Snow & Grooming Report 3/21/2023

Happy Spring to everyone! It's always happier when we get into the good March flow of moisture. When we do see spring take off in full flight, the flowers and trees are gonna be amazing. 

This week's snow total, accumulated pretty much every day, has been impressive. There was a foot of new, heavy, wet snow up there this evening.  I thought there was a lot from yesterday, but today's total was even better. 

Ben Southworth has been learning the ropes with all of this grooming business, and during these challenging March conditions, no less. After wading through the Sierra Cement to get to the shop and grooming implements, we had some digging out to do first. That was the start to a long evening. 

Essentially, it was a bit of a struggle all evening. Heavy drifting and the deep, wet snow created some rough situations to deal with. We basically just broke trail at first, then finally did what we could with the groomers. The final result is not perfect, but with our newly procured YTS Ginzu groomer and good ol' Tidd G2, we were able to get somewhat of a smooth, well packed surface by the end. 

It still needs some polishing, but it should be ok for skate, and soft enough to be easy for classic touring too. We'll see if we can get a track set in the next 2 to 3 days. That would be nice for the weekend. 

So, get out to enjoy these late March conditions!

Trails/Grooming Report 3/7/2023

Trails were groomed and classic track was set. It had been above freezing for a long period of time, making them soft and not structurally very strong on the surface. While it was freezing up while I was out there, there are a few places where the machine tracks left somewhat of a rut, mainly where wind caused drifts over the past two weeks. More grooming traffic and settling will alleviate that. 

There's still a good snow pack, but it's definitely spring skiing now with these warm days and less cold nights. The meadow trails had good cold snow and will ski the best. Parts of the tree trails were also still cold dry snow, but there are parts that have transformed into slushy corn snow. 

We have probably two weeks of grooming/skiing left if we don't receive any more snow. Conditions should be good tomorrow through the weekend. 

Enjoy. 

Friday Night 2/10 Report

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: 'Kevin Reid' via swnordicski-groomers <swnordicski-groomers@googlegroups.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 10, 2023, 10:23 PM
Subject: [swnordicski-groomers] Friday Night 2/10 Report
To: Groomers <swnordicski-groomers@googlegroups.com>

I did three laps on the trails and four in the meadow. Ran Kermit with the G2. Reset the classic track and refreshed the skate lane. Snow is good. Was able to pull in snow which had drifted into the track to add in some soft snow to the base. I marked a rock in the meadow with a reflector wand and pushed the trail a little to the right to avoid the rock. I didn't groom the meadow cutoff because I couldn't see it so well in the dark. 

Kyle helped by shoveling a bunch of snow into the big turn at Dave's and also he shoveled a bunch more into the divit on Dave's. Also big thanks to Paul or whomever was grooming for Pajarito for cleaning up Camp May road. It is in great shape for the skate clinic. 

I brought down one empty fuel container and put it in the back of Clay's truck.  We still have 3 full unleaded and at least 1 diesel. All equipment worked well.

Kevin

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Grooming Encore 2/7/2023

The predicted snow actually materialized. There was a decent amount, so the trails needed to be groomed again so it won't blow and drift, and get scraped off from ski traffic. 

Classic tracks were set, so it'll be the best bet tomorrow. 

Beware of a pretty ugly bad spot on Dave's Dogleg where the edge of the trail collapsed under the machine's tracks and I got terribly stuck. I tried to clean it up, but it's a mess. Sorry about that. I'm just happy to be alive. 

New snow = good skiing. 👍 

Conditions/Grooming Report 2/6/2023

We're still in business. That little heat wave did transition the snow on the lower sun-exposed portions of the trails (the fire affected areas), but it's all still nicely covered. The front hill, as usual, is the least good section, but only in a short section. The farther out on the system, the better the snow is. The meadow trails are still perfect. 

Tonight, I ran the groomer on everything several times to grind up the icy stuff and buff out all the weekend traffic that occurred during the warmest part of the day and left holes and/or skate indentations.  It was quickly freezing up rock-hard as temperatures dropped, so each pass was different from the previous one(s). The grooming really softened up the snow, so it's safe and nice again. 

Because there was a lot to be done to grind up the trails, I didn't reset the classic track (sorry about that). I'll plan on doing that tomorrow evening. So, skating is the best option tomorrow, classic for Wednesday. It was supposed to snow a little tonight too, but that doesn't look likely now. It did however, get cold again, so conditions should hold into the weekend. 

Enjoy. 

Grooming/Conditions Report 2/3/2023

Trails were groomed for classic and skate for the weekend. 

It's freeze/thaw weather, but most of the system will ski very nicely. Just the lower, sun-exposed sections will get icy once things refreeze in the late afternoon. Enjoy your weekend and the nice weather. It's supposed to snow this coming week... yay!

SWNC Grooming 1-30-23

Date: Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 9:55 PM
Subject: [swnordicski-groomers] SWNC Grooming 1-30-23

The ski trails were groomed for skate and classic by Nick and Travis this evening. The snow is still looking good.

-Travis

Trail report for Chuck Calef Classic fun race and tour tomorrow

Trails were groomed for classic skiing only tomorrow. We're hosting our annual Chuck Calef Classic fun race and "open track tour" (you don't have to race it to have fun and celebrate Chuck).  The open track tour is simply that - just come and ski the amazing conditions... wooden skis and old-school wool sweaters highly encouraged.

First "racer" (me, cause I also serve as back up timer) off at 9:30AM. Tour goes off anytime after the last racer goes, like maybe 9:50 or so.  

Great conditions and weather is on tap for the event!

Clay

Grooming Plans for the weekend

The new G2 tracksetter actuator arrived, so, with Juan's help on Wednesday before kids' group, we got it installed thanks to Juan for helping me get going!  That was a scramble, and of course, the only time it snowed that day was right when we were trying to do all of that and had the tools out to get wet and messy.  

You probably saw that Tom went up and got the full meadow trail (well, maybe not quite down to point-M, but long enough...) aligned and packed.  I went up after the Wednesday practice with Kermit and the G2 and set the tiller and bar way down hard to break up the chunks and bumps.  It was 5 full slow-going laps before it looked OK enough to ski, but it probably needs 5 more laps with the tiller and bar in pretty deep to really get it smooth.  The tiller and leveling bar will really smooth out the ruts, bumps, and uneven spots, especially with the good snow depth.  You do have to lift it (the tiller/bar) up over the usual rocky zones and more abrupt bumps like those annoying water bars on the lower road, near point P -- we need to get those out this next year.  Sam Gardner helped me get the other ones (put in after the Cerro Grande Fire) out probably 20 years ago now, but those smaller ones near Point P are still there and cause a problem when you're running the tiller down.

But yeah, the meadow was looking good after the 5 laps.  I think Tom is gonna head up sometime today to till and level other parts of the trail, then we'll go up (Kevin helping?) to run it all again and then finally set the "best line" track at the end.  It should be pretty smooth with that many passes and the tiller down.

I'm asking for some quotes for a Ginzu 60" groomer.  It'll be a foot wider, with more articulated tilling than the G2, but it is expensive, so I'll have to get Sanna to help me with some budgeting.  I think we've kinda maxed out the G2, and we can just use the old Tidd Trail Tenderizer (TT) when it's rock-ski, low snow conditions.  It just doesn't put down a very good surface unless it's super soft.

Anyway, it should be really sweet classic skiing tomorrow for the Chuck Calef Classic (come race or tour the course -- you can choose either).

Little bit of grooming - leveling and tilling

 After all the storms that rolled through last week and the week previous, the grooming techniques need to change up a bit.  We have to go from "packing things down" and being able to soft-groom things, to putting the tiller and leveling bar down, which is slower and a bit more tedious, but produces that nice smooth corduroy surface we all love... and the firm, deep classic tracks.  

We also started packing in and tilling out the big meadow loop, which is just now starting to take shape.  It also needs a lot of tiller passes before it's 100% smooth, but we'll get it there.

Tom went and rolled the edges of the trails that had gotten narrow, then the meadow loop, then switched to the G2 to till out some ridges (Tuesday evening).

Last evening, I got the G2 tracksetter motor-powered actuator installed (the old one broke), set a few classic tracks on Camp May for practice, then went back out after dark to run the tiller and leveling bar on the upper meadow trails.  I made 5 passes and got things even wider in spots, and the new meadow loop is starting to smooth out a bit.  It'll take another 5 before it's really in good skiing shape because it was just so lumpy and bumpy out there, and the snow was setting up hard in the frigid cold.

Speaking of cold -- I probably would have run more passes, but even with a little heater in our little "Kermit" snowcat, it was FREEZING and I was getting cold, so I had to pull the plug and get back home.  It was definitely a cold one last night!  

I'll go out Friday night to till up the trail, then set the "best line" classic track for the Chuck Calef Classic club fun race on Saturday.  You don't need to be in any sort of race shape to participate, and it's free.  We just do it for the challenge and to celebrate our old friend, Chuck Calef.  Be sure to wear your most awesome outdoor wool sweater to commemorate Chuck!

Overall, conditions are still awesome with lots of snow and cold temperatures.  This is what we live for, so go ski!!!

Grooming Report 1/25/2023

 We're back to updating the grooming and conditions blog.  It's hard to figure out which site/media source people use most frequently, so we try to keep the "members" email list (become a member!) updated first, then move to the Facebook page and this report medium, the "grooming/conditions" blog.  We hope you enjoy reading these!

After all the snow since January 1, we've been keeping on top of the roll packing and grooming, but it's a volunteer operation so sometimes it takes a day or two, and isn't always perfect, but we try.  We have had a few equipment issues, as per the usual, but we get them fixed as we have time.  We should have the main grooming implement's (the Tidd G2) tracksetter back in operation by the weekend.  It sets the best track.

Travis and Nick went out Monday evening to do more rolling and make a pass with the old Tidd (the "Trail Tenderizer"), which does a decent job of grooming the trail.  

We'll be using the G2's tiller and leveling bar a bit more to flatten and smooth the trail out, so it should ski pretty smoothly in the coming days.  That was a nice period of snow, so we now have something to work with to level and smooth things out.

Tom went out again last evening to bust in the meadow trail, then roll-packed it a lot and generally widened everything around the system.  He followed up with the G2 to smooth out a few ridges.  More grooming to come Thursday and Friday.

Remember that we'll be hosting the "Chuck Calef Classic" club fun race this Saturday (first skier off from Point B at 9:30 AM), with a "best line" classic track.  That means it'll be somewhat out wide, near the middle of the trail, so skating will not be any good until we erase the track later in the evening.  We'll re-groom for normal skiing configuration on Sunday.

Get out and enjoy these super-great conditions!!!