Trails Update: July 2, 2021
Hot out there.
Sorry to state the obvious, but in case none of your friends shared pics of thermometers, weather apps or eggs frying on pavement, this week was a literal sauna.
We needed some coping strategies:
Water. Obviously. Freezing the water for a cooling drink later in the day was helpful.
Altitude. There’s no better week to justify commuting up to 1500 metres!
Perhaps we should have started our days a tad earlier given it was already 26c at 7am. Because things escalated quickly… not our commute, the temperature.
Snow. Proximity to snow helped a little, however, periodically making snow angels helped more. Filling our hats with it was the closest thing to AC, until brain freeze set in.
I used a patch near my worksite as a cooler for my lunch and water bottles… and eventually my tools: It got so hot that tool handles left in the sun would cinge!
Shade. Try as we may, staying in the shade all day was not possible. The afternoon sun was punching through the canopy and any effort in full sun was painful. The air was hot, tools got hot even the rocks were too hot to handle, so we threw in the towel.
Lakes and streams. Unfortunately, you can still skate on camp lake (1700m) so no alpine lake dips were had. However, the creeks were blasting refreshment. We stopped for a “dip” at every creek on our commute down!
We completed upgrades to climb sections, improved transitions and smashed some bedrock on Lord of the Squirrels and LESS just in time to open the “short loop” (July 1st).
In other opening news: Micro Climate and Dark Crystal are also open for the season! The builders (and resident bears) appreciate your patience.
Conditions in the valley were unbearable, therefore, Tuesday dig night got cancelled for everyone’s safety. We’re back at flashback this week and the forecast is calling for refreshments by Forecast Coffee. Sign up here!
See you on the trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
