Trail Groomed 1/21/08

Last night, Mon 1/21, Denny ran Kermit and the six foot Tidd to 'freshen up" the trail. He left the set track intact as it looked fine. He hit the main trail, the outer meadow and a few of the cutoffs - should be in great shape until the next storm.

The groomer's actual quote on the overall experience last night follows:
"well, it was actually quite an enjoyable experience. full moon. barely needed to use the lights. Of course, I attribute the ease in grooming that I had to pure skill, expertise, and grace, yes grace."

Denny will be signing autographs for all interested groomers at a club event near you. ;)

Chama Chile Classic Jan 20, 2008

Well, I didnt get to go this year because Clay gave me his flu while conveniently getting over it himself just in time for Chama! Anyway, as expected I seriously missed out.

It was a gorgeous sunny day with yet another great turn out of 80+ skiers/snowshoers. The course was made easier this year as all downhills had a nice run out (for those of us who cant turn :) and was beautifully groomed thanks to dedicated Chama help consisting of 5 days of solid course packing by their snomo volunteers and Clay's work on Friday and Saturday with our club's 4 ft tidd and track setter pulled by Cosmo, our 'new' snomo.

Everyone really enjoyed the race, and our John B. won the 10k. The 5k and the snowshoe race were also quite popular. The awards ceremony after the race at the High Country restaurant was fun, with all the green chile stew and loads of giveaways including $50 gift cards to Sportz Outdoor store - they were one of the race sponsors this year! Of course there is also the whole Chama/High Country Restaurant volunteer gang that makes the whole thing just a lot more Chama and a lot more fun, but you have to be there to understand and to drink the beer (so make sure to attend awards next year!!). Results and race report will be posted at http://www.chamaski.com/ soon (currently the 2008 report and results link points to 2007 report and results).

SWNSKI had John B, Clay, Dave Judy and Wyatt W, Greg O and family, Gene, Denny, John and Nancy U., there representing us which is very nice. But I really hope our club participation increases next year. The race really needs our support - if we dont make an effort now to support such events, we will lose the fragile nordic culture of NM completely!
There was talk of keeping some groomed trails in Chama - a few locals who already have the necessary machines and the means are interested in finding out more about grooming there! They will be contacting us hopefully.

As I was not there, I'm sorry to say neither were my photographic skills... well maybe not skills, but the fact that I try to take a few shots before the event is well over with. Anyway, here are a few shots taken by Toma and Clay well after all races were over and then down at awards.

1) Toma driving Cosmo:

2) Toma, women's 10k winner - check out the cool medals everyone got!

3)Clay in front of the warming hut out on race course (start/finish 'stadium' visible at right)

4) While awards were a lot of fun, Wyatt was just too tired from watching mom and dad race skis and snowshoes all morning :)

Just heard from Dina on the current {Friday evening] grooming situation on the Chama Chile Classic race course [which will happen Sunday at 11:00AM:

"Just talked to Clay. He has groomed the Chama course today and it should ski well for those interested in pre-skiing it tomorrow [Saturday].  You will have until about 3:00PM after which the course will be closed and regroomed for Sunday's race.    Dina"

grooming update, 1/17/08

Entire trail regroomed last night and this morning for classic and skate skiing.   Conditions remain very cold so the conditions should be good for the holiday weekend.

Trail Report 1/10/08

Hi everyone! Hope you get a chance to get out and ski. There is a lot of new snow and the wind has finally quit howling...mostly.

I went skiing today at noon. The sun was out and temperatures were in the 20's. After a cold night, the snow had set up and was still pretty squeaky.

Dave Wykoff had jumped back into the trackster (he groomed yesterday too) and was out grooming with the 6-foot Tidd today, including the meadow trails. He had his ski clothes under his work close, and was even going to ski a little afterward. What an animal!

Overall, the trails are in amazing shape. They are still a bit soft, but setting up quickly. I don't know if Dave was going to get around to setting a classic track. It's only fair that he gets a chance to ski after two grooming sessions in a row.

If anyone is willing to lend a hand, there are a couple of sections of the front hill fencing that need to be reset. The first long stretch is leaning so far out that it is not really doing much, and then further up, there is a fairly short segment that needs to be reset with another bamboo pole and some cord.

Lots of new snow 1/7/08

Snowpack is no longer a question mark for the season. We got hit big time by this storm. Unfortunately, we also got hit with a mechanical breakdown on one of the machines, so it had to be taken out of service and down to the shop in town for repairs.

Several of the main groomers are not available for various reasons. Grooming this new snow will be slow. The trail could use some packing by snowshoe or touring skis anyway, especially the meadow trails. The drifts are going to be horrendous, as the wind is howling now.

The trail will probably get packed out by the weekend or so.

Pajarito Ski Time Trial Results Jan 6th 2008

Despite having to leave their car half way up the unplowed ski hill road and hike up Judy, Lyle and Luke Amer from Santa Fe did make it to the time trial. Actually, at that point it was well after 10am and Denny has been groooming since 4am (Clay did a lap after 9am), but both efforts were hard to see due to all the snow coming down and being blown very quickly! So the fact that Amers did make it was complete and utter luck! They skied up to point B as I was sending off Paul - the last in line after Clay and Denny, so they had 60 seconds to get ready and hear what the course was.

The TT course was from point B up to top of meadow coming back on lower road and finishing at B again - start/finishline was the Coat Tree, no shortcuts were used. The snow was very very soft and it was snowing the whole time. Here are the results:

Clay Moseley 25:55

Denny Newell 34:09 (After grooming for 5 hours that morning)

Paul Graham 34:08

Judy Amer 35:42

Luke Amer 34:39

Lyle Amer 32:39

Here are pictures Clay starting and Denny and Paul lined up (note their fancy club clothes!) and then the Amers frantically stripping and getting ready to start:

Clinic Action Shots

Here are a few more shots from the ski clinic on Sat which was very well attended and a lot of fun:

1,2) Learning the 'Neanderthal-GunSlinger' pose as demonstrated by Jess:

3-4) Serious fall-forward action (NOT a trust exercise!):

5) Below, Ken and Jess showing correct stance.

Great clinic day

What a great clinic this morning at the Pajarito Ski Trails. It is great to have such knowledgeable skiers and teachers in the club. About 15 people in the classic class and 6 in the skate. Classes ran for about 2 hours on suprisingly warm and humid snow. The trails were groomed to perfection despite no significant snow in the last few weeks. Thanks so much Jessica, Ken and Clay for teaching, and to all the groomers for keeping the trails in such great shape this year. A bunch of us went skiing up to the meadow and back afterwards and boy am I pooped. Remember low key time trials tomorrow (sunday 1/6/08) AM, 8:30 for warm up and 9-9:30 start of the racing, unless it snows 4 feet tonight...

Here are a few pics thanks to Tom Berg, click each image for huge uncropped pics:

Jessica watches Paul lead a poleless drill while a snowboarder flattens the classic track behind her

click for big

More poleless classic skiers

click for big

Clay and Jessica entrance the classic class with their squatting and arm swinging

click for big

Trail Groomed for Weekend (1/04/08)

Entire trail system was regroomed during the course of the day and this evening. Everything looks great again. Both skate and classic were completely redone and should be in great shape for the weekend's activities (clinic tomorrow and training time trial on Sun.).

It was becoming more humid and snowing very lightly (and blowing a bit) this evening, but the temps were hovering right around freezing. The track may still be somewhat softish tomorrow if it doesn't cool off more than that.

Hope to see you out there this weekend.

Trail Report 1/3/08

The temperatures climbed more today than they have in a while...it was actually pretty warm up high, and colder down low...typical with a NM high pressure inversion. So, while it was pleasant temps with filtered sunshine, it was still cool enough to keep the snow from transforming in all but the sunniest areas.

The trails are still holding nicely. The grooming from the weekend did a great job. There is quite a bit of tree trash and few little uneven places, but overall it is good skiing, both classical and skating. The snow is quite firm, but not icy. The meadow trails are very firm with wind cups and drifts. The classic track is good in the trees, but wind-blown in the open meadow areas.

All trails still have some powdery snow (not ice) to edge on for control. For kick, it looks like some blue klister mixed in with whatever hard wax is necessary for the current temperature would help out quite a bit. Conditions vary from bottom to top.

Watch out for a few obstacles lurking just at the top surface of the snow. I noticed the tops of some of those big rocks are right about to poke through.

Enjoy...it looks like some snow is on the way later in the weekend.

Don't forget about the clinics and the 'for-fun' training time trial this weekend.

New Year's trail update

Denny and Dave groomed the night of Dec.  30th---in spite of the old hard snow they had to work with, it still came out just great...   classic track gets better and better as you get higher in the woods.

The meadow of course is blown in, but the rest of the trail network is fine, so get out and enjoy it!

SWNSC Ski Clinic & "Fun" Race Events

The Southwest Nordic Ski Club ( www.swnordicski.org) will be hosting its annual ski instructional clinic on Saturday, January 5th, at 10am at the end of the Ski Pajarito parking lot.

This clinic is also in conjuction with the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon ( www.mttaylorquad.org) & Chama Chili Classic ( www.chamaski.com) clinics, both sponsored by Sportz Outdoor in Albuquerque.

The clinics will be run by members of the SWNSC, including PSIA-certified instructors Jessica Kisiel (Kisiel Koaching: http://www.kisielkoaching.com/) and Ken Kisiel.

The clinics will be broken into different ski ability levels and disciplines (skate and/or classic styles).

If you're around on Sunday morning, we might be holding a very informal training time trial (a la Tuesday night time trial format) -- freestyle. We’ll start early…meet at 8:30am at the end of the Ski Pajarito parking lot for a group warmup and course inspection. We’ll try to get going around 9:30am.

Help us spread the word.

Time to get those xc skis out and get used to breathing hard again!

Trail Report 12/28/07

Trail received 1" to 2", depending on where it was measured. It was tough to tell, since the wind blew hard last night. The meadow trails are all drifted from the small amount of snow.

The new snow made for nice skiing in the woods, however, and since the lower road was bladed, it was nice skiing too. The classic track was best there, amazingly.

It was -13*F in the ski area parking lot this morning. Pretty much anything worked for kick (Swix green or blue). Classic track is rough around the edges, but holding; it's all drifted in open areas.

Trails will need to be regroomed soon from lots of skier traffic, but are OK for now.

Trail Report 12/27/07

I got up to the trails last evening to see for myself what the conditions were. Things were a bit rough from all of the skier, snowshoer, dog and foot traffic, so I ran the snomo with the blades on everything to freshen up the skate lane and grind up some of the considerable tree trash that always seems to be prevalent on these trails.

The classic track seemed to be in surprisingly good condition, albeit a little washed out in spots and with very wide tracks from the skier traffic. It looks like a little bit of blue klister mixed in with a hard wax would would quite well if it doesn't snow much....otherwise just a cold wax would work. They're not glazed over just yet, but quite firm.

It was snowing lightly and cold up there this morning, so we'll have to see if it amounts enough to regroom with the Tidd groomers.

In general it is still quite good in most locations. The meadow is still very bumpy and you need to use caution and keep your eyes peeled for the occasional rock or log hiding just beneath the top surface.

Thanks goes out to Paul Graham, who has tirelessly shoveled the thin spots on the early part of the trail, the bumpy spots on several other areas, and who has continued to trim troublesome branches on many areas of the trail. It is utterly amazing what a difference that has made. Thanks Paul!

Trail Conditions 12/26/07

Word is that the snow is holding up well in the cool temperatures and things are still good. The trail hasn't been regroomed in several days, but really doesn't need it due to the unchanging status in the past few days. The classical track is a bit washed out in many locations, but is still holding and in good shape for training.

The trail system will mostly likely be regroomed for the weekend, or if it snows tomorrow. We'll hold off on regrooming it until then, to avoid unecessary wear and tear on the equipment.

The meadow trail loop was worked and flattened and a classic track was set there. Snow depth is still not covering everything out there, so be careful.

Remember, the club will be having its clinic on January 5, with perhaps a club "fun" time trial early on the 6th. Stay tuned!

Photos and Trail report 12/22/2007

As of this afternoon (sat 12/22) 2" of powder on top of groomed trails in the woods Very skatable. Meadow in spectacular freshly groomed shape thanks to Ken. Watch out for stumps and rocks buried flush with surface. A beautiful day, should be just as good Sunday.

Donna and me in the lower woods


Lots of folks out on the trails today including the now regular visiting from ABQ nob hill bike contingent. Lots of club members out, Paul, Joe, Jess, Ken, Donna, Me, John, a few others I am forgetting.

Donna? talking to Joe? or other tiny far away people talking


Paul and John talking at the top of the loop



See the rest of my photos from today here

Post weekend trail report (12/17/07)

Wow, what a great weekend of skiing on the SWNSC trails! Thanks to everyone who has put in so much time making things get to this point, and thanks to all of the SWNSC supporters. It really can't happen without the support.



Skiing was simply fantastic this weekend. Thanks go out to Ken Kisiel who got up early and despite having some initial machinery setbacks, got out and bladed the whole trail system multiple times to flatten out all of the wobbles that are prevalent this time of the year. It really made things nice and set up the trail for Dave Wykoff, who brought up the revamped Kermit with new tracks and did the final grooming work and set the track. All that work made the trails look completely professionally groomed by much more expensive equipment.


Also, a big thank you goes out to Paul Graham and his peeps, Carl Hagelburg and Joe Baehr, for getting out there and working on resetting the fencing (no small effort, that's for sure) and cutting out literally thousands of aspen shoots and trimming branches in places that were not only hindering skiing, but also grooming. That was awesome work and we all appreciate it. It really looks great and skis great.


And finally, Tom Berg shook off his flu and cold and came up to set up the signs. People are doing a much better job this year in being courteous and following the trail signs. Thanks Tom, and hopefully, we'll do a better job in keeping them a little more organized when we pull them off next spring.


Here are some pics of the trail work crew:


Paul Graham


Joe Baehr hard at work!
Thanks Carl

Trail Conditions 12/16/07

12" base, 100% open, classic track and skate lane. Some rocks exposed but good conditions for middle December.

Trail Report 12/13/07

Well, the trail reports keep rolling in as we do a little bit each evening to get on top of things. It's been a bit rough so far, with a new machine (see Tom's blog) that needed some tweaking and tuning, and our handy trackster Kermit out with a broken track (!), thus we haven't been able to get in a really good complete session of grooming just yet.

Slowly, but surely, we're getting the bugs ironed out, everything run and hopefully by this weekend, we'll have everything groomed out for both classical and skate to full width.

As of now, the upper trails are somewhat groomed for both skate and classical, and the lower meadow trail to the lower road is groomed for classical only. The lower road still has a lot of work to be done for skating, but it should be nice for classical, unless the foot traffic and pets destroy it before the next go-round.

If you can spare some time this weekend, there are some small trail projects that make a BIG difference and REALLY need to get done:

1. some portions of the front hill shade fence need to be reset. The big storm pulled the whole lower portion down and the posts need to be reset (further into the trail) and the fening restrung. This will keep it from happening again.
2. The signs need to be set up
3. There are a lot of aspen shoots on the far upper portions of the trail, mainly from the last switchback all the way to the top of the meadow trail. The lower road also has a lot of them. A little set of hand loppers would do the trick...just dig down as deep as possible below the top surface of the snow and snip them off.

That's about it for now. We'll see what we can get done for the weekend. We have to replace Kermit's tracks with some that we had to purchase and have shipped. They were quite expensive, so the club budget took a big hit this week =(