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TRAIL CLEARING WEEKEND – Oct.19-20, 2019
Hi All!
It was not me! I did not start an early snow dance! ❄️
No matter, there will be trails!

The valley was hit hard this past weekend with lots of heavy snow breaking trees and bending the shrubbery. The trails will need more TLC this year and probably more work bees but let’s get out there and s…[Read more]

It looks like there will be new bathrooms at the Grand Beach ski trailhead parking lot.

Birds Hill Park, Saturday morning, -5° to +2°, cloudy.
Skate skiing on the Group Use Road, including the two interior add-on sections (which I had actually written-off two weeks ago).
It was badly rutted down the middle and there were lots of footprints (including a herd of animals), but an icy crust along the sides created very fast skiing and j…[Read more]

Friday night 7-9pm Conditions on skate loop were very good with rain and new snow mix from Thursday storm . If you are going Saturday , go in the morning for the best glide, before it gets too warm. Park road is dry and good for cycling or blading also . You can ski in morning and bike in afternoon.

Thanks to all the members who have been posting ski conditions: they have been very helpful. I was at Bird’s Hill today April 5/19 at noon. I skied the Bluestem start to finish. I was surprised that conditions were so good. The melted areas were easily side-stepped and the kick and glide were better than some skis in mid season. I used my “…[Read more]

April 5th. Not a bad day for my first skate ski at BHP – if it’s still going to snow, I might as well ski! 95% of the track was white & firm, very good condition. A handful of short sections were showing damp & thin, but no bare spots to speak of. The classic tracks looked done. Forecast rain & temps will probably finish the skate track too after…[Read more]

Thursday 3-5PM. Was out on skate loop during afternoon storm. There is 1.5 inches of moist new snow on trails and loop. Was fairly good glide during the storm , but snow got wetter and denser as afternoon progressed and glide got worse . In all, should still be very decent skate and classic skiing, if trails get packed down by more skiers and if…[Read more]

Wednesday 7:30-9:30PM
Skate track was still very good and fast with packed down new snow in most places.
Hope it stays like this for a few more days. Deep woods trails still looked good too.

The group use road received about 1 cm of snow over the last day or so. At mid-afternoon skating was much slower than it’s been in the last month

Monday evening 8-10pm
Skate track was fast and icy. It is holding up very well and nowhere near
melting as quickly as the loose snow elsewhere. I think that that the 2nd grooming after the big melt
of a few weeks ago, packed the snow down very well. Its probably still a foot deep in
most places, and will last for a long time yet, if temps remain…[Read more]

Birds Hill Park, Monday norning, -2° to +2°, sun and cloud.
When I arrived at the park and saw a few mm (not cm) of new snow, I knew that skate skiing on the Group Use Road was going to be slower than I anticipated. Initially, the new snow reduced glide only a bit and it may have slightly improved balance and control, but once the snow started t…[Read more]

We classic skied Aspen and Lime Kiln starting at 9:30 am Sunday morning. Both were a mix of icy/fast where double polling was the name of the game, and lightly dusted new snow. There were still many areas where we could still classic ski well with blue kick wax applied, especially on the extra loop of Lime Kiln. Unfortunately, some inconsiderate…[Read more]

Late morning Sunday, the GUR was fast and not icy at all. By about one PM it was beginning to get softer and skating was getting slower. There are still no bare spots. The parts of the classic trails that I could see appeared to be skiable but I didn’t see any classic skiers.

Friday evening 730-930pm
A small amount of new snow gave a decent edge to the skis on the skate trail.
Conditions are still very good and classic trails are still good, and not as icy.
Things will hold up for a few days yet.
North wind whistling through the pines and sunset made for a memorable evening .
Overall I gave it a 9 out of 10..

Thursday evening 800-930pm
Skate loop was hard and fast. Classic trails are icy and had an easy time just doublepoling.

On Thursday at around noon, the GUR had softened enough that skating was fast and offered some control. Still no bare spots. The classic trails appeared to be decent.

Skated on the GUR late morning and found it quite icy to begin, so I cut onto Aspen for a few kilometers. By about noon, the road had softened somewhat and skating was fast. Still no bare spots and not too much damage from walkers.

Classic’ed at Grand today. Trail is treacherous. Grooves are shallow and fading. Some rocks showing through and some bare spots starting. I would think by the weekend the classic trail would be in shambles. Lots of walker evidence on the opening climb. Skate deck looks skiable but it’s hard pack and icy.
If you want to get out there once…[Read more]