Ski conditions continue to be good. Some of the trails I groomed yesterday have gotten drifted in, but the trail is still visible and the snow not too deep.
We are expecting a small snowfall today, probably around 5 cm, so I won't groom until after that has ended.
The temperature is a little warmer, currently sitting at -13, and it will reach -3 by this evening.
The combination of a little more snow and a lot of wind means that many trails are drifted in today. The total accumulation from flurries yesterday and squalls last night is about 5 cm. Trails that run in a north/south direction were most affected by drifting, since the wind was from the west.
I will not get out to groom until mid-morning, as I have another commitment.
Today, we are dealing with some cold temperatures. It's currently -15, and may get up to -10 this afternoon. The glide is not very good on the cold snow right now; it's not sticky, just slow.
12:30 p.m. Update: The entire trail network has been groomed. Skiing is good except for sections that are drifting in. There is a strong wind blowing, so some sections are drifting in very quickly.
Ski conditions continue to be very good this morning. We've received a light dusting of new snow overnight. Yesterday's grooming is still looking good; I will not groom today unless we get a significant snowfall.
It's cool this morning, currently -11 with a forecast high of -9. There is a brisk breeze blowing.
We have warnings of blowing snow this afternoon, and possible snow squalls tonight; it's impossible to say whether these will bring us any measurable snow.
Yesterday's mild temperature made skiing difficult, as the snow became very sticky for most of the day. But fortunately, it did not permanently damage our snow. Trail surfaces are still covered with nice, workable powder.
Everything was groomed on Friday. Since then, we've received about 4 cm of snow Friday night, and another couple of cm yesterday in flurries. I will be out at first light this morning to groom everything again. Once that is done, skiing should be very good.
10:30 a.m. Update: The entire network has been regroomed, and most of it turned out very well. A few trail sections that got a lot of traffic yesterday are little bit hard-packed, but not too bad. We have some drifting going on today; it's a different pattern, as today's wind is from the southwest. Some tracks may get filled in as a result.
Overall, skiing is very good today.
The weather gods have thrown us another curve ball. A couple of days ago, the forecast high for today was -3, which would have been perfect. But now it appears the high today will be +1, not what we wanted to see. It is currently -2.
Last evening and overnight, we received 2 to 3 cm of new snow, and it is snowing lightly now. At the moment, skiing is good, with reasonable glide. But we are getting dangerously close to the freezing point, and that means the snow is likely to become sticky, and glide will be poor. Early skiers will probably get the best conditions of the day. If you come to ski, you should bring along some form of liquid glide wax, such as "easy glide" for your skis.
Everything was groomed yesterday. I will not groom today, as these warmer temperatures are not suitable for working the snow.
When the snow stopped falling yesterday around dinner time, we had received close to 20 cm, propelled by strong north winds. That means there was a lot of drifting in some areas.
Fortunately, winds are very light this morning, so the -13 temperature doesn't feel too bad.(and the forecast high for this afternoon is a very nice -4)
Trails got an initial grooming with the roller/comb yesterday, while snow was still falling. I will groom again today to firm up the base, set some track, and clean up the drifted spots. Skiing will be very good today. According to today's forecast, we may get a few more centimetres of snow this evening.
The parking lot on 5 Sideroad has been plowed.
11:30 a.m. Update: The entire network has been regroomed, and track-set where appropriate. The snow groomed up really nice. We have excellent skiing conditions, probably the best we've had so far this year.
Oh Deer: when you ski our trails you will probably see evidence that white-tailed deer have been there, with their sharp little hooves punctuating my beautifully groomed trail surfaces. This is especially true on the flat central trails, such as Black Cherry, Field and Forest, and Stone Hedge. There are lots of apple trees along these trails, and the deer come to dig up and eat apples from under the trees. In a few places, the deer excavations extend out into the trail surface, so you might encounter a bit of roughness as you ski over. I can't do much about this; they were here first. I encountered a group of 4 deer this morning while grooming Black Cherry.
Well, who saw this coming 24 hours ago? Not the weather forecasters.
Anyway, we are happy to report that we've received between 10 and 15 cm of snow, and it's still coming down. It's hard to measure exactly how much we've got, as the wind has been blowing, so some spots are deeper, while in other places the snow has been blown away.
I will begin grooming right after breakfast, but this will just be a first pass, as the snowfall is predicted to continue into the afternoon.
3 p.m. Update: All trails except 2 short ones have been packed at least once. Grooming was tough today, as the grooming machine just won't climb a steep hill when there is 20 or more cm of loose snow on it. Got stuck and had to dig out 4 times. Anyway it's done with one pass, for now. Snow is still falling, though lighter than earlier. I will be out tomorrow morning to pack the trails more firmly and set some track.
