C Hill

Hi All! Found this page helpful in the past so thought I would join and share my 2c. I took the old fish scales up to BHP today, unsure of what to expect. Followed D Baniak’s tracks, it’s wet snow but really not terrible once you get past where the horse manure is. given it’s only november can’t complain too much. Season’s open, I’d say! All…[Read more]

So,I arrived at the park restaurant bldg at 12:30 with my “talking” skis. Set off on the Esk trail:nobody had been down it. I weaved my way around horse tracks and droppings breaking a trail where it seemed best. By the time I arrived at the junction with Lime Kln the horses were gone and I broke trail on the left side of the trail to the lookout,…[Read more]

I’d like to echo what some have said from time to time: THANK YOU to the BHP trail groomers for an absolutely amazing ski season!!!!

So, me and the G-man started today at 9:30 Apr 12 at the stables parking lot. Skied east Bluestem to the lookout, Chick loop,and Esk back to the parking lot. The ski track was very melted and shrunken, with the base of the track collapsing under my skis from time to time. I had decent luck keeping one ski in a track and placing the other…[Read more]

Tuesday, 7:00 to 10:30 AM, -1° to +6°, sunny, Group Use Road, icy to moist, needles and other forest debris reappearing, hoof prints, foot prints, and a kick sledder’s track that sank as deep as 5 cm in many places. Overall, good skate skiing. The current very warm temperatures and forecast rain late this week will accelerate the melting, but I t…[Read more]

trails closed, too many bare spots and starting to see green grass, see you next December

I was out at 7:20 a.m. Mon. -1c. Chickadee had lots of footprints so I turned around and did West Bluestem in reverse direction. Still in pretty good shape and icy/crusty at that time of day. Lots of double poling and a very satisfying ski with effortless glide.
Good snow base so who knows how long it will last.

Great ski Saturday morning on Bluestem, Esker, Lime Kiln and Aspen! Conditions were firm and super-fast when we started, but softening by noon. Lots of skiers out there enjoying the beautiful sunny day, and possibly last classic outing. Hope it cools off enough so the trails will still be skiable!

Trails groomed again this morning, April 8. South-exposed slopes (Black Diamond, Creekside, Foxhole) are icy. otherwise conditions are remaining excellent for spring skiing.

Friday 6-9pm. Classic tracks good, icy and some side crust in sunny sections, hard snow in shaded. Red wax worked well over a 15 km ski. GUR skate track looked awesome. Not many people out at the best time of evening. Would have stayed longer to do some skate skiing after dark , but did not pack donuts and coffee. Dumb… Fail…

Awesome ski in Windsor Park today, early afternoon, with my skin skis. Much appreciate the post-storm grooming!❄️

friday 815 am start: lime kiln-esker-eastern aspen. very good to excellent conditions. tracks were impeccable and it was crisp and flowy. best time to go is the (early) morning. although snow coverage is plenty, the warm temps will be turning this into ‘mashed potatoes’ real soon. enjoy while you can !

Thursday afternoon, -4° to -2°, sunny. Skate. A fair number of skiers, both classic and skate. Very good grooming, but the track ranged from very soft to moderately soft, which of course resulted in some loss of push power and also glide. I sure like skiing in these temperatures … on good snow … and in April.

Basically 0 conditions in the afternoon . Tried some different waxes but nothing really worked well . Finally went with Swix for dry snow and that worked out ok with skate poles for icy places . Suns rays are beating down in sunny areas and eroding the trails and in shaded areas trails are dry still. Probably best to go after sunset and colder…[Read more]

From Syd Jones, Birds Hill Park’s Park Operations Supervisor, on Thursday afternoon:
Looks like skiing isn’t over yet. The park staff have pulled out all the stops and made the trails a priority. Please come out and enjoy your long weekend on Birds Hills many trails.
All trails have been groomed.

Thurs. 1:45 -2 c. Groomer heading east on Bluestem from Chick lot.Esker was not groomed as of 2:00.Did west Bluestem.Snow was a bit sticky, sometimes clumping a bit underfoot.Overall good and should set up well overnight.

April 5: Snow storm grooming update. Even though we ‘officially’ closed 10 days ago, yes, we’ll be doing some trail packing today, followed by a more complete grooming after the snow system has petered out. (looking at forecast highs of 14C and 16C for early next week, with no freezing overnight, the window for decent skiing is becoming very s…[Read more]