Alberta Rockies Winter Report (Part II)

[Art]

Just returned home from another trip to the Lake Louise/Banff area and thought that it might be a good time to share a few new images. In addition to great skiing, there are plenty of other activities to chase away those winter doldrums. We took advantage of the mild conditions with a hike to the upper falls in Johnston Canyon and then culminated the trip by hooking up with a dog sled tour through the mountain woodlands. Naturally, a trip to the Rockies wouldn’t be the same without a few photo opps of the XC.

Lake Louise Ski Resort

Pretty Stretch of Back Road

Ice Falls - Johnston Canyon
More Photos here.


Near Castle Junction


Dog Sledding
More Photos here.

A Local Nutcracker

Stopover In Front of Castle Mountain

[pico de luuks]

Again amazing pictures Art! Your XC looks great in the snow (maybe some side scuffs ?? )

[XCS]

Thanks for the pictures Art. Beautiful country and great Pics of the car. I think it looks great as-is.

[Raynald]

...Oups? Ok, my mistake... The dogs are not pulling the XC !!!

As pico said, once again, great pictures! It almost makes me love winter!

[Art]

Thanks for the warm comments Guys.

Originally Posted by pico de luuks

Again amazing pictures Art! Your XC looks great in the snow (maybe some side scuff?? )

I really admire the look of those side scuffs on your car Pico. Definitely high on my list of mods, only thing is, where does it all end? Suspension and ECU upgrades, tuned exhaust system…..

Originally Posted by xcs

Thanks for the pictures Art. Beautiful country and great Pics of the car. I think it looks great as-is.

IMO, winter can be one of the best times of the year to visit. That’s when much of the area’s true beauty is revealed. At least the car is cleaner this time than it was during my last visit here a year ago.

Originally Posted by Raynald

...Oups? Ok, my mistake... The dogs are not pulling the XC !! As pico said, once again great pictures! It almost makes me love winter!

Actually, one might be surprised just how much those little dogs can haul. Alaskan Huskies are born and bred to race and these guys and gals were no exception. BTW Raynald, the weather conditions were ideal and also had us renewing our love of Canadian winters.

Another photo (which also happens to be my current wallpaper)...this one of Lake Louise, Mt. Victoria and the Victoria Glacier.

[John@CdnRockies]

Well, I'll be dog gone - Art and Sai have gone ahead and done it again! Faye and I happened to be out at the Banff Springs Hotel on February 3/4/5 so we wound up going to the same territory the weekend prior to their visit. In fact, we managed all of the same stuff (Louise, Johnstone Canyon and route 1A) except for the dog sledding team. But we did get to see a moose meandering on the side highway, so we may have beat 'ya there folks! It sure was darn nice weather those days.

And I have now replaced my wall screen of an Infinity QX4 (shame on me) with that gorgeous picture of "The Lake". Much better I agree. Well done folks!

John & Faye

[Art]

Hey, what d’ya know John…we happened to be out there from the 7-9th although slightly further down the highway at the Post Hotel.

Thought about you and Taylor particularly during our stop over at Louise. Midweek there would have been a fine time to be on the slopes as evident in the first photo.

The dog sledding was kind of spontaneous thing since the outfit’s tours were based just up the hill near the Chateau. It was quite an amazing ride as the dogs made short work of the rough trail.

Seeing that moose was sure to be a big hit for you and Faye. Naturally, a prancing moose would have been the ultimate Volvophile sighting.

[John McNamara]

I have just recently joined the Forum, so I may be posting my question in the wrong place. I was admiring your photos and thinking of the upcoming winter.

My 2000 V70XC performed marvelously in the winter with Gislaved Nordfrost snows, but I traded it (at 234,000 miles) for a 2007 XC70 which has 16 inch wheels rather than 15 inch. I remember that my previous Volvos were sensitive to tires with aggressive edges, so I am very concerned about choosing snow tires. Since you have a 2006 perhaps similar to the 2007 (215/65R16), I thought that you might have a recommendation for suitable snow tires?

Thanks!
-John

[Art]

Welcome to the site John.

Our '06 VOR came equipped with 17' Oreander alloys which are also utilized as dedicated winter wheels. I have a different set of alloys for summer use.

What are Mass winter conditions like? Here in Central Alberta we can generally expect to see snow/ice on the ground and encounter frigid days pretty well throughout the entire season. However, there are still days when dry pavement and above average temps are not unheard of. For those reasons, I opted to run the XC on all-weather Nokian WRs for the past two winters. The WRs provide good all-round handling, ride comfort/quietness, and excellent traction in most circumstances. The link below is a good example of what I'm talking about.

Nokian Pre-Winter Trials Escape

With that said, you certainly can't go wrong with another set of Gislaveds.

It sure doesn't feel like we're approaching the end of November. The area hit +8 Celsius yesterday afternoon as we stopped by to take in 'Big Rock' near the town of Okotoks, AB. It's the 17 ton behemoth that you see in the background and is considered the largest glacial erratic in North America. Hard to believe that this chunk of quartz located in the middle of a field was left behind by a receding glacier whose origin began 400 km away in Jasper National Park.