Poor Conditions again

 I'm getting tired of posting the same gloomy report everyday. As the temperature continues to fluctuate up and down around the freezing point, things are not getting a lot worse, but they are not getting better either. We still have some snow on the ground and on the trails, although it's getting thin in a few spots.

When the temperature is above 0, the trail surface will be soft, wet and slushy. When it's below 0 (overnight and early in the morning) trails will be icy.

I will not be posting again until there is a significant change to report.

Poor conditions

 We had rain yesterday with a high temperature of +1, so there has been further deterioration of the snow. This morning, it has dropped to 0, so there is an icy crust on top of very wet snow. Skiing conditions are poor.

Losing Snow

 Warm temperatures and rain are eating away at our snow cover. We have lost 5 cm of snow in the last 24 hours. We had another unpleasant surprise this morning: freezing rain.

It is still possible to ski, but it's no fun at all. Conditions are poor to fair.

Deteriorating Conditions

 After a day when the temperature hovered around 0 or just above, snow conditions have changed significantly. It's now +1 and will reach +3 later today. The snow structure is beginning to collapse. Trail surfaces that were firmly packed to support the weight of a skier have become soft, wet and heavy.

It's still possible to ski, but it's not much fun, and will get worse as the day goes on.

Changing Conditions

 Yesterday's forecast proved to be quite accurate; starting about noon, we received 5 cm of new snow, which was on the moist side as  it came down, thus making it a bit sticky to ski on. I was out grooming in the late afternoon, finishing up at 5:15 p.m. as the snow was still falling. I packed all the southern trails, and almost all of the central and northern trails.

Snow was still falling at 11o'clock last night, but sometime overnight there was a transition to either rain, or freezing rain. This morning, at a temperature of -1, we have a thin icy crust on top of the snow. This is both good news and bad news. On the good side, glide is excellent. In fact, it's really fast out there. On the bad side, control on hills is much reduced, as it's not easy to snowplow in the crust.

Conditions will continue to change throughout the day, as the temperature rises to about +4, and there may be some rain. Welcome to skiing in southern Ontario!

More New Snow, but then.....

 We did receive 1 or 2 cm of new snow yesterday. I did some "touch-up" grooming in the afternoon, once there was a bit of new powder to work with. The combination of these two things has resulted in slightly improved conditions this morning. Trails are still "fair to good" but tending a bit more toward the good end.

The forecast today is calling for some additional snow, possibly around 5 cm. This will be nice for a little while, but unfortunately we have a few days of warm weather arriving tomorrow. It looks like our period of tolerable skiing may be coming to an end.

New Snow in the Forecast

 Conditions on the trails remain about the same - fair to good. We have some wind this morning, and some trail sections have become drifted. However, I'm not going to groom right away, because we are expecting some new snow this afternoon and tomorrow. My grooming schedule will depend on how much we get, and when it finishes.