Tramline Fairview Moraine chase my heart's desire

Talk about love!  This weekend aligns perfectly to present lots to talk about.  It kicked off with being pay day, Mother Nature gave us snow in the mountains last night and an A1 forecast for three days straight, Monday is a holiday where we celebrate Family Day and Valentine's Day is sandwiched in the middle.  Pay day, snow, holiday and a sandwich, I love them all!  

All through this work week I watched the forecast closely with hopes of the X-C Skiing conditions working their way up to being dubbed ideal.  Each day it was progressing in that direction and then those in the know said go, so I went.  I had my plan in place and set off to execute it.  

I began by the Bow River near the Railway Station Restaurant in Lake Louise Village.  The climb up the Lower Tramline would be gradual but it was the descent that I was truly looking forward.  I applied glide to my skis last night with hopes of quick swooshie downs.

crossing the bridge at the start

No one, not even the groomer, had been before me since the few centimeters of snow fell last night so it was a little more work than normal for skiing uphill.  At the top of the first rise where the view is amazing to the valley, it was already time to delayer.  The clouds were clearing and the sun was shining.

This was my second time ever on this trail and the kilometers seem to fly by.

Before I knew it I was at the road crossing.  

I clipped out of my X-C Skis then traffic stopped to let me cross.  

After crossing from the Lower Tramline to the Upper Tramline, I carried on with working through the new snow in the track.  The tracks were still quite visible. I crossed over Moraine Lake Road and then continued to climb until I reached the Lake Louise parking lot.  

Instead of returning and heading back down, I aimed for the Fairview Trail and once again no one had been yet today, not even the groomer.  I began the climb aiming for one of my favourite places to glide through.  I had to put my herringbone technique to the test first as the meadow section is up higher.  

the section of Fairview that I love

I snowplowed my way down the blue difficult steep sections of Fairview.  No tracks were visible, no one had been and the snow was on the deeper side.  It was lovely just how I like it.  Then I popped out onto the Moraine Lake Road.  I was not the first here, the groomer had just been and his work created conditions which allowed me that swoosh I was after.  It was fast but not furious.

quintessentially quiet & quick

Back at the bottom of Moraine Lake Road, I veered right back onto the Tramline.  Lots of folks have a passion for mountain activity and today I got to share the trail with fat-tire bikers.  They were biking up as I was skiiing down.  No one had skied down yet today, so instead of breaking through the snow, I moved over to the track I made heading up.......

.......and swoosh, in no time flat, I was back down at the bridge in Lake Louise Village.  

After downloading my track, I saw how close I was to the Paradise turn off after popping out onto Moraine Lake Road.  I read where folks have entered into Paradise on their X-C Skis and this may be something I would like to try.  

I had my plan in place and executed it to a T.

This was what I desired for today, so now my heart is content.