Trails Closed

 Our trails are closed today, due to extremely icy conditions.

Not a Good Ski Day

 The temperature went up to +5 yesterday, and did not go below freezing overnight. But it's now approaching zero, and the wet snow is beginning to freeze. As the temperature continues to drop today, the trails will become very icy.

There is nothing I can do in grooming to prevent or rectify this.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND SKIING HERE TODAY.

Good Skiing Right Now

  Conditions on the trails remain about the same as yesterday; we have a few cm of powder snow over a packed base on most trails. At the current temperature of -5, the skiing is very nice.

The forecast calls for a high temperature of +4 this afternoon, and that will definitely affect the skiing, as the snow becomes moist, heavy and packing. If you like "winter" ski conditions, come before 11 a.m. If you like "spring" skiing, then come this afternoon.

Nice Skiing Today

 The ski conditions will be nice today. Tuesday night's 5 cm snowfall was packed in grooming yesterday morning, and the temperature did not quite reach the freezing mark. We received an additional 2 or 3 cm of snow in flurries yesterday afternoon, and it's snowing lightly now. So we have a little bit of loose powder on top of the packed base.

The current temperature is -8 with a predicted high of -2.

I will not do a complete grooming today, but I will go out and tidy up some areas that got drifted in yesterday afternoon.

9 a.m. Update: Drifted areas around the south field have been regroomed, as well as a few other trails in the central area. Skiing is very good on either groomed or ungroomed terrain.

By the way, we now have 60 cm of snow on the ground, according to my snow measuring stick.

New Snow

We've received about 5 cm of new snow overnight. At the current temperature of -3, this is nice, dry powder with good glide.

Depending on which forecast you look at, the temperature is expected to rise to minus 1, or perhaps as high as plus 1 this afternoon. That would change the characteristics of the snow, and make skiing more difficult.

I will start grooming first thing this morning, and hope to finish before the temperature reaches the freezing point.

There will probably be some drifting this afternoon, and possibly some snow squalls which would bring more snow.

10:45 a.m. Update: All trails have been groomed, including track-setting where appropriate. The temperature has not yet reached 0, and we are having a fairly heavy snow flurry right now.

Skiing is good.

Winter Returns

 It's a cool minus 16 here this morning. At that temperature, the glide is a bit slow, but that will improve later in the day as it warms up to -8. Ski conditions are good. All trails were groomed yesterday afternoon.

We are expecting another snowfall tonight, possibly in the 5 to 10 cm range.

Cooler and Better

 Yesterday's temperature went just a little above 0, and the result was that skiers in the afternoon had sticky snow to deal with. We don't have that problem today. The temperature has dropped to -5, and we have 3 to 4 cm of nice dry powder snow on the trail surfaces. This snow is soft under your ski and has great glide.

The cooler weather also gives me an opportunity to groom. I will be out this afternoon to pack the entire network. Once that is done, the skiing should be very good.

3 p.m. Update: All trails have been packed and skiing is good. One thing I noticed today for the first time this year: snow in sunny spots is beginning to melt, even though the air temperature is minus 5. This happens every year, of course. It's a sign that the intensity of the sunshine is getting stronger, and it signals the beginning of the end of the ski season. But don't worry; we should have at least a couple more weeks of skiing.