summer schedule

The summer schedule is almost done. it will be posted here by the end of the month. sign ups will start Feb 1. Some trips and programs have limited space and will fill on a first come first served basis. a deposit is required on some trips and full payment on most classes.

recent snow happenings

The ski free day on the 10th was a big success. 300 people pushed through. On the 17th is the potato cup. come up and pactice a lap on wed night at the free fun race.

the temps are very warm right now and it looks bad in places (the stadium), but the skiing is still quite good out on the trails. it didn't freeze last night, and that is bad but we still have enough snow to push on.

We'll do a full groom tonight and probably call it good until Friday except to refinish the skate on the racescourse occasionally.

grooming 1-3&4

The rain on friday turned to snow by 1:00. about 3 inches accumulated but promptly started blowing all over the place. the temprature drop was quite sudden and the rain that was falling froze quickly and powery snow accumulated on top. This prevented the snow layers from bonding together and has presented a grooming challenge. the top layer tends to slide around on the ice below and make mounds and trenches in random places. the new snow was also not enough to press track into and the ice below was too hard without tilling up the ice, a long tedious and often unsuccessful process. Sometimes when you break through the ice it all goes terribly wrong. exhibit A was at teh lower canyon/fox tail intersection. big crater.
Add to this the fact that I was trying to widen the trails for the potato cup and the friday night grooming was slightly messed up. it was OK but should have been awesome. the easiest grooming is typically 2 inches of fresh on a good base with tempratures in the 15-25 degree range.

Last night I tried to fix some of the ruts on the race course skate lanes by tilling the entire course twice before smoothing it all out and hoping it would re-set by morning. well- it was below zero and the snow would re-set almost immediately so I had to break the course into small sections and till and groom anout 1k at a time. this is less than ideal ebcause any time to stop and start a nice ridge/jump appears. At this point the best thing is to hope for some snow on monday and avoid making things worse tonight. the creekside area is still a bit thin for th PB to set track ad the ginzu can't do it without making about 20 passes to soften things up first. maybe Monday.

grooming 1-2

groomed all the upper areas early morning of 1-2. lost groomer and high basin are in great shape. didaction is passable. Water trough and lagomorph/screamer are good. rained and steeted from 9am-noon and turned to snow after that. we probably lost a little snow overall. the skiing is still good overall but a few more days of 40 degrees will make it a lot less attractive. the track is all older because I don't dare press new track in to really thin snowpack and dig up dirt.

if we get much snow i will focus on the race course and creekside tonight.

Creekside was groomed yesterday. it was also re-routed somewhat around the contrived parts or dirty spots. it is the best skiing right now. the race course is set with double classic tracks. the sakte in the middle is a little chunky but passable. the upper west areas are in less than ideal shape. should get groomed after we get a skiff of fresh snow to mix in. the skiing is still good and the road is super dry. the a-frame will be staffed every day this week and weekend. please check in your season pass so we can get a good head count. thanks.

An estimated 6 inches fell last night and today.
The pisten bully is up and running. I will go up and pack and groom tonight. the are should then be ready to ski everywhere and touch up will be possible by the club machine, once it is working again.

summary: go ski wednesday morning

Let It Snow

The nordic center got hammered last noght and today. the pisten bully has a flat tire which requires quite a bit to fix. it should be up wed night. Ho Ho Ho.

The snowmobiles were out all day today packing and rolling trails. the race course is in decent shape and had classic track at 5pm. the wind will wipe awa most of the day's work but that only adds to the trail depth and snow quality. anytime it is blowing we try to have a guy out riding to 'catch' more snow in the tracks. it was very effective last year.

most of the trail were ridden about 6 times, which is what it took today to get them ready for the roller. then it takes 2 passes with the roller and 2 or more passes with the ginzu. It is quite a preocess.

Jerry D put in a full volunteer day today and we altenated getting each other unstuck for hours and hours. it was fun.

No pictures today but here's a good gauge. Snow was coming up over the snowmobile winshield so heavily that if you poked your head up to see through it your face was pummeled and mouth was packed full.

Average depth is now about lower thigh. it is kee deep or more virtually everywhere and some drifts are reaching epic proportions.

Do: racecourse, upper canyon.

don't: didaction, mule deer and creekside connector

Maybe: everything else