Trail conditions report 2/19/2020

There was about one inch of new snow from last night.  The sun came out pretty strongly for a bit, so it softened up.  A single grooming pass was made on all of the front/low trails: Lower Guaje Trail, the "NO" hill from Lower Guaje into the lower meadow, back into the main ski trails from Point M to J, then down the lower stuff.  The upper tree trails and the upper/outer meadows were not groomed, but have some soft, new snow on top of the frozen crusty stuff.

The front hill is getting quite lean with narrow and thin ice, especially in that steep, south-facing middle section.  Be very careful there.

There may be more grooming this evening by one of the junior kids team parents, but generally speaking, conditions are holding alright for now.  The classic track is a bit old, but with the new skiff of snow, it is still good skiing.  Tomorrow is supposed to be cold, then maybe a wet storm over the weekend.  Hopefully we get a good dump of heavy, wet snow, followed by cold weather.

Trail Conditions (?) 2/18/2020

We don't have much to report - the weekend got pretty warm, so there was some thawing on those sun-baked parts of the trail.  The forecast calls for some new snow tonight, although not much, so we'll wait to see what plays out before heading back out with the groomer.  It'll likely be refreshed by Thursday or Friday.  Looks like an even bigger chance of some warm, wet snow over the weekend.  Stay tuned for that one as well.

Last Friday afternoon, Kevin Reid did go back out to refresh the skate lane and finish putting some reflective wands out in the meadow so we don't get lost every time it snows or drifts.  A big thanks for that.

For now, we stay in a holding pattern to see what happens.  Regardless, we'll report back by Thursday/Friday.  Still a lot of skiing to be had this season!

Grooming Report 2/13/2020

Well, this winter, while not the biggest or snowiest, or coldest, is turning out to be pretty OK.  Just when we start getting on the dry side with some melting, we seem to be blessed with just enough to keep conditions pretty nice for a few days.

Travis and Zach got out with the YTS roller and compactor to get things started and skiable after the storm.  It was really nice skiing with the kids junior team last evening, with cold temps and all.

I got out with our Yamaha Viking and G2 groomer just around sundown thinking it would be a quick job with the faster machine.  Well, things don't always go to plan, but it wasn't too bad.  With the new snow filling in the meadow trails, the packing work got a bit off course since we haven't had a chance to set out any reflective wands all season.  The ironic thing is that a club member donated some to us and set them by the Point-L tree, but we haven't gotten them set out.  They were still leaning on the tree as I drove right by them after getting stuck out in the meadow!  sigh

Anyway, after wrestling with getting the snomo and groomer stuck a couple of times and wrestling with it out there, I finally found the correct alignment and was able to get most of the meadow groomed, but it looks kinda weird for now.  I also found that our various paths through there have drifted us over a couple of buried fence posts, so it was REALLY time to get those reflective wands set out.  I did that at noon today, so just keep an eye out for them.  Two of them are directly on the tops of buried steel fence posts.

Things groomed out well for both classic and skate.  Kevin Reid has plans to groom the skate lane again Friday evening.  Should be nice skiing over the weekend, but will probably be icy again by Monday.  Be careful on the narrow front hill ice path!

It's about time we got some photo documentation of how nice our conditions have been this year (click on the pictures to see them in larger size):

Camp May Rd beyond the gate.  Paul Allen grooms it for us when he's working the Pajarito Mtn shift.  Good man, Paul!

Point A, looking down the Lower Guaje Canyon Trail

Point A, looking up the xc ski trail

Nice view of the eastern shoulder of Pajarito Mtn

Our difficult sun-exposed, fire ravaged "Front Hill" section.  The shade fencing really has done its job this year!

A section on TJ's trail, between Point E and F on our trail system index

Looking at Point E on TJ's

Nice little narrows on Dave's Dogleg

Looking east, over the Rio Grande Valley and the southernmost tip of the Sangre de Cristos

Sun splashed tree section, above Point J

Typical curves in the climb out toward Canada Bonita

Getting higher, just above Point K

Another curve, above Point K

Nice classic skiing today

Upper Baca meadow loop

Looking down the Canada Bonita from the rim of the Valles Caldera

Looking up to the top of the Canada Bonita and the Caldera Rim

Nice view of Cerro del Medio magma dome in the Valles Caldera

Hairy Sasquatch that is commonly found out in the Canada Bonita

Final curve at the top

Another view of Cerro del Medio ~10,000 ft

Trail Conditions Update 2/10/2020

It's been a little too hectic to keep everything updated with info.  We're down to a super bare-bones grooming crew, so those long hours spent grooming means no discretionary time to keep things posted.  We're doing the best we can on the trails, so hopefully you're able to get out when it's all groomed and good.

It did snow last week, got really cold for a couple of days, then the temps went UP after a nice cold day on Thursday, during the night!  That's weird.  So, Friday, and especially Saturday were warm.  Those sections that are very sun-baked (front hill, etc.) took kind of a beating.  Everything else stayed nice, however.  There's still plenty of skiing, but things did transition quite a bit.  Sunday was nice.

Things were groomed completely on Friday night.  Lots of drifts out in the meadow, so those zones are pretty wonky.  We did get out Saturday evening again to regroom for all the full-moon baskers, and so the skate lanes were magnificent yesterday and stayed nice since there was a good cloud deck that kept the temps and sun in check.

Looks like a storm on the horizon, so stay tuned.

Trails groomed 2/05/2020

Oof, that was a long night!  There was quite a bit of new snow for what seemed like not much of a storm.  The total amount was hard to figure out, but it looked like anywhere from 5" (bottom) to nearly 8" at the top.  Sometimes that happens.

Anyway, the entire system was packed/groomed out, but may be just a bit soft out in the meadows.  The tree trails and stuff down low will be firm right away.  It was very cold, so it set up fast.

Kids ski program this afternoon starting out about 4pm.  We'll have a classic time trial this Saturday, about 5km or so, so come on out if you're up for that.  First skier off at 9:30AM.

Enjoy!

2/04/2020 Snow Update

After a bit of a break from getting some "real" snow over this past week, things look to have improved with today's storm.  Travis got up there last evening to grind up all the old snow, tree garbage, crust, glaze, etc., so that this new snow fell on something a bit cleaner. 

We'll get this groomed out, likely without a classic track, for the week, then put in a classic track for the weekend.  The kids (and anyone else who wants to join in) will have a ~6km classic-technique time trial on Saturday morning, first skier off at 9:30 AM.  So, we'll have a pretty good track set by then.

Updates as we get them...