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Christmas at Skoki

Jake

2011-12-28 23:51:46

Christmas at Skoki

In 1930 Cliff Whyte and Cyril Paris found a little place with good skiing and no people. By 1931 Skoki Lodge was open for business. Eight decades later not much has changed. The fireplace is still crackling in the lodge, the skiing is still good, and perhaps the best part, there are still no people.

We made the eleven kilometre ski into Skoki on Christmas Eve. December is early season for the Lodge and skiing past windswept scree slopes quickly convinced us that we would not be experiencing powder conditions.

Arriving early allowed for overloading on the afternoon spread of cheeses, breads, and tea. Overeating was followed by relaxation so we could be ready for dinner.

For Christmas Day Santa Delivered some snow. With only a handful of AT or Tele skiers in the area, our 11:00 a.m. start was plenty early enough to garauntee us fresh tracks.

Some people might suggest that Skoki is only good for crosscountry skiing or snowshoeing… They're wrong.

Heading back home Boxing Day our only regret is that every day can't be Christmas.
Jake

2011-12-29 00:04:05

Perhaps a bit outdated now, but for what it is worth to others skiing in the region...

At 2200m on a treed east aspect we found 110cm settled snowpack. A few columns on the slope gave hard results down about 60cm. There's about 30cm of facets on the ground that kept us causious. Looking around on Merlin and Jericho there was evidence of a few small slides to ground on the wind hammered scree fans.
skifreak

2011-12-29 16:22:48

I may be asking a dumb question, but where is this (if you can say?) - Great post BTW, thanks!
Jake

2011-12-29 17:24:39

skifreak said:I may be asking a dumb question, but where is this (if you can say?) – Great post BTW, thanks!

No secret here… it is near Lake Louise ski area

http://www.skoki.com

This might be of interest to some. They have a healthy stock of wine, beer, and pop at the lodge, so there is no need to drag a tobaggan full of liquids 11km.

The ~20cm of storm snow that fell over the past 24hrs does not appear to be bonding very well to the old surface.

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Christmas at Skoki