Pajarito Trails Groomed 2/29

Special leap day grooming for you.
Groomed for skate and classic from point D to point Q. The burn area is melted out bad. Usual late season rock and bare area warnings apply.

Skiing on Sandia crest

I spoke with Steve Gallegos of Sandia Peak earlier this week. He said he would groom the road either Wednesday or Thursday night.

Trails Groomed for Classic/Skate

The pajarito trails were groomed for classic and skate last night. On top of grooming after Sunday's storm, conditions should be excellent. Be really careful on the front hill, the first bit of the upper and lower roads. Thin and bare spots abound. Upper woods and meadow should be excellent. Winds abound. Drifting can occur. Watch for downfall, especially in the burn region. Help clear larger downfall off the trail if you can. Grooming elves are short staffed, but are knocking themselves out to keep the trails in good conditions. Never thought we would be skiing into march post Cerro Grande. Get them a beer or burrito or a beerito. Or something.

Skiing on Sandia crest

Fredrik set classic tracks on the service road which was already groomed by the alpine area for skating (very wide) and on the UNM loop and the lower part of switchback. I wished more people could witness how much work he does to do this grooming; I am always impressed by how much time he spends. The UNM trail need to be widened in spots for skating and classic to happen and much leveling of the trail would be very helpful, but we need more volunteer help to make this happen.

Skiing on Sandia crest

Steve Gallegos of Sandia Peak said they will groom the road tonite. Also Fredrik will go up yet again tomorrow to groom. Classic skiing was not too bad today with a skied in track. And fortunately the snowboarders we encountered were polite enough not to walk on the single track on the road (for the most part). We asked them not to and they complied! Wished all of them were like that.
That's why we need signs to inform the user public.

Skiing on Sandia crest

The area around Ellis got about 10" of snow the night before last. The UNM coach, Fredrik Landstedt, had groomed on Tuesday so Tuesday night's snowfall obliterated that effort. Fredrik attempted to groom again on Wednesday Afternoon but could not park! This has happened 3 times this year so it must be very frustrating to Fredrik. Fredrik has made some big efforts this year to groom this area when the team is in town so please be aware of that. We will cntinue to pursue Sandia Peak Ski and Tramway and the USFS to be able to keep grooming equipment up there so regular grooming can be done. Please call or email both Ryan Reineke at rreineke@fs.fed.us and Kerry Wood at kwood@fs.fed.us if you support this. Also please be aware that Sandia Peak Ski Area (contact is Steve Gallegos) has been incredible this year with grooming the service road consistently and frequently with their alpine groomers. We also will pursue working the USFS to post some signs up there about the grooming that is done and who is responsible for doing it; perhaps with some etiquette guidelines. Please email the two rangers named above if you support this as well.

Trail/Grooming Report 2/15/2012

Trails have received about 14" of new snow from the last two storms. Things look very nice, especially below and above the burn area. Funny thing is, the snow depth varies from 60" to 0.60". Luckily, the 0.60" is only in a couple of short sections. As has been the case since the January thaw, the snow is very thin in parts of the burn area, mainly on the front hill and just beyond Point A, both upper trail and lower road. But, that situation has improved and if you're very careful and just "double-pole" and really tip-toe through the thin stuff, you can avoid hitting rocks...for the moment, anyway.

Please be very careful when skiing down the lower road, and avoid snowplowing at Point A.

It was a lot cooler up there this evening, so things should set up from the grooming work. Trails were groomed for both classic and skate. Classic tracks will be very nice for the next few days.

We're down to a rock-bottom skeleton volunteer grooming effort. Things may not get groomed in the most timely manner. If you or someone you know are willing to pitch in, PLEASE contact us.

Excerpts of an Alley Loop Race report

Friday morning, Clay and I went out for a warm up skate. There was about 2" of new snow on the ungroomed trails. We got fresh fun tracks on Mikes Mile. It was like 2" of ball bearings on well groomed trails. I shot some video. CB is a really beautiful place.


Pre race team Southwest Nordic Beer Drinking and Ski Club:



We hit the last tricky descent and I went wide around a lapped 10k skier, while the guy behind me took the quick inside line passing me easily. The descent has a really fast curve and I got further waylayed by a guy in a Gorilla costume. He sort of did not make the turn at all, and I slowed way down to avoid hitting him. I did talk to Gorilla man after the race, turns out he rented the gorilla suit to spectate in at the tour of colorado, but the rental company would not take it back after a couple of days of him running up mountains alongside the peleton, so he had to buy it, for $80 bucks. Seems like a great deal to me, no hard feelings Gorilla Fella.....


To read the rest of the report, see Alley Loop Race Report on Moscaline

Grooming/Trail Report 2/6/2012

We've been receiving little doses of snow all week, and now the total is just about a foot new since all this started. It's been a strange week of weather with little clouds coming in and dropping these bits of snow, but we'll take it! Temps have been cool, not cold, but we'll take that too.

This evening, Denny went out and groomed the entire system and set classic tracks too. He reported 3" on top of the blading work by John B. So with all of that new grooming work, skiing should be stellar all week. Looks like small chances for little bits of snow through the weekend. Let's hope that comes true.

The local Espanola Ranger District of the NFS has been working with the Valles Caldera org to go out and visually get an archeology assessment for the long-sought-after grooming extension onto the little section of land at the top of the trail system. It would add an easy 1+ km of nice skiing (and easy grooming) to the system. Hopefully, we'll hear something before this winter is over.

Thanks to the groomers!!!

New snow

Sandia Peak got 4-5 inches of fresh powder yesterday and the trails were improved dramatically for classic but no machine tracks. UNM loop had been badly walked in but is much better now.
Chris may hand groom this weekend for skating on the UNM loop; will keep you posted.

Skiing on Sandia crest

The service road has been groomed again (Tuesday nite) for skating by Sandia Peak! Very good skating.