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!!!

going, Going, GOING... gone? (March 5-7)

Sorry for the long gap in posting a conditions update here. Things get really crazy with work, family, coaching, and of course all of this grooming business. After yet another long drought stretch that almost had us pulling the plug in February (NO!!!), we got that great week of snow and cold weather that saved our season...again. Funny how this year has been. Each month had a storm right in the middle that kept us in business and gave us one wonderful week of skiing, then followed by too much warm, dry, sun. I have to say, I didn't expect much out of this year and it has been frustrating, but overall I think it surpassed my expectations. We have had a fair number of very good days of skiing, just not a deep and resilient base to keep it going. We've definitely had a lot of days on rock skis and further degradation of skis that will become rock skis...sigh. 

So, here we are at March 5th and looking down the barrel of a "heatwave" forecast for Sunday-Tuesday. That's a bummer since we did pick up about 2" of new snow yesterday that the groomers went out and roll-packed down to preserve and keep it from blowing away. Word on the trail is that it is VERY good conditions, save for the odd thin and bare spot here and there. Tonight, we'll go up and perform the full ice-grind and groom for one last glorious Saturday, before the meltdown commences on Sunday. 

The kids' club will be having a practice biathlon in the upper meadow (kinda early), so be aware of that, but don't let it stop you. Come watch them scramble and ski their hearts out, while trying to remain calm while shooting the targets. It's kind of interesting to see. 

 After the big meltdown, the National Weather Service is hinting at an interesting an much wetter forecast for late next week and beyond. They're staying coy about the details, as all of these hopeful pattern changes have not quite materialized the way they would first report, but if it does turn out to be true, we might pull the equipment around again if it's worth it. 

 Thanks for all the wonderful support, and here's to a better season next year.

LAlleyFloop 2021!!

Announcing a pretty dumb virtual distanced ski tour/not-a-race for our Los Alamos Trails. The Los Alamos Alley Fake Loop aka the LAlley Floop.

As the club is general not headed up to do the Alley Loop in Crested Butte this winter and we miss it so, I(Tarik) have created this course in the spirit of the Alley Loop utilizing the all the ungroomed short cuts on our trail which are our version of the alleys in CB. This is really aimed toward the SWNordic Ski Kids racers, but all are welcome to try it any time between Wednesday 2/3 and Tuesday 2/9.

All SWnordic Kids that complete one of the courses this week will get a prize from our friends at Crested Butte Nordic. Please contact me (tariksaleh at gmail dot com) if your kid does the tour, and which course and the time if you want, I will collate, post participants/results, and get prizes distributed. If you want, send me a photo of you or your kids doing the course for posting.

I will take times and courses for other finishers, but again, this is not a race, it is a pretty dumb course and getting dumber by the second this week unless we get some snow, it was pretty damn good last week, but it is not last week anymore, is it? No, it is not. I put the "long course" on Strava as "LAlleyFloop2021" if you are so inclined. These is a true freestyle courses. Long course should be faster on skate skis, but the shortcuts are not groomed and are kind of a slog on skate skis depending on your skills and will. Kind of like the Alleys in crested butte, just with more altitude change. People might be happier on classic skis. I don't care, it is immaterial what kind of skis you use.

OK, everyone with me? I suggest the junior skiers ski this with their little pod groups for fun or with their parents. Again, do this at any time you wish in the next week and please don't gather or crowd or otherwise violate covid protocols. Watch for other trail user and dogs and snowshoers on the lower trails.

Here are the courses:

1. LAlleyFloop2021 Long Course (4km) this is on Strava : Experienced skiers only, and more experienced junior skiers. Be aware the N->O shortcut is kind of sketchy and narrow and is losing snow rapidly today : Start at A. Go up upper trails, take the left shortcut at TJ's and then the second shortcut up to J. At J go up the trails and take the next two upper shortcuts. At the top of the second shortcut, take a left and ski that loop down. Now go down the first of the upper trails shortcuts back to J. At J take a hard left to take the shortcut to point M on the meadow/lower road. At M take a hard right and head down the lower road, and keep straight at the shortcut at N (the snowshoe trail) and take that down to the lower road at O. Take the lower road back toward the start, however just past the top of the first uphill take a right on the wide ungroomed shortcut to the upper trail near B. From B, ski down to A. You are done! This took Aida and I about 45 minutes of slow slushy skiing with a lot of breaks to bemoan the way too warm conditions. There are a few rocks here and there and the N->O downhill shortcut is burning out fast and is narrow and steep and hard to slow down sometimes. It gets a ton of snowshoe traffic so the lane is a bit narrow for snow plowing. You may skip this and ski the whole lower road instead. If this sounds confusing you really should get to know our trails better, so consider it a challenge. If you mess it up, I bet you had fun anyway and it still counts if you tried. I am sure the map wont help top much, but here goes Map:

2. LAlleyFloop2021 short course (upper): Start and end at A. Ski the uppertrails taking the short cuts to point J. Take J to the meadow if you want. Get back to point A via whatever route is safe and comfy for you. This is less challenging for younger and inexperienced skiers, but still might be a little sketchy from J to A via the lower road if it gets too warm. So you can just turn around and head back to A if you want. For some of the newer skiers, just getting to point A is a victory in it self. So use your best judgement for younger skiers. Same to point J as above, choose your own adventure on the way back

3.LAlleyFloop2021 Littles course 1 (or everyone course if it all goes wrong this week for snow coverage): Start at Gate on camp may road, ski up the road to mother lift, around mother lift and then down back toward the gate. On the way back, take a right up the steep little hill and then ski past the Aspen lift and then take a hard left and go down the steeper cut back toward camp may road. Then ski up camp may road to the fir tree and take a right on our trail system and then an immediate right on the shortcut back to the gate. Dont do this when the lifts are running. I think this is almost 0.5 miles per lap, so do as many laps as you want. I will add this to strava for science sooon. Map:

4. LAlleyFloop2021 Littles course 2: Start at Gate on camp may road, ski up the road to mother lift, around mother lift and then down back to the gate. Finish at gate. This is about .3miles. You can do another lap, or lots of laps, see if I care.

Hopefully this will be fun. But remember, the real fun is the friends we made along the way, except for this year, there are no new friends, just isolation with you and your skis and the trail. I think there is great potential for an even dumber slightly expanded LAlleyFloop if the two shortcuts from TJ's to the lower road are passable again, then you can go from N->O and then right back up to TJ's and then across the lower part of TJ's to the other shortcut to P? on the lower road and then up the lower road to the shortcut up to B and make a zigzag. I think this is pretty impassible right now with trees down and aspens growing in the shortcut, so maybe next year. I am sure clay has opinions on why this is not a good course and how it could be better, but this one is 100% excellent and definitely the best course ever.

More new snow for 1/26/2021

I think we're finally getting out of the "low and pathetic" conditions reports into the "this is great!" category of trail reports. Not to be too greedy, but I do think we could use just a bit more snow to make things last for a while longer. We just barely got over the hump of getting those giant volcanic rocks covered, so one more good round would really help things out. We're keeping the trails rolled and compacted as each wave comes through. It takes a long time to set a classic track, so we kinda wait until it lets up so it doesn't just fill in. When it's soft like it is now, a track isn't really necessary anyway. Looks like a break in the action starting tomorrow through early Friday (with some warmer temperatures), with another quick-hit storm right at the start of the weekend. Another round is expected throughout the day today. Groomers will be up each night working on the trails, so check it out!

Trails report for January 23, 2021

We got up to the trails to groom around a quarter to six, did some work to the machines and unearthed our "good snow" groomer, which has been frozen to the ground, covered in fall leaves, then buried under the less than optimal snowpack thus far. Things are improving, so we think we'll be able to pull it out and finally use it this season! One more round of snow, and it's gettin' called into action. We went out to set track and shovel a couple of the thin spots, which went well. It started snowing while we were grooming, but we went ahead and finished the job. It came down pretty hard just as we were leaving, so that was great to see, but obviously, it was going to fill in the tracks...oh well, we need the snow badly. Everything was regroomed and mostly all set with track. Things have improved and it's now mostly possible to ski even the lower meadow without issues if you know the right line ;-) Today, I was able to ski without hitting a single thing, even on the front hill, which is obviously still very thin. With each round of snow, we'll do our best to pack/groom/set track, but there may be some delays depending on volunteer availability. It's a hard job and takes a LONG time to do each session (at least 3 to 5 hours). Thanks to all of you who have renewed your memberships and/or supported the club. It keeps the program running and the trails groomed! Please get out and enjoy these good conditions!!!

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

Report for January 14, 2021

We've had a lot going on, if not a lot of snow falling on the trails. The entire system was roll-packed after the small storm over the weekend, and there continues to be some OK rock skiing throughout. It improves as one skis up and around the shadowy Canada Bonita ridge. Above Point J, it's not bad at all. Below that, use extreme caution and learn where those big volcanic rocks hide and wait to take your ski's base from you.

Camp May Rd practice area was regroomed last evening (Wednesday) to run some tests on the machines. There is both skate and classic set, and the snow is great.

The machines have required a lot of tweaking this year, so perhaps the dearth of snow has been a semi-blessing in disguise for the groomers. We *might* now have them all back in working order, but it has been a bit frustrating. It was just a bunch of little things, and that joyride that the vandals perpetrated back in September did a real number to our poor old Ranger. Little gremlins keep surfacing, but hopefully we're past that now. We'll see. It had a clutch failure and the anti-sway arm stabilizer was completely broken and required full replacement. That is always a fun type of job in our teeny-tiny shop space. For now, we're able to groom if we get new snow, so that's always the focus.

We'll report back on things if one of the other groomers can peel away and refresh things. Plans are in the works for this evening.

The NOAA is predicting some type of snowstorm for late in the weekend or perhaps Monday-Wednesday timeframe. The prediction seems to be improving, so hopefully we'll be able to stay in business. It's getting a bit lean out there in places...

Not much to say...except that we NEED MORE SNOW!!! (January 6)

 Not much to say here.  I haven't personally been up to groom, having to deal with a few mechanical issues with the machines.  Cameron Staples has kept things in shape, but we are running perilously low on snow and so the skiing reflects that.  Be SUPER careful when you head out into the trail network.  There are great sections, then some that are just super thin with obstacles hiding just below the surface.  

This next storm looks like it'll only give us a glancing blow, but hopefully something will come out of it.  We'll see.  Do your snow dances!

Happy New Year - January 4 Report

 Happy New Year to everyone.  Hope you've been able to get out and ski on our thin but well-maintained snowpack.  The trails have remained in pretty decent ski shape, despite the dearth of snow.  Ugh...we need a big storm!

Anyway, we'll keep working on making things skiable as long as we can.  This is the very reason why we keep the trails maintained all year and hang up all of that fencing.  We have to be ready for this very scenario.

I think we'll keep trying to groom every 3rd day or so for now, so keep that in mind.  It should be pretty OK skiing for about another week or so, if it doesn't get too warm.  

The upper ski trails are best, and the lower road was groomed the other night as well.  The lower half of the meadows are not so good, so use EXTREME caution in those areas.  The front hill is also very rocky, so the advice is to ski carefully up, then take your skis off and walk that rocky section (walk on the high side of the trail, PLEASE). 

Keep your fingers crossed for more snow!!!

12/30/2020 Grooming Report

 We went back up last evening to finish the full grooming work after Cameron ran the roller/compactor in the morning, following the little storm we got.

It was nice and cold, and with just enough snow to set a partial system classic track.  It will be thin in spots, but the upper trails have a pretty nice classic track, plus the skate lane looks good too.

It's supposed to stay seasonably cool, so hopefully this lasts for a little while, or until we get more snow.  It just doesn't look like any sort of whopper storm is coming anytime soon, but there are chances of little quick-hitter storms on the horizon.  As long as it's cool and we get some doses of snow here and there, we'll be OK.

Enjoy, and please support the club by joining or donating (see the registration site on our webpage).