Grooming report 1/22/2021

 Dang...again, apologies for the long delays in updating the news blog.  We suffered a mysterious mechanical on one of the machines and it took a big effort to go rescue it and get it repaired.  Too many things to do with so little time...

Anyway, woohoo for the new snow, ~13" of wet stuff that quickly got saturated in the next day's sun and compressed to a firm 7" or so.  That really saved us and things are not so bad out beyond Point-B or so on the trails.  Parts of the lower Guaje Trail (aka "Lower Road") are still a little thin, but mostly all good after lots of packing and grooming.  The lower meadow below Point-N on the system index is still bumpy from the huge grass clumps, but if skied carefully, is quite passable now.  

The front hill is still super thin and has rocks all through that middle steep, narrow section.  Use EXTREME caution through there and don't even think about snow plowing in that section unless you really do not care about your ski bases.  You will hit rocks.  We always tell people to twist your poles around 180-degrees so that the ski baskets are in the "up" position.  You can carefully "walk" yourself down with your arms/poles until you're through that bad section.  Or, do the prudent thing and take your skis off to walk (stay on the high side, not in the middle) around it.  At any rate, it's short and you can ski just about everything right now.

We rolled everything twice, then pulled the smaller groomer through.  We need one more good storm to pull out our fancy, big "Tidd" groomer with the tiller and leveler.  There's just not quite enough to do that just yet.  Perhaps after the weekend.

The plan is to get a classic track set tonight on the parts of the system that allows it right now...the upper tree trails mainly.  There should be good skiing this weekend.  

Rolling with the compaction device down

The new snow groomed out nicely

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 Report for January 8, 2019

I keep meaning to get a trail report out, but the "other" SWNSC reporter gets it posted up on FB more quickly.

Anyway, things are looking simply fantastic, and there's more winter weather in line to keep things nice for the foreseeable future.  Chris Michel (of CM ArborCare) has been so kind to help us out with grooming and spent a good deal of time getting on top of what hadn't been done after the New Year's Whopper, plus mixed in with the little 3"er from Sunday.  That one came with some wind, so there were drifts out in the meadow, which makes it really hard to groom and keep in shape.

We'll probably go bust those drifts up as much as possible this evening using the Ranger and the G2 groomer, both relatively new tools in our rag-tag fleet of grooming equipment.  The G2 is our newer Tidd-Tech groomer with the electrically activated (huge improvement over having to deal with all that back-breaking weight, and hand-smashing stuff by hand) grinder teeth and track-setter.  It is prone to electrical/mechanical breakdowns, mainly the actuator relays blinking out, but overall, it's such a huge improvement.

Our workhorse and very reliable snowmobile has thrown us for another uncharacteristic loop - the starter has failed, but we have one on order and so the "groomer staff" has a plan to get it replaced, which is not easy (SF PowerSports would have charged us $1,000+ to do the job), but doable.

So, go out and enjoy the skiing!  It is simply beautiful!

2009 Polaris Ranger with Tidd-Tech G2 Groomer in action, December 2018

City of Lakes Loppet Race Report

From our club  member Paul Gooris:

Just finished the Puoli Classic ("half marathon") at the City of Lakes Loppet in Minneapolis.  This year, City of Lakes hosted the AXCS Masters National Championships; next year they host the World Master Championships.  Being a dedicated mid-packer, the podium, let alone age group accolades are not on my ticket.  But it was fun to ski in such a large event (152 skiers in the Puoli), and meet skiers from across the country of all ages and abilities.  

In addition to the marathon and half marathon, there was a ski tour, skijoring events, crew ski (awarded to the leading fund raisers for the CoL Foundation, this a 50 meter dash with teams of 6 skiing together on 20 foot long skis), and youth age group races (see photos).  

And those are just the events I saw on Saturday; other events were held on Friday and Sunday.  Think of the crowds that attend local road marathons or the NM State Cross Country meet, and you'll have an idea of Nordic's following in the upper Midwest.

Matt Liebch (?sp), former Birkie winner, won the marathon race in roughly 1 hour, 15 minutes. That may seem like an extraordinarily fast time...but this brings me to the more serious and concerning part of my report.  The City of Lakes marathon and half marathon are traditionally point-to-point races that start in Theodore Wirth Park and end in downtown Minneapolis, being 42K and 21K respectively. This year, however, there has been very little snow in the Minneapolis area.  The courses had to be changed and confined to loops of mostly man-made snow within the Theo Wirth Park itself.   The marathon was 30-32K (so Matt's time is still screaming), and the half was 14-15K. 

Lack of snow has been a problem for several years, to the point where the City of Lakes Loppet Foundation has invested heavily in snowmaking.  Across the board, skiers were commenting on the shortage, and those from out-of-area, like myself, found it weird to think that there was more snow at home than in Minnesota.

While perusing the vendors and exhibits in the "big tent", I met a group that is trying to draw attention to our changing winters. Regardless of the cause, climate change is happening, and it is having an adverse impact on our sport as well as the rest of our lives.  If you are interested, check out Cool Planet Skiers at coolplanetskiers.org. Their motto: Saving Winter for Future Generations.

Trail Conditions Report 1/23/2017

Finally!  The trails are completely groomed, with track set and the meadow all cleaned up.  It was a LOT of work, but a big thanks to everyone who went out to pack the edges and hills, etc.  That REALLY helped.

We were even able to add the additional 1km extension to the end of the meadow at the Caldera rim.  It's really nice.

Looks like more snow on the way.

Setting track in the meadow

Grooming Report 2/24/2016 (Los Alamos)

Got up there in the evening and got things groomed, albeit without a classic track.  I had some issues with things, especially the unfortunate finding of more trees down.  Dang...I'm getting sick of that!

Things were superb this morning, with freshly groomed trails, 10 degrees F, and a beautiful sunrise over a fog-shrouded valley.  Conditions should hold OK until it gets warm over the weekend.

Forecasts look interesting after the middle of next week...we'll see...

Trails "Pre" Grooming Report... 2/23/2016

I think we have received a short "stay" of execution on our ski season.  That was a better storm than was predicted for us, so I'll go up and see what can be done with the grooming.  I'll report back tomorrow.

In the meantime, skiing was still possible, albeit sloppy and slow, over the weekend.  It was crusty and bumpy before the thaw, then slow and slushy afterward.  There were actually some truly "bad" spots, although they were very short and could be "tip-toed" through.  One more week of that kind of tropical weather, and it would have been over.

We'll see now how things look.  It's supposed to warm up again over the weekend, then sort of flip flop.  I think the season is going to be week to week, day to day from here on out.  We just lost too much of the base to really rely on anything.  We'll keep it going as long as it's viable.

Lots of trees came down too, unfortunately.  I was going to groom, but ended up cutting out trees instead.

High winds last week brought down a number of trees.  Getting those removed was a chore and kept me from doing any grooming.

Los Alamos Trails Grooming Report 2/16/2016

Everything was groomed last evening (Monday evening).  It was just freezing up when I got started, so there are a few minor inconsistencies here and there, but overall the G2 groomer did an amazing job of erasing the substantial foot-traffic damage and smoothing things out.

I set a new classic track as well.

Beware of the sun-exposed front hill...it's starting to go in that really exposed section. We'll have to figure something out for that spot next year, as the shade fencing doesn't protect it as well as the other areas, although it does protect it some as evidenced by the fact that it is still there after these warm temps!  Anyway, it will likely make it a few more days, then be down to bare ground by the weekend =(  If only we could have had another stretch of storms...

Otherwise, the skiing is still fantastic on the rest of the system.  There are two or three odd spots in there, but they're very short.  Some of the system hasn't even transformed yet, so we're OK for a while yet.

Enjoy while you can.  Hopefully, we can weather this drought...

Beginning the grooming just below Point A (looking south toward Pajarito Mtn).  Note the nice track being set by the G2, and the heavy foot traffic damage that is VERY hard to get rid of once it's set during warm temperature =P

After the first round of track-setting, that sun-exposed area at Point A is still nice

Up at the top of the meadow, working on cooling the machine down.  It's a liquid-cooled machine that relies on snow "splashing" a cooling system in the drive-train, but with hard-pack, this doesn't occur.  So, the engine overheats frequently, especially while using the G2 groomer's renovator teeth down deep.  It pulls heavy and slow to clean up those post-holes and ruts.  In short, it is the hardest thing to do on the equipment.

Still some very nice sections in the system.  We'll keep grooming as long as there's decent coverage.   We have to resort to shoveling here and there, but it's supposed to turn back to winter by the end of the month.  Hopefully, with our grooming efforts, we'll still have that beautifully glorious skiing in March!

Master's World Cup 2016 in Vuokatti, Finland: Relays Day

Hi All,

the dicey lake passage

Today we had the relays. The morning started in slight drizzle at temperatures hanging around +2C as on so many days already. The constant drizzle (and occasional pizza-size snow that acts like glue on the track) had made the snow completely soaked and with no day-night difference in temperature it just stayed that way. The water puddle next to our cabin door was the biggest it has been. It’s actually hard to get out of the house without getting wet feet (where are my rubber boots!), and under the water there is solid bumpy ice. So, walking is a very dangerous activity at the moment.

This all has given the race organizers some headaches. The man-made snow on the course is now man-made slush. In the woods that still works, and actually glides surprisingly well, but all the courses rely on crossing the lake before coming to the stadium. There is no other way of going, but the lake ice, even if 1.5ft thick, is getting a bit sketchy. It holds skiers fine, but there is some cracking and seepage so that the surface is just a puddle of water and slush. The slush glides surprisingly well, but that grossing just kills any wax. Yesterday, for the relays and to keep the lake passable for the last races the organizers changed the lake crossing and made a new passage piling up some 2ft of snow in the hope that it the layer would be thick enough to keep the water surface below the trail surface. They worked really hard on it until the ice started cracking under the heavy gorging machines and they had to stop. So, for that section we had a snow passage (that held it over night) in the middle of water pools on lake ice. The passage was not groomed. It was pretty bumpy and class track pretty much non-existent. But we were just above the slush layer as of the end of the race. The last leg skiers said that when they passed, the white snow was only 2 in thick above the such, so we’ll see how it’s going to be tomorrow for the long distance classic. But for the relay it worked.

All the women teams started at the same time at 11:30am. There were a total of 24 teams with 5 of them in my age group. In our team I was on the first leg (classic), Inge on the second (classic), and Cyndy and Sara did the skate legs. I pretty much spent the morning testing glisters as the relay classic course was a bit different from what we have skied so far with a couple of really nice skiable climbs in the beginning, and I really wanted to have some kick too finally. But the snow was so soaked that anything I had tested the day before that had worked, was not kicking today, and I had to go a whole set softer with the glisters. But finally I got kick. It was maybe a bit too thick a layer and maybe could have been spread out for a slightly shorter wax pocket. But I could ski some hills.

team at the finish, happy with 4th place against some tough competition!

At the start, I managed to go pretty well, but soon realized that my skis could have glided a bit better. I ended up asking with one Finnish team from an older age group, a german team from a younger age group and the italian team from my age group. The russian and Finnish teams of my age group had just disappeared to the distance pretty much from the start. I was stronger than any of them in the uphills, but especially the italian always passed everyone in the downhills. So, I decided to stay behind her so that I could use the draft in the downhills without too much effort, and hopefully pass the finn and german. That way we went until the last uphill before a long downhill to the lake at ~3km (the whole leg was 5km).  In that uphill I managed to get ahead of the finn and the german but the italian passed me again in the downhill. The lake was alright. I did not notice any huge cracks, even if others said they were there. The italian was double-poling in the front, but despite her better glide I was catching her and easily staying with her because the surface was bumpy, the poles were sinking through the snow to the slush, and I had a much better technique to deal with all this than she did. Thanks to my background in ski-orienteering, I know how to pole low and under my own skis to avoid sinking poles. So, that was where the tactics were finalized. There was a short but steep climb to the bridge after a drop to the stadium. My only way of trying to be ahead of the italian and give any seconds good for Inge to fight for a 3rd place was to attack the hill like and use all the hill bounding we have done with Dina and Clay to get as far ahead as I could and hope that she won’t catch me in the downhill. So, in the beginning of the hill I pushed past her, tried to ski nicely in the track but it was too mushy, moved to the middle and ran up as fast as I could. Then full on double-poling the whole down hill and flat, and right at the last corner the italian flew by… Anyway, I was right behind her when tagging Inge, and panting really hard. 

Inge did a good ski, but the Italian ladies had phenomenal skis and we were some 10s behind after the second leg. Cyndy skied the best she has ever skied (according to her own words), and pretty nice it looked too especially on the last hill, but the italians were clearly ahead. Sara skied really well too, but we had no chance catching them. So, we ended up 4th. 

Check our facebook page for the two videos from the start, one from the start and one from the exchange between me and Inge (you see the big strong Italian lady in pink/blue suit) - will find a way to add/post those shortly. I’m now off to celebrate with the team-mates, and then to clean and rewax the skis for tomorrow. 30km classic in slush will be interesting. The weather is supposed to get a bit colder, but only on Friday with some new snow also forecast. So the classic long race will be what it has been the last few days.

Sanna

Boulder Mountain Tour 2016 race report from Steve

The Boulder Mountain Tour or "BMT" was held last weekend near Sun Valley/ Ketcham Idaho. Ketcham is referred to by locals as "Nordic Town USA"for good reason. The area has miles of groomed trails along with a world class downhill area. The weather and snow conditions were ideal for this years race.

  The racecourse is 34K and is point to point from Galena Lodge at around 7200 feet to the Sawtooth National Recreation Area at around 6100. The net downhill made for fast times and it's a super fun race.

  The University of Utah ski team pretty much dominated the men's and women's races. The two guys in the second photo went 1and 3 and the women had several in the top 5. Caitlin Gregg edged out one of the Ute women for first overall. Results are posted on the BMT website.

   The photo of the female moose was taken just off of one of the local ski trails . The deep snow this year has forced the local elk population down into neighborhoods and they were everywhere!
   I enjoyed a beautiful day of Alpine skiing on Sunday. The views from the top are spectacular.
    The BMT weekend conflicts with the Alley Loop races and Sun Valley is a bit off of the beaten path, but it is well worth the effort! If you love Nordic, you've got to go! 
Steve

   

Master's World Cup 2016 in Vuokatti, Finland: Day 2

Hi All,

We had the second race today: 10km classic for me. The weather was turning interesting already yesterday, and it forced me to do more ski and wax testing than ever. It was misty, occasionally raining, occasionally snowing a bit. Temperature at +2.5C with gray clouds hanging over everything, and typically to here the temperatures or anything in the weather did not change at all overnight. So, I woke up really early and went to test glisters on the race course before the first start. My glide waxing was pretty much the best I can get with what I have for this weather, and I chose to use the skis for wet conditions. When testing the wax my glister was freezing on the track, which had been drying out slightly with the wind over night. So, I opted to put a really thin layer of glister on the race skis and cover it with the softest hard wax I had, and ice on the wax really kills the glide. The man-made snow also looked like if it could get mushy and pulverized by the male skiers that would start before us, so avoiding too soft and thick glister felt like the best option. That done, we started walking to the warm-up and race area as my start was already 9:40am. By the time I arrived on the testing track, everything had soaked with more rain so that I basically had no kick on my race skis. The only option I had with me was adding the soft hard wax, and that did the trick. I had an alright glide and decent kick on the test track. Even in the start area I tried how the kick felt, and it was alright, maybe not the best, but still sticking on the surface.

The race start went a lot better than the previous start two days ago. I had somewhat comparable glide to the others and could easily follow the leaders on 4th position out of the stadium. Keeping up with them did not even feel hard, but in the first slight downhill it was obvious that I still could improve the glide of my skis a bit. Then in the first up-hill the name of the game was revealed. I had absolutely no kick anymore, and two more ladies passed me. So, my only option was to herringbone-run between the tracks to get any traction. Luckily, the others did not pull away tremendously fast, and I could see them ahead until the longest gradual climb. But my only option was to double-pole like crazy until I could not anymore and then run up all the hills in between the tracks. Luckily, we have been training running with Lynn the whole summer, and I could do that easily and graciously at every hill, even if it was slower than a nice kick-and-glide. The snow was changing really fast during the race too. By the time I was on the lake section (middle of the course), the track there was completely slushy and I had to double-pole between the tracks to get any glide, and the suction started to eat up the glide also on the tracks of the steepest and longest downhill. On top of the tallest hill there was a ice-water seep bursting brown water on top of the tracks making the trail brown slush. So, there will be a lot of ski cleaning to be done today and tomorrow.

I think I placed 6th, but not awfully far behind the group fighting for the 3rd place. The winner was very far ahead, but I think with better kick wax I probably could have stayed with the others, which is most encouraging. It looks like that if I get the skis working better I could be competitive with the crowds in my age group. The weather forecast is for this moist, warm weather to hang around until Friday evening, which means that the conditions will be like today for all my remaining races. For the glide I can’t do much as I used all the tricks I have already, but I can improve the kick, and will try to get that for the 30km race on Thursday. Tomorrow is a rest day and then the relay on Wednesday, where I hope to get a leg to ski too.

Here attached one photo of the start that went a lot better, a photo of the winner in the last uphill (see the nice technique), and me at the same spot, which tells it all…

Thanks, Sanna