YUK, thaw weather

Aside from the crummy skiing and tough grooming......

You will remember (!) that driving grooming machines on wet or damp snow makes an impossible mess that terminates skiing and grooming until the next major snowfall.  A lot of skiing on wet or damp snow is equally terminal, but the new wet snow is heavy enough that this is unlikely.

Thus, the first opportunity to groom again is looking like Friday morning.  We are supposed to groom a short skate/classic course for the Club Championships on Saturday, and hopefully we can get the whole trail system up for the weekend.

Short and sweet

All the trails are snow-covered and have fresh grooming.  It's still nice snow if you hurry.

Two snowfalls and a Spoon later

Everything was groomed today and conditions are nearly perfect cold snow.  There is some granular ice mixed in with the snow, so you will likely lose wax if you ski a long way.

Someone took a dog on the river loops today.  The damage to the track had to be seen to be imagined.  This amount of damage makes for very unpleasant skiing and is extremely discourteous at the very least.  Club policy is that dogs should be kept off the groomed trails.

To groom or not to groom

...that is the question.  The answer is to wait until after the thaw predicted for Monday.  Until then, please enjoy two more days of excellent classic skiing.

And now, if you are not into nitty-gritties, please stop reading and go ski.

Several considerations affect the decision of when to groom.  While the classic track on D-R-X-C-M is very fine, the skate areas still have ungoomed snow on top.   Here's the thing...
 - Friday's snowfall was rather small, about one inch after compaction
 - skate-skiing in this amount of new snow is really fun
 - skate grooming will inevitably drag up lots of the ice which is lurking just below
 - the classic track on the skate loops is still very good
 - orienteering activity (Feb. 10) normally does far more than its fair share of damage to the grooming
 - rainfall (Feb. 11?) is deadly on compacted snow, far less so in new snow
 - the head groomer is totally exhausted from 18 hours of slugging in two days
 - one of the two club snowmobiles is down for the count & unserviceable.

Now, go ski.

Silver Spoon week

Skiers are still reporting "surprisingly good" skiing.  This is attributable to the decision to leave the last snowfall ungroomed until after the predicted rain, so that we had something to work with on the trails after the rain and thaw.  The skiffles of snow during the week have also helped a lot.

Even if the skiing had been poor all week, we would likely have suspended grooming.  This is because we will be able to set a track in this granular snow only once more, with a great deal of work, and Silver Spoon is given priority.  The amount of snow that is predicted is unfortunately too little to help much, but maybe we will be lucky.

And now, B-loop too

B-loop was groomed for classic & skate skiing today.  There are large lumps of ice in several places where we removed large windfall tree trunks.  We groomed over the ice so it is not very visible, but you will certainly feel it underfoot.  As mentioned recently, the dips and humps are still prominent on B-loop, as on H and S, so high speeds come with a rough ride.

Quick & dirty

The title describes the trails, not the grooming process, which was laborious.  The crunchy snow was barely groomable, especially where many skiers had skied in the wet.

D, R, X & C have a new track that one brave skier described as "fantastic".  That may have referred to sheer terror from high speed.  At least the copious litter has been stirred into the crystaline snow so it is not a problem.  The track is very abrasive and will become rock hard very soon.

K, M, H & S have also been groomed for skating and classic skiing.  B is ungroomed and the exit is blocked by a largish smashed tree trunk.  B likely has other windfalls as well, so be very cautious.  The snowmobile was labouring heavily to negotiate the hills on H and S and it was deemed foolhardy to attempt those on B, especially when only a handful of skiers in town can safely handle those lumpy hills at high speed.

Keeping the fast, icy snow in mind, best enjoy the trails soon, because this type of snow often permits only one grooming.