Nordic Skiing Pajarito - Los Alamos: High Desert Dirt

Nordic Skiing Pajarito - Los Alamos: High Desert Dirt

Great review of our ski trails on this site. Impressed that he saw it as good when we only had an inch of snow over that awful icy crap we were grooming and skiing on for the last weeks of January!

Trails groomed by the estimable Dave Wykoff

Dave Wykoff put in a big day of grooming today. He finished late this afternoon, grooming the entire trail system, with all the shortcuts and cutoffs. Conditions are amazing. Wide corduroy for skating, plus classic tracks. Today was green wax, tomorrow is forecast to be green warming up to blue by afternoon, a refreshing change after the couple weeks of warm, trashy and icy conditions we've all had to put up with.

Important Notice! Only certain portions of the front hill are skiable. I recommend that after you have skiied up to the beginning of the sunfence, that you remove your skiis and walk all the way to point A and above a ways, as well. The reverse applies for descending afterward, don't try to ski down the front hill.

It's worth the walk into the trail system, conditions from Point B (the coat tree) are just great!

tom

Sandia Peak Update

Thought I would post a new update even though Sandia Peak didn't get any significant snow out of the last storm and no new grooming has been done since last Tuesday. The service road has a decent classic track over much of it's length which is fortunate given the amount of wind and foot traffic on parts of it. The loop in the woods Fredrik groomed a couple weeks ago is getting some ski and snowshoe traffic and I encourage more skiers to start using it on a regular basis; it is a nice wide trail (averages about an estimated 10' width). This trail, if done in a counter clockwise direction (which I recommend), start just above the gate at the north end of the service road (first right once you head up into the woods from the gate) and from there is easily followed by following the ski tracks. Hopefully next year we can have some signs posted on the trail. It has stayed cold up at Ellis trailhead so the snow has remained at powder and packed powder. Skating is possible on the service road but far from ideal given the foot traffic over parts of it and the windblown condition of the snow.

Grooming/Trail Report 2/8/2011`

That was a little bit of a strange storm. The predictions seemed to hold so much promise, but I guess we can't complain: it did snow somewhere between about 5" to 12" up in the mountains. Unfortunately, it was more in the 5" to 6" range. But, all things considering, the trails look pretty good and should ski well once we get them all groomed out to the finish product.

It did snow somewhere between 5" and 6", but the problem is that the front hill and just beyond where the ground was bare did not keep the full 6" of snow and so the rocks are still lying just beneath the snow. Otherwise, the rest of the trails looked great with the new snow on top.

Tonight, I went up and ran the "blades" to smooth and even things out after all those weeks with no snow and intermittent spring temps mixed in with the short bursts of arctic cold. What a weird year. Anyway, the trails needed to be leveled out quite a bit, as they were getting very bumpy and uneven. Everything got several passes, but I didn't get the final grooming completed with the groomer and track setter. That may get accomplished either tomorrow and/or Thursday.

For now, the trails are a little soft but bladed, so they'll ski well with either skate or classical skis (just no track). I still suggest walking up from the half-way point on the front hill to about 250 meters or so past point A. Even that hill below point A to the lower road is too thin to ski now. The cutoff from B to R got a pass, so it's possible to loop from the lower road to the upper trail there. Other cutoffs were packed as well.

The meadows had drifted a bit with the wind, and it began to blow again while I was up there, so there may be some drifts here and there again tomorrow, but probably won't be too bad.

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

just gettin' started at the base on Camp May Road


at the top of the meadow at the turn-around looking down Canada Bonita

The mighty "Viking" pulling the "blades" to smooth things out

New snow at one of our reflector wands


Maybe someday soon we'll be able to groom into that little piece of the Valles Caldera adjacent to our trails

The blades really help to level things out after all that time with no new snow

"Groomer cam" view


This has nothing to do with grooming, but just makes a nice picture

Leaving the upper part of the meadow and heading into the trees at point L

A blurry picture, but you can see the "smoothing" effect of the bladed groomer

...and my personal favorite. Frosty night grooming offers a different landscape than what we experience while skiing during the day.

Sandia Peak Update

Can't promise but have been told by groomer at Sandia Peak that the service road will be groomed tonite (Saturday). Meanwhile classic skiing remains fairly good (nothing machine groomed) on the service road and some of the trails as of Friday.

Sandia Peak Update

Sandia Peak received 12"-15" of new snow from the last storm. I went up and skied classic on the service road (has not been groomed yet) today. It was cold (-5 F) but at least little to no wind, so a brisk but pleasant ski. Snow is very cold right now but will change as the temps warm.
Steve Roholt braved -17 F (not counting wind chill) yesterday and skied in the gravel pit and switchback trails.

Here's Clay's 4PM post about the trail conditions

"I went up for a quick ski at about 12:30. It had snowed about 2" at the bottom, and 4" by the top of the meadow. Somewhere in-between for the rest of the trails. Actually not as cold up there as in town, so it was a nice ski, but still pretty cold...about 12*F vs. the 5*F it is here in town!

It was simply awesome from the low point of the meadow to the top.

It is still snowing lightly up there and is supposed to pick up . Things are holding steady up there now, it's not too windy. The trails actually ski GREAT right now because it's not too much snow, but enough to cover the crap and make for soft, silky skiing over a rock-hard base." Clay Moseley

Sandia Peak Update

I and Rich Besser removed a fallen, partially buried tree trunk from the approx. 1 km loop (UNM trail) groomed recently for skating and filled back in with snow today and covered another more deeply buried log at the same location (fair amount of shoveling). Also widened about by 1'-2' (by shoveling snow and packing with snowshoes) a narrow corner in the same loop. If we get more snow and maybe get this loop groomed again, it would be in good shape for skating and classic.

Ron

Here's our sunfence working hard for all you skiers!

Thursday evening update 1/27/2011

Went back up and went back to grinding the old snow in the skate lanes all around the main loop from Pt.-R on the lower road, all the way around to Pt.-B on the upper trail, and worked on the B-R cutoff, which will be used in Saturday morning's club training event (1st skier off at 9:30am starting at Pt.-R on the lower road).

Things started to free up after a couple of passes, so most of the loop is in good condition, with only a few short stretches that stayed a little icy. The new alignment of the lower meadow to the O-bypass was also smoothed out a lot, so I think it'll ski in nicely. I really worked on the descents, so they won't be so sketchy. I also threw a lot of shovels of snow onto the thin or slightly exposed spots so that the loop could be skied with good skis if you're just a little careful.

All in all, it looks really good, especially considering the low snow base.

Classic track was left alone and still looks pretty good. Definitely use some purple klister (like KR-40 or Universal -3*C to +3*C)...no hard wax. Grip tape works AWESOME on these conditions.

Red glide wax in the 17*F to 30*F range.

Sandia Peak Update

Classic tracks set on service road and small meadow near upper tram terminal. The tracks in someplaces are marginal due to the inability of the track setter to cut into the hard packed snow.
Otherwise skating is also good on the service road. Fredrik Landstedt (UNM ski coach) set the classic tracks and also groomed a loop through the woods (a little over a km I think) for skating.
Considering the condition of the snow before he groomed in the woods the condition now is remarkably good. All total there is now a 4500 meters loop for skating if a small section over to the top of La Madera (in the ski area) is included.

NEW grooming/trail report for 1/24/2011

The trails received 1/2" to 1"+ today and it was still trying to snow lightly when I left around 10:30pm.

We got out with the ice cutters down and went to work on grinding up the boiler-plate surface and the little bit of new stuff to mix in. That is expensive and hard work, as it's a bit destructive to all of the equipment and requires a lot of manual implement operation (lowering, raising, moving weights, etc.). But, the end product was well worth it and the trails actually look pretty good.

All of the main trails got several passes; the lower road and meadow got a lot more. There's also a new alignment for the lower meadow to reach the lower road using the "O-to-M" bypass, so it's skiable and quite nice, if not a little soft and not fully smoothed out yet. Also got a few little trouble spots shoveled in anticipation for Saturday's club event.

And, the bonus is that a pretty good classic track was set. Hopefully it sets up nicely overnight and will hold out until we get some snow.

So, the loop from the bottom using the B-to-R cutoff, all the way out to the end, then down the meadow to the M-to-O bypass and the lower road all got groomed and will be freshened up on Thursday.

Pretty good skiing for now.

Sandia Peak Update

Sandia Peak received about 1" of new snow Monday pm and skating is great on the groomed service road.

A follow up from USFS Ranger Lynn Bjorkland

Thanks to the groomers this weekend who did an amazing job with very little snow. I skied the course Saturday mid day. You need to walk much of the initial big hill and first 50 meters or so of the upper ski trail. After that it is surprisingly good. A few icy spots, a few rocks showing, and a fair amount of tree debris, but other than that it is very good skiing. Saw several classic skiers using the track and enjoying the day. -Lynn

Saturday, 22 January 2011, Grooming Report

Here is a update on Denny's Friday night grooming from one of our fastest
members, Sanna Sevanto:

"Thank you to our groomers. Went skiing this morning thinking 'where should I go
tomorrow to ski classic?' And there it was: freshly groomed clean and white
classical trail on our own trails. No need to drive any further tomorrow. You
guys are amazing creating this with so little snow. THANK YOU!!"

Report for 22 January, 2011

Service road is packed very hard but recently groomed and skating is good except for need to be careful on downhills. Someone (Paul Chandler, local x-c ski instructor) shoveled some snow onto parts of the service road between the gate and the rock quarry for a beginning class to enable somewhat better edging and maneuverability when skiing, especially classic. Rich Besser reports classic skiing on some of the trails is still OK despite the recent warm temps.

Ken's Grooming Report from last night

Upper trails and meadow groomed for skate. Lower road and daves got less passes. Not much snow in the usual spots. That is all for now.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Here's Dina's Chama Race Report

Thanks Dina!

Seriously, it is too bad that I dont have time to post an event blog for a while here. If someone else can do it sooner please do. For now I've uploaded all the photos I had and received from others (thank you!) to SWNSKI Photo Gallery. Just go to our homepage http://swnordicski.organd click Photo Gallery tab. I havent had time to put any comments yet either.

Chama Chile Ski Classic had 199 race participants this weekend! 199!! That's amazing considering a few years ago we were THRILLED they managed to get 75 participants. It is so great to see this event get back to the participation levels I've only heard about from the 'old timers' :). Speaking of 'old timers' a whole lot of them came out for this event - NM has some great movers and shakers in the nordic world and its great to see them out enjoying Chama's come back.

The Chama folks putting it on did a fantastic job. And a huge thanks goes out to our SWNSKI groomer volunteers hauling our machines and spending days doing back breaking grooming work (shoveling included of course) before and between races (and racing afterwards!).

Huge thanks to all of you who came out!!! We hope everyone had fun and comes out next year and brings some more friends/family along.

This year's course layout was absolutely amazing, absolute best use of that beautiful and challenging terrain! The weather was spectacular! If you havent ever (or lately) been to this event check out the photos and plan on it next year, it is amazing to have such a fun winter event so close to us! And if you think you 'arent a (ski)racer', do note that participants range from UNM skier level racers to 9 year old kids in lion costumes to guys in knickers on wooden skis, to casual snowshoe hikers to crazy fast snowshoe runners. And all of them seem to love it the same.

Btw, I have a LOAD of awards to pass out to people. I mean a LOAD! I dont even remember whose is whose there are so many. Will have to look up results (found here:http://www.santafestriders.org/race_results_html/ChamaChili2011/). But the point is, that aside from all the fun people also scored more awards than I could imagine! Wohoo!

Thanks again to everyone who participated! Spread the word, share the photos and tell your friends now while you are still excited and high from all the fun :) so they can plan to join us next year!

Chama Rocks!! :)

dina

Grooming update for the long MLK weekend

The skating lanes of the lower loop trail have been smoothed and bladed this evening. The classic track is still in pretty fair shape from Ken's grooming last Sunday.

The upper loop is still in great shape and should hold up well for skating and classic as long as temperatures remain normal, which is the current forecast.

Be warned, there are some rocky spots in the 1st kilometer or so, getting into the network, and we advise walking down the short 50 foot hill at point A, there are exposed rocks everywhere.

Grooming update for Wednesday, January 12th

Dave regroomed the entire network for skating and classic.... I skiied it yesterday afternoon and it is quite good, cool conditions, blue kick wax is what I used. That steep little descent right at Point "A" at the top of the front hill is rocky now and best walked if you love your skiis! Hey it's only 25 feet of walking.... :o)