To ski or not to ski, that is the question.

I've just come in from over 3 hours of grooming. The new snow we've received since Sunday amounts to about 5 cm on average. There are places where it is drifted much deeper than that, and there are places where the wind has blown away most of the snow. I have packed almost everything. It is possible to ski, but the ice that remains from the old snow that melted last weekend and then re-froze is not far below the surface. To make for pleasant, safe skiing we need about 5 cm more snow. There have been some light flurries today, but not enough to really increase the snow depth.


A shot of the north skating loop, showing how thin the snow is.

One of the things I encountered while grooming this morning was a large butternut tree fallen across the Mainline trail near the bottom of a pretty fast downhill section. I went and got my chainsaw and cleared what would have been a very unpleasant surprise. See the photos below for Before and After shots. As I arrived at that spot, I also saw 3 deer and about a dozen wild turkeys.

Fallen tree across trail #1

Site of the fallen tree after I had cleared it.