Maxwell Loop XC Ski, February 17
Published on 2/18/2019
We had a great ski around the Maxwell Loop out of Maxwell Sno-Park with a stop at South Maxwell Shelter for a lunch break. Snow was plentiful, powdery and fast. Partly sunny skies by late morning were a bonus and really made the snow-laden trees shine. We skied the loop clockwise with a hard 620-foot climb in the first 1.7 miles up the Maxwell Butte summer trail. We then turned south for the first of several long, downhill runs. The last mile to the sno-park is a narrow trail with many turns and whoop-de-do’s for a challenging, fun finale.
The Maxwell Loop is the only trail on the south side of the sno-park and gets much less use than the north side. We saw just a handful of people all day, until we returned to the packed parking lot. Skiers were Sylvia de Lacy, Bill Caldwell, Craig Wojcik, and leader Roz Shirack.