SWNSC New Machine Fund Raiser Drive

Greetings SWNSC Members and supporters.

You may have heard that the club recently purchased another Ski Doo Alpine Snomobile for trail grooming. Our grooming process has always been to do the heavy grooming with the Cushman Tracksters, and the fast cleanup and maintenance grooming with one of our two aging Alpines...

We will be losing access to one of the Green Cushman Tracksters as it belongs to Dave personally and he is putting it on the market now for various reasons, tho the club's "Kermit Trackster" will continue to be available for heavy grooming....in fact "Kermit" was used last night to roll all the trail system.



We have needed a new snomobile for some time now, because the old ones are worn out and quite undependable. The problem for the club has been that a new grooming snomobile costs over $10,000 dollars, money the club just doesn't have, and is unlikely to be able to raise anytime soon.



This Fall Dave Wykoff spotted a 1980 Alpine for sale on Ebay. The remarkable thing about it is that it had been stored in Green Bay WI and not used much for the last 25 years: so it is in incredible shape.



The groomers agreed we should bid on it and Clay, Ken/Jessica and Paul volunteered to provide the funds, and Dave, our Ebay specialist, handled the bidding, which was intense and contested right down to the final minute. Dave prevailed and got the machine for a $2200 bid. It cost another $699 for shipping from Green Bay, so these benefactors have around $2900 tied up in the machine. Here's a photo of it while we were getting it tuned in the Apogen shop in Los Alamos:



The two old alpines will be put on Ebay and should defray around $500 of the cost, as both snomobiles are in running condition, since there is a surprisingly large market out there for old Alpines, regardless of condition.

In the meantime we need to get together and help repay Clay, Ken/Jessica and Paul for some portion of the big bucks they put up for the new Alpine.

So I propose a "REPAY CLAY" [and Ken and Paul] fundraiser. To get things going both John Ullman and I have each put up $200 challenge grants, and we're asking that you members and donors respond with whatever you can spare. It doesn't have to be $200, any amount will help whether it be $25, $50 or whatever.

You can send a check to SWNSC, P O Box 1556, Los Alamos NM 87544.... make it out to Southwest Nordic Ski Club, but do specify that it is for the "REPAY CLAY" fund. Also if you haven't yet joined for the 2007-2008 season, now would be a great time to take care of that.

You can download membership forms from the club website at: http://www.swnordicski.org/
Thanks for your help,

Tom Berg
http://tombergpaintings.com/

Trail (& machine status) 12/10/07

It has snowed heavily today, both in town and up at the trails...especially up at the trails. There is a lot of new snow on top of what came down over the weekend and was groomed by Ken & Dave.

As posted by Tom B., Kermit, our trackster broke a track and we are short a machine. Luckily, we have the "new" snowmobile to cover while we get it fixed...probably by the weekend, sometime.

With that, it is going to take longer to get on top of the new snow. We'll begin packing it tomorrow with the machine, and hopefully get quite a bit of that done by tomorrow evening with the second session.

Until later in the week, expect soft conditions. I would suggest your classical touring skis until we get the Tidd over it and set a classical track and get the skate lane groomed. Either way, it's great new snow and will be great skiing!

12/9/2007 grooming report

From Tom Berg:


The ski season has officially begun as Ken K and Dave W groomed the entire trail system this morning using Kermit and the new Rambette snomobile. Thanks gentlemen for a beautyful job of grooming.

Quite a bit of this storm fell as rain again, but about 10" did fall as snow after it cooled down up there last night.... enough for the guys to groom everything out to full width for skating.... there really wasn't enough base to put in a classic track... but the base is in great shape now for the next storm on mon/tue. And conditions are good enough that you don't need to use rock skiis anymore..... just be careful looking out for the occasional stump or rock on the front hill.... but you can ski in and out from the base, no problem.

The classic skiing was quite nice even without tracks, and the skating was good. Do try to get up and ski today or 1st thing tomorrow.

Caveat: Los Alamos County still hasn't plowed the road [maybe they don't do it till the downhill area opens?] so it's a bit tricky getting up there, but well worth the trip.

Getting stuck while grooming

http://www.tiddtech.com/articles/So%20you%20got%20stuck%20Article%20D%20Zink.pdf This link is a great example of what the groomers encounter on regular basis. Lesson learned for us groomers, always carry a shovel. I recall last year that Clay and I had about five similar experiences in a single night all in the meadow using Kermit. Hope we get to contend with similar conditions this year. Getting stuck means the skiing is bound to be good.

December 5, 2007 trail report

The snow fence is now up at the big rock. The snow has mostly melted off up to the coat tree. From there it improves with the best base in the usual north aspect sections. Any amount of new snow should get us very close to having skiing. I think 6" will get us there.

I just returned from my evening ski on the trails. It was about what I had expected. Some areas are good for a few strides, but it is thin, at best, and non-existent in some places. I still enjoyed the good stretches a lot on my old rock skis. I knew where to watch out for the rocks and bare ground, but I don't suggest skiing until we get more snow. Most areas are primed for another storm and may be skiable with the right amount of snow, but a couple of burn-out areas exist. Here are some pics:



Looking down TJ's and where I turned around last evening with the trackster -- lots of debris

The tree mess on Dave's, the rock section needs fencing

Good stretch
Aspen shoots on upper section


The meadow is ready for more snow

Turn around at the "Baca" fence...a little rough

The most improved section of trail from this fall's work parties -- looks great, and skis much better than before!

12/03/07 Trail Report

Ken Kisiel called me yesterday after hiking the trails and said the previous night's storm blew down a few trees, including one big green one on the front hill, which meant it fell right on the snow fencing =( So, since I had plans to go up and pack the little bit of new snow, we coordinated a late afternoon/early evening work party to go clear out the trees and then send me on up in the trackster to pack down the new snow.

We cleared out the downfall that covered the front hill and early parts of the trail from A to the "coat tree" at B, then we parted ways and he went down the cut-off to clear the lower road downfall while I used the trackster and roller to pack the trails.

I didn't know what to expect; it looked really thin and not so good early, but once I got to pt. C at the intersection at TJ's, it started to look pretty good. The early packing job and the little bit of wet (rainy mixed) snow was starting to amount to something and was setting up in the cold temps (~10*F).

I had to pick my way through the big rocks on the main trail, so that area is not so great, but Dave's Dogleg looks good. There were 5(!) trees down on Dave's, so it took a while to get it cleared out. There's saw dust and limbs all over the place on Dave's, but I ran over with the roller, so it shouldn't be a problem.

On up past Dave's, the main trail is hit and miss with good snow, and "the Rock" below pt. J REALLY needs the fencing installed. It makes a big difference. The snow from the Rock to pt. J is thin, as usual, but then past J, it is actually quite good. It all got rolled (including the meadow) with a pass up and down, so hopefully it set up nicely and will be ready for the next storm.

The last switchback had some pretty thick aspen shoots...if you go up and can spare a few minutes knocking some of those out, it would be great.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the trail, but I plan on going up there tonight with my rockiest of rock touring skis to check it out. I'll try to remember my camera and post tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who made it out this weekend for the incredibly productive work party. The effects of that snow fencing were evident last evening, as the tiny amount of snow was still there and frozen to the ground.

Think snow!

12/1/2007 Work Party

The promised reams of snow never materialized (damn you weathermen!) but a bunch of us got out and cleared the trail and put up the lower section of snow fencing. Thanks to all that came out (Tom, Donna, John, Joe, Clay, Denny, Ken, Scott, Paul, Dave, Tarik, ah crap I am sure I missed someone...)

Trudging up the meager coverage

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Kermit and crew follow soon

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Paul pounds post, pound paul pound!



The sunshade snowfence is in place for the future snow.

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First Day of Los Alamos Skiing 2007-2008

Yep our Thanksgiving night storm gave way to a nice wet clumpy 6 inches or so here in town allowing for golf course skiing with the touring skis and lots of power. Done and done. Welcome to skiing in the new winter all!

Me modeling the new SWNSC hat out at the edge of one of the greens at the Los Alamos Golf Course, 11/23/2007

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2 more Bob Brewer photos

headlamps make the red line on the right, Image is from our monlight tour, Los Alamos in the distance under the full moon.

Two more Brewer Images from our great 2006/7 season

Kermit in Action

but a beautiful photo, Maybe not the best skating technique

Yes, there is Telemark Skiing on the Pajarito Trail

Jumpers, Moonlight Ski Party

Bob Brewer Photos

Two More Brewer Photographs

Point "A" and Tourers at Point "G"

Storm on Dave's Dogleg

2006-2007 season., Bob Brewer Photograph

Bob Brewer Photos

3 of 30 images on a CD Bob has given to SWNSC

Ken's grooming update, 7 March 2007

All trails groomed for skating. No classic track. Some debris and
rocks before Point B. Front hill is still skiable but melting fast.
Next possible snow Thursday.