not done Lake Trail – be warned
it is like a roller coaster - with lots
of climbing and fast descents. This trail will challenge all your skating
prowess. It is rated as a black diamond
and the trail map indicates that it is 9 km long. But when you add in the
trails that you need to get to it and return the actual distance is about 13
km. As the name suggests the trail passes by some large lakes including
Battleship Lake and Lake Helen Mackenzie. These portions of the trail are
magical and very photogenic so be sure to bring along a camera.
The wide trail makes for a fine ski experience |
Another favourite
portion of the trail for many people is the last portion which traverses some
cutovers and so the views are expansive. You can see out to Georgia Strait and
across to the mountains of the B.C. mainland. Unlike many trails at Mount
Washington which can skied both ways this trail is marked to ski in a counterclockwise direction only. Depending
on how many pictures you take and breaks to take in the view you should allow
1.5 – 2 hours. You only have a couple more weeks to ski this trail so if it has
been on your “to do” list you need act
quickly. For more information on Mount Washington see: https://www.mountwashington.ca/
Come with a solid snowplow for the many descents |
Hi Keith!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Carlos and Im working on my skiing technique and I gotta say Im really grateful for your youtube-clips, it has helped me a lot! Im aiming for the vasalopp up in the north of Sweden and really need the help. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the note...good luck in the loppet.
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