Season Wrap up

Hi all,
Well, by all accounts it's been a great season! And although things are still
quite skiable, all good things must come to an end.
This past Saturday evening, we had a wonderful "Walpurgisnacht" celebration with
lots of food and libations, and an awesome fire. The skiing was fantastic, the
air was cold, the moon was bright, the food was delicious and the fire was warm.
See some of the photos I've attached to this message -- we'll put more up on the
website album when we get them sorted out.
Anyway, with this round of spring temperatures, we have decided to end the
organized grooming for the season. It just gets too weird with these long days
that get warm. The crust out in the meadows will stay skate-skiable in the
morning for some time to come, but the regular groomed trails will begin (or
have begun) rotting out.
With that, I am begging and pleading with all of you to help us get some of the
end-o-season chores done. My first question to all of you is when is the best
time to have a general club clean-up day(s)? I am thinking toward the end of
April (17th-18th, 24th-25th?), or even early May, as we need to wait until the
ground thaws more to pull out the fence posts.
Some of us groomers will be making some trips out to the meadow to gather up all
of the wands and bamboo marker poles to stash in the off-season, so that task
will be done before then.
Please take a look at your calendars and try to make it out to one of the work
sessions. It's not so bad with a few hands helping, and it's what makes our
volunteer organization work.
Thanks in advance,
Clay Moseley
club prez

Weekend Grooming Report

Ken got out early this AM and regroomed the trail system:

"All trails groomed for classic and skate. Klister hard wax combo. Best skiing ever for march 27!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry"

Don't forget, tonight is the moonlight tour and potluck.... check the website for details.

Thanks for the tracks, Ken!

Great winter ski conditions with some awesome classic tracks -- compliments of Ken Kisiel. It was great, and the temps stayed below freezing all day. Super cool.

Tomorrow will get wet and warm, but there's more snow on the way. Get out the BBQ brush, put some big rills and wax up the base of your skis. It ain't over yet.

Grooming Report

All trails were groomed perfectly this AM by Ken, conditions are just amazing for both classic and freestyle.

Remember, our club moonrise ski event next Saturday PM... check the club website for details: http://swnordicski.org/

Great March skiing!

Well, we started with beautifully groomed trails on Dec 11th and we are still having a blast skiing on fresh snow on March 17th. Not too bad! :))

Here are a few shots of the trail in Canada Bonita Meadow on March 17th:

Great tracks in the trees, especially above J:

And here is our club shed with loads of snow on it! :)

Clay and Denny's Grooming Report

Lots of new snow up there over the weekend. We didn't get around to getting it groomed until Tuesday night.

Things looked amazing when we were done, except for a couple of bad holes where we buried the machines =P

Classic track set on most trails, and skate lanes groomed out nice and wide. It'll be fast in the mornings; soft and variable in the mid-day to late afternoon hours. There's now about 12 hrs of daylight, so enjoy it while we got it.

We'll be having the end of season celebration "Moonlight" ski on March 27.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 27th, Saturday, Full moon ski and bonfire

March 27th, Saturday, Full moon ski and bonfire

March 27th, Saturday, Full moon ski and bonfire or WALPURGISNACHT!!

Come join us for SWNORDIC End of Year Celebration!

WHEN: Sat, March 27th; ~4:30pm: Pace-dependent ski or snow shoe to Canada Bonita for 5:00pm Moon Rise. Bonfire lit at 6:30

WHERE: Meet at trail head for ski or snow shoe, then bonfire in front grooming shed

WHAT: Enjoy a ski or snowshoe on the trails out to catch the moonrise over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, then relax and celebrate a great winter season around the fire. Club will provide hot water, cocoa, stove and bonfire. Bring food and adult beverages for yourself and to share.

2010 Pajarito pinhead challenge race report

The race, for those who do not know, is the best race ever, and perhaps one of the races I am most poorly suited for. It begins with a mass start from the ski lodge up one of the jeep road. After a bit of climbing the race diverges and one of two paths you may take. If you are on backcountry/at/tele gear you may skin straight up dogpatch to the summit. If you are on nordic gear you keep on going up the steep but not too steep jeep road. The course comes together at the top of dogpatch, hits the steep trail over the top of the mountain and then across the top, down the fairly steep I-don't-care run and then back down the jeep run to where you start. Total elevation something like 1200 feet climbing followed by the same descent. The first year, the skaters took one-two. Last year the skinners took one-two. This year, well, read the rest of the 2010 Pinhead Challenge report over on Moscaline

Pre race assemblage. Note Zack is facing wrong way and Mike starts with skis in backpack

Sunday Update

Skiied classic today from 10:30 till 12:30, just the right amount of new snow (2-3") to cover up the ice left from saturday's sun, and snowing steadily the entire time I skiied. Skiing in Denny's tracks from Friday (thanks Denny) was very nice; Ranger Lynn was out skating, and said the amount of snow in the skate lanes was just about right for good skating.

Should be good for an evening daylite savings time ski, or perhaps first thing tomorrow, tho it may snow enough overnight for tomorrow to be more like an ungroomed ski tour!

weekend Grooming

Since the last post, Gene groomed last night and Denny groomed for classic this morning so the entire trail system is ready for the weekend.

Clay skiied it at noon and made this observation:

"skating was great at noon -- especially out in the meadows. The sun is strong, but the temperature was nice and cool.

We are now in the time where a good amount of structure (rilling the ski base) is necessary to avoid the suction from the moisture, especially in the new snow. After it fully transforms, the granules are much bigger and the suction and stickiness isn't as big of an issue.

Skiing in the morning is best, but you can use waxless or klister (after the snow transforms) in the warmer hours if you have a lot of structure.

Thursday grooming update

Here's Dave's grooming report from last night:

"I did two laps with the Eric the Red pulling the 6 foot tidd, I went up the lower road, up the outer meadow and down the main trails (2x) I did not set classic tracks"

John and Ken's Grooming Update

Ken and I groomed the entire trail system (bladed the skate lanes with snowmos pulling Tidds with teeth) and a few cut-offs last night. Should be good skating everywhere for today. Ken set new classic track in the upper trails where it needed it, and out on the lower road and meadow. Repaired a few holes, except the monster at M. John B

Friday Night update

Skiied this AM from 10-12. Classic. Very nice, Swix VF55 over a thin coat of blue klister worked very well. Skating was good by 11:30 but was a bit bumpy/icy before.

Hadn't been much trail use in the woods mid week, skating or classic, so the grooming was still pretty nice from Tuesday's evening session. I didn't ski the meadow at all as it was very windy, so expect it's all blown in there......

However, Ken and John B are planning on a regrooming tonight, so it should be excellent tomorrow AM, no ice or glaze....

Storm moves in Sunday PM....

This week's report

Sorry to be late with this... Dave, Gene and Tom regroomed the system for Skating and Classic Style skiing Tuesday night after extracting the new Viking from the hole Dave had hidden it in the night before, so conditions were primo on Wednesday AM. Today they probably showed some solar deterioration, but Ken is scheduled to get up there tonight and fluff it up a bit. Cooler forecast for tomorrow, then another warm day for Saturday, and a storm coming Sunday.