Jan.30, 2019 - Brrrrrr.

North Plateau Trail this afternoon

It's a sunny but bitterly cold and windy day here. The remainder of the trails have been groomed this morning, but with the strong westerly wind some open areas will drift in quickly. Skiing is good, but don't get frostbite!

Mainline Trail near Central Park

Jan. 29, 2019 - Late afternoon update

Our snowfall yesterday amounted to between 15 and 20 cm. of beautiful powder. I have groomed about 75% of the trails this afternoon - rolling and combing only; no track set yet. I hope to groom the rest of the trails tomorrow. Skiing is good, but be careful about the temperature; the next couple of days are predicted to be very cold.

Finally, plenty of snow

With about 20 cm of new snow from Monday's storm, we now have good coverage in most areas. Because of the wind, some spots may still be blown bare, while others will be drifted deep. It will take me some time to get this snow groomed. In the meantime, we have pretty good "backcountry" conditions.

Monday, Jan. 28 - off again, on again

The roller coaster continues, as we have again received some new snow, and skiing is again possible. The snowfall overnight Saturday into Sunday brought us about 5 cm of new powder. However, it was accompanied by winds, so the coverage is not uniform. Some open areas may be blown off nearly bare, while others will have deeper drifts. I would consider the skiing to be fair only.
The forecast says we will get a significant snowfall later today and into tomorrow. I will try to groom as soon as I can after the snowfall stops.

Fri. Jan. 25 - On again, off again

Wednesday's warm temperatures and rain resulted in a loss of snow cover on our trails. We now have significant bare patches, and the remaining snow is tending toward ice. I would not recommend skiing in these conditions.

Jan. 20: We have skiing

Saturday's snowfall brought us just enough snow that skiing is now possible. Snow depth ranges from 5 to 10 cm. All trails are now skiable. The skiing is not what I would call "good" but it's tolerable. I have groomed about half the network, concentrating mainly in the central section, with some in the south.
Temperatures are very cold and the wind is strong from the northwest, so if you come, be sure to dress well and keep your skin covered.

Trail #10, Sunday afternoon.

Jan. 19, 2019 - No skiing

We have received a few cm of new snow over the past couple of days, but it is still not sufficient for skiing. Sorry folks, this has been a really bad year so far.

Sat. Jan. 12, 2019

There is snow somewhere, but it's not here at Hockleycrest. We still have just a thin covering on our trails.
If you are looking for a place to ski, I can recommend Highlands Nordic, near Duntroon. I went there yesterday, and the conditions were very good.

January 11, 2019 - No skiing

We've had some light flurry activity over the past couple of days, but it has not delivered enough snow to ski on. Snow depth on trails ranges from 2 to 5 cm, not sufficient for safe skiing.

Hockleycrest Trail, Thursday afternoon, Jan. 10

January 4, 2019 - a little snow but not enough

We received about 3 cm of new snow on January 3, but then it was above freezing on the 4th so we lost some snow. There were ski tracks coming in from the trail head on 5 Side Road, but they only went about 50m and then stopped and turned around. The skiers obviously came to the conclusion that the snow was not deep enough.

Trail condition at 5 Side Road access point on Friday afternoon

January 2 - a New Year's Wish

It may be a new year, but there is not much new on our trails. We still don't have snow to ski on. The ground is either bare or covered with a thin layer of ice, after the quick thaw, rain and then a fast freeze-up over the past 2 days.
With no skiing or grooming to be done,  I took advantage of the opportunity to do some pruning of limbs on the spruce trees along the Westside Story trail. They were beginning to protrude into the trail, making it narrower than it should be.

The trail before pruning

Wider trail after branches were removed