It's -22 outside right now, but not windy. The ski trails are generally in good shape, with a few drifted sections. Yesterday's grooming is still good in most places.
At the current temperature, glide is very slow, but should improve as the temperature rises to -13 this afternoon.
Yesterday's snowfall amounted to approximately 5 cm, but it's hard to get an accurate number because the wind picked up last night and there has been a huge amount of drifting.
I groomed the southern and central trails yesterday, late in the afternoon. That may have been a mistake, as much of that grooming has disappeared under drifted snow. The strong winds have also brought down a lot of small twigs from trees; hopefully nothing big has come down on a trail.
I will groom again this morning on the northern trails, and will refresh some of the drifted trails in the central area. However, the wind is still blowing, so drifting is likely to continue.
It's also quite cold this morning, currently -20, with a forecast high of only -16. As a result, the glide is quite slow.
Noon Update: I've groomed all the northern trails and refreshed the worst of the central trails. The wind was from the north, so the east-west trails in open areas were the most affected by drifting. Be prepared for a slanted descent on The Pasture, as there was a giant drift on the hill. I ran the groomer over it, but it's still much higher on the left side than the right.
We've received about 2 cm of new snow overnight, and it looks like the snowfall will continue for much of the day. The predicted total is around 5 or 6 cm. The wind is currently light from the south, but late this afternoon it will move around to the northwest and become quite strong. So the conclusion of this snow event will probably see a lot of drifting snow.
I will not groom until the snowfall has ended, which probably means tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we have good skiing on a few centimetres of fresh powder over a previously packed base.
I feel like I'm writing the same thing every day; because ski conditions remain virtually the same, which is very good. Yesterday, I groomed a couple of areas that had not been done Tuesday, primarily the North Field, and I regroomed trails that were trampled by hikers on Tuesday.
Skiing will be very good today. Current temperature is -10, rising to -6 this afternoon.
Yesterday's flurries brought us about 3 cm of new snow, which was exactly what we needed to refresh the trail surfaces. The entire trail network (with a couple of small exceptions) was groomed yesterday during the snowfall, and the result was very good.
You may find a few places where a group of selfish, inconsiderate hikers trampled the newly-groomed surface of a ski trail, but generally conditions are excellent.
At today's starting temperature of -14, the glide is a bit slow; but that will improve as it warms up to -8.
We have received about 1 cm of new snow overnight, and it is snowing lightly now. This provides a bit of softness to the trail surfaces, and gives great glide. Depending on how much more snow we get, I may do some grooming later this morning, to refresh the tracks.
Ski conditions continue to be very good.
This morning's temperature is a very comfortable -6, and it's expected to stay around there all day.
9 a.m. Update: The intensity of this morning's snowfall has increased, and based on the weather radar it looks like it will continue for a while. I will do some grooming, but will wait until we have more new snow on the ground.
2 p.m. Update: We've received 3 to 4 cm of new snow. I have groomed almost all the trails in the network. I did not groom the full North Field loop, since the wind is coming up and we're expecting blowing/drifting snow. Any grooming I do there would quickly disappear.
We had one unfortunate incident this morning. While I was grooming (in fact in between the 2 passes that I make on the Pasture trail) a group of very inconsiderate hikers left the Bruce Trail and trampled some of the freshly groomed ski trails. The worst damage was on the Pasture trail. I've gone over it a second time, but their deep, post-hole type footprints are not easy to eliminate. Grrrrr!
Other than the trampled areas, skiing is excellent.
Yesterday turned out to be a really nice ski day, with great snow, blue skies and sunshine. The high temperature of -8 was comfortable, and provided good glide on the snow.
Today might be even better. The snow is still good, trails are in nice condition and the temperature will reach a very nice -5. There is a bonus for early skiers: the trees are covered in hoar frost this morning. A little bit of light snowfall may move in late in the afternoon.
Get out to ski while you can; in southern Ontario you never know how long the snow will last.
By the way, yesterday was Day 60 of skiable conditions here this season.
