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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 5 months, 1 week ago
So, me and the G-man started today at 9:30 Apr 12 at the stables parking lot. Skied east Bluestem to the lookout, Chick loop,and Esk back to the parking lot. The ski track was very melted and shrunken, with the base of the track collapsing under my skis from time to time. I had decent luck keeping one ski in a track and placing the other…[Read more]
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 6 months, 1 week ago
So, I arrived at the stables parking lot around noon Mar13, and skied Asp around the loop, Chick to the lookout, Esk hill, Chick loop , and via Esk, the Kiln loop back to the lot.
The Esk and Kiln have Not been freshly groomed: these trails (groomed Mar10) have had the 1-2 inches of Mar 11 snow skied in and are in magnificent shape with, in my…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 6 months, 3 weeks ago
So, me and my “woodies” hit the park around noon Feb 28 at the stables parking lot. Did Asp l around its west loop, Chick to tower, Chick loop and Esk back to the stables. Blustm and Chick are only tracked trails. I hope this does not mean that the Bully is broke again. Anyway the tracked trails are in good shape, and the skier packed trails(…[Read more]
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 8 months ago
So, me and my friend G hit the trails at noon, Jan 25 in the heat of the day. Skied outgoing Esker to Chick,crossed over to Bluestem, did the Aspen loop west of Chick and then Esk back to the stables. The new snow had been skied in, the tracks well defined, and the glide was magnificent. No wind,and sunshine. Great ski on green wax.
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 9 months, 1 week ago
So, I arrived at the stables lot at noon Dec 18, and tried the recently groomed trails. It was a good news bad news situation. The good: it was great to ski Aspen in its entirety, there is lots of snow for the Bully to manipulate, the sun was peeking through a slight haze, and the forest looked like a Christmas card with the snow sitting on…[Read more]
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 9 months, 2 weeks ago
KM: It appeared to me that Aspen back from the Chickadee has been skier tracked. The Lime Kiln is still only skier tracked although BK reported that it was “doable” and the track at the junction of Esker showed a skier track that seemed better defined. Hope this helps.
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 9 months, 2 weeks ago
So, I arrived at the stables lot at noon Dec 11. Skied Esker to the tower, down the Esker hill to Chickadee and crossed over to the Bluestem and around back to the stables. Weather was perfect @ -1, whisper of a breeze, and most importantly, virtually perfect track conditions; the glide went on fooreveeer. Good kick on my ” Uncle John’s” with blue…[Read more]
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 10 months, 1 week ago
Chickadee had been walked on but the path was a perfect width for skiing and had the advantage of being well packed so I could get some decent glide. I met a skier who had done Bluestem backwards from the Chickadee parking lot and they reported a decent skier tracked trail. There was app. 6-8″ of snow with some grass visible. An ok ski.
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 10 months, 1 week ago
So, on Nov 13 I took my “talking skis” to check out the conditions. I did the Esker, which was horse-ridden and sleigh ride marred to the junction of Esker and Kiln; thereafter it was skier tracked to the lookout and down the Esker hill to the junction of Chickadee.
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 4 months ago
So, I ventured out to the park April 29,about 10:30 am to determine if the postings of dlivingston were accurate. I started at the Chickadee trail head, and went east to the crossroads. The track was doable with minimal hiker tracks. At the crossroads I noted that the trail back to the stables parking lot looked as good as what I had just skied…[Read more]
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 4 months ago
So, I was delighted to read dl’s report: I would have put money on that skiing was. over for this season. I may have to pull my gear out to set an all time new record for length of the ski season.
Speaking of gear, as I operate on the trailing edge of technology using 3 pin stuff, does anybody have a pair of boots in decent shape size 45 or 46…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 5 months ago
So, my ears were burning with the thanks on breaking trail; it was not just me but new friends Stef and Will who did the Aspen with me. The skiers who did the Bluestem also deserve thanks, although I did not remember their names.
Hit the trails today Apr18 at 11:30 ish from the Chickadee trail head. East on Aspen to the “crossroads” where I met…[Read more]-
Imagine how great the skiing would be at BHP if someone running the winter program there actually cared. Instead of a rigid bureacracy that cant seem to figure out anything except thier nice pensions . Even a few groomed trails would make a hell of a difference. Or a single run down the GUR with the groomer or even a snowmobile to give skiers…[Read more]
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I talked with a fellow skier on the trail a couple a days ago and he said there are serious issues with the pistenbully,one of them is engine related.Here is the kicker, it may not be repaired in time for the start of next season.I wonder if there is a backup plan because there sure wasn’t one for this season.
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A backup plan / a backup groomer for the BHP trails would be the greatest idea!
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@Bert Graff Have you reached out to Kathleen Brown with constructive criticisms and suggestions?
If so, what has been the response? If not, please do so.
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Agree with Tony, Birds Hill is our best location considering number of trails and city skier access, they need to have two groomer/tracking systems in place, so if one goes down, the other one gets put to use. The 2020/21 ski season was more enjoyable with a fraction of the snow compared to this year which is shame. I got out a lot this season,…[Read more]
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I’ve been reading a lot of the comments over the season and there at times seems to be a lack of appreciation what Parks staff has to contend with. I know the ski season is generally short and we need to make the most of the time we have to ski, but Parks are very understaffed and underfunded. If you need verification, the provincial budget just c…[Read more]
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 5 months ago
So, I set off to the park for the 11:00 trail breaking/packing happening. Hwy 59 to the park was icy but passable. I took the turn in to to West gate and marvelled to myself: wow, this road is cleared better than the main drags in Wpg., until immediately after the park gate booths. Thereafter, there had been no snow clearing with a single path…[Read more]
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Great idea d baniak, thanks! We arrived a bit late. Saw that to left (Bluestem W) and to the right (Aspen/Bluestem) were being skied, so we went straight and did Chickadee to the tower, and a loop on Esker. On Esker where the in and out trails pinch right together (where we looped backed) the in trail of Esker had been driven on by something, but…[Read more]
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I was thinking to myself as I was heading back to town , I wonder if people were able to make it through from the West Entrance. Sure enough they did. Ha ha. Glad that they did as now there are skiable trails to continue the ski season. Perhaps the roads will improve with traffic as the ski trails will.
I will be leaving this area and will…[Read more]
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 5 months ago
So, I am rejoicing in the snow dump, but not looking forward to breaking trail.
There are many enthusiasts out there enjoying Bird’s Hill trails, so I am proposing a trail breaking blitz Friday April15 at 11:00 am starting at the Chickadee trail head.
I envision groups of 2/3 skiers taking on a specified part of the Bluestem Aspen and bits of the…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 5 months ago
So, I arrived at 11:30 Apr.8 and skied Aspen loop backwards , up Chickadee backwards to Bluestem west loop and back to the Chickadee parking lot. Firm track with decent glide.
I still had some energy,so I decided to go east on the Aspen to the “crossroads” to see if anybody had skied the east Bluestem , which from my observations and GW’s…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 5 months ago
So, I arrived at the Chickadee lot around 1pm Apr.7, hoping that earlier skiers had packed the Bluestem west of the Chickadee: I was not disappointed. I did the trail backwards and met the first and second skiers on the trail.
About 2-3 inches of snow had accumulated, and 1 track on the west Bluestem is now doable. At the lookout I packed the…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 6 months ago
So, curious to see what the cold snap had done to the trails, I arrived at the park around noon Mar26, to the Chickadee parking lot which was dirt on the west side and packed frozen snow mounds on the other, but easily accessible by my sedan.
The Aspen trail to the stables parking lot was skier packed dual track,and back west to the Bluestem.…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 6 months ago
So, curious to investigate what Monday’s rain and high temps might have done to the conditions, I, ER,and AD hit the trails at noon. Debriefing skiers coming off the Aspen and Bluestem reported icy conditions at first with rapid softening,
On our ski on Esker and the Chickadee northern loop revealed soft tracks with a phenomenon never experienced…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 6 months ago
So I hit the trails March 12 at noon. An attempt at grooming the right track on Aspen using a single track apparatus was mostly successful, however it obliterated the left track : a mixed result as the skier packed tracks were superior elsewhere in the park i.e. Chickadee, Esker, and from other skier’s reports Bluestem.
There were some blown in…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 1 year, 7 months ago
So, I had moderate case of cabin fever, coupled with the frustration of looking out my living room window at the best snow in about 15-20 years,and seeing temperature readings in the frozen appendages range. Today Feb 23 promised a relatively “mild” high of -22C,so I ventured out to the park at 1pm in the heat of the day.
Trails in perfect…[Read more] - Load More