Believe it or not, there's still quite a bit of Nordic skiing to be had on the SWNSKI trails. Of course, you have to hike in a little further now...all the way to the "coat tree" at point B on the trail map. Up to that point, the trail is very sun-exposed and really took a beating with these record temperatures.
The lower road looks completely destroyed from the junction at point A, but beyond point R, it's in OK shape and groomed out to point O and even has a nice classic track set. The cutoffs at R to the upper trails and O to the upper trails at TJs are sort of groomed too, so there's skiable access to the lower road, which is actually in good shape where there's snow.
That's the theme around the rest of the trail system. Where the sun hasn't beaten down too badly, it's good spring skiing, although really dirty snow. There are about 3 or 4 very short stretches where it's very narrow, then fine just beyond.
I wasn't able to set a classic track on the rest of the trail system because I had a problem with the grooming machine. The lights failed due to a charge system/battery problem and I ended up grooming in the dark using only the stars and whatever moonlight was available. There may be some weird swerving around in the skate lane down low. Too bad, as it would have been good to get in one last classic track. Maybe this weekend...
It finally cooled off dramatically when the clouds cleared out, so it froze and started setting up. Hopefully, we'll get some new snow to squeeze out a few more days. Otherwise, we may have one more grooming session left if we're lucky.
Go ski and say your farewells this week....
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2 comments:
I skied the trail early this morning. I skied/sidestepped from the club banner sign to the coat tree. From the coat tree on, I skied continuously on the lower loop. The skiing was pretty good with about an inch of new snow on top of a solid base. Of course, I am one of least picky skiers out there.... Great job, grooming and clearing the trail this season, Clay & others. A donation check was sent to you Friday. Mike Engelhardt
Thanks Mike. Always good to see you out skiing. I agree: you must be the "least picky" skier out there!
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