Still Closed

 Yesterday's forecast suggested that we might receive a significant snowfall from squalls in the afternoon and overnight. That snowfall did not materialize. We received perhaps 1 or 2 cm of new snow. It is not enough to make skiing possible again. Trails remain closed.

Trails Closed

 We lost a lot of snow yesterday, and we are going to lost a lot more today, with sunshine and +10 temperature. There are now too many bare spots for skiing. Trails are closed.

Shrinking Snow

 With bright sunshine and +4 yesterday, we lost a lot of snow. Bare spots and icy patches are showing up in many places. Warm weather today and tomorrow is going to take away a lot more snow.

As of right now (7 a.m.), at a temperature of -1, it is still possible to ski, but it's not going to last long.

Get it while it lasts

 Yesterday turned out to be a very nice day of skiing. Conditions remain about the same, at least for the first half of today. For the most part, trails are nicely covered with packed powder. There are a few small thin spots, some containing ice.

My experiment with track-setting yesterday was a success; I was able to set some quite good tracks on several of the central trails. These remain in good condition this morning.

Unfortunately, a warming trend is arriving. It will be above freezing by noon today, and the next 2 days are predicted to be much warmer.

Today might be our last chance for a while to have decent skiing.

A Little More Snow

 It snowed lightly for most of the day yesterday, with very little accumulation. But then, late in the afternoon, a heavier squall parked over us for about an hour. As a result, we have a total new snowfall of about 4 cm. This is very nice, dry snow, with good glide.

I will be grooming right after breakfast. Once that is done, skiing should be good. It's cool to start off this morning (-11), but should reach a comfortable -3 this afternoon.

9:45 a.m. Update: Most trails have now been groomed. Only a few in the central area have not been done yet this morning; after a coffee break, I am going to try some track-setting on those. 

There are still some thin spots. One particularly bad one is on #7 Around the Pines, just west of the corner where Tornado Alley connects. The wind has blown away all the snow at the top of the hill there.

Windy

 We have strong winds this morning. This has 3 results: first, it feels much colder than the -8 temperature; second it has caused some drifting of snow on the trails; third, it may bring us more snow through squalls.

I had planned to do some renovating/grooming this morning, but with this wind blowing it would be pointless. Grooming will have to wait until the wind dies down.

Ski conditions remain about the same as yesterday, ranging from fair to good.

Better Skiing

 Conditions continue to improve gradually. We had a couple of heavy flurries yesterday afternoon, and a little more snow has fallen overnight. North end trails were groomed yesterday morning, and the central trails were done again late yesterday afternoon. I will groom the southern trails this morning.

Snow is still thin in some places, such as under the thick canopy of conifer plantations. Also, a few open field locations had most of the new powder snow stripped away by the wind, leaving only the old icy base. I have not done any track-setting, because the snow depth is generally not sufficient.

Ski conditions still range from fair to good. Temperatures today are nice: currently -10. The forecast says there is a possibility of snow squalls both today and tomorrow.

9:30 a.m. Update: All the southern trails have been re-groomed and are looking pretty good. It's a nice sunny day out there right now.

Improved Conditions

 Having just skied a little bit this morning, I'm going to upgrade my assessment of the ski conditions. An additional 2 to 3 cm of snow has fallen overnight. Conditions now range from fair to good. I will be grooming the north end trails this morning; trails that were groomed yesterday afternoon will have a small amount of fresh powder on the surface.

10 a.m. Update: North end trails, and some of the central trails were groomed this morning between 7 and 8:30. Light intermittent snow is continuing to fall.

5:30 p.m. Thursday

 Well, we did receive the predicted amount of 10 cm of new snow today. The snowfall has pretty well ended, although there may be some flurries or squalls overnight.

10 cm of powder snow does not take you from impossible skiing to good skiing instantly. It packs down to about 3cm when groomed. So, we have what I would call fair skiing. I have groomed all the central and southern trails. Northern trails will be done tomorrow morning. I tried some track-setting in the central area, with mixed results. In some places the track is quite good, but in other places the snow was not deep enough, so the bottom of the track is right down to the old ice below.

Preparing for New Snow

 All the forecasts now seem to be predicting a snowfall tomorrow afternoon/evening. So, in a giant leap of faith, I have been getting ready to groom the snow for skiing. Today, I did a walking inspection of the trails, clearing fallen trees and checking the current condition of the trail surfaces. Tomorrow's snow (if it comes) will be landing on one of 3 different surfaces: about 10% is currently bare ground; about 60% is crusty snow; and about 30% is glare ice. The most concerning is the last one, since the new snow will not adhere to the ice surface, and I may not even be able to drive the groomer up hills that are icy.

I have also been preparing a new/old piece of grooming equipment. The Mono Nordic Ski Club has loaned me an old Tidd Tech Trail Tenderizer (yes, it's really a thing; Google it!) which they do not use anymore. I've been doing some repairs on it, and will give it a try once we have enough snow.

Here's hoping we'll have some skiable conditions by Friday.

Is Snow Coming?

There might be some snow on the way. Most forecasts are calling for snow late Thursday into Friday. The amount being mentioned is 5 to 10 cm. Will it be enough to allow us to start skiing again? Time will tell. In the meantime, trails are still closed. 

Ski Trails Closed

We have now lost so much snow that it's no longer possible to ski.

Trails are officially closed. 

Now is the Winter of our Discontent

 With continued above-freezing temperatures, our snow is disappearing fast. There is supposed to be a return of cooler temperatures after Sunday, but there is no significant snowfall in the forecast over the next 2 weeks.

Skiing conditions are very poor.

February 4 Update

 It's been a week since I last posted a report, so I thought an update may be useful. Things have changed very little in the past week. We still have snow cover, but the snow is very hard, crusty and icy. Skiing is almost impossible on this stuff.

I tried some grooming yesterday afternoon, when the sun was out and the temperature was above 0, but it was not effective. Basically, it didn't change anything.

Ski conditions are poor, and will probably continue that way for the next several days.