Another Update

All the trails in the central and northern section of the network have now been rolled and "combed". The sun is starting to shine and temperature is "up" to -17. However, the wind has also come up so it feels pretty cold out there. Here is a picture of the Roller Coaster trail just after grooming, about 12 noon.

 

Here is one of the Mainline, toward the north end:

 

This was taken on West Side Story (#5) Wednesday afternoon:

 

January 7 Update

I just came in from skiing the north half of the system. With the temperature now standing at -20 the glide is slow, but I would rate the conditions as Fair to Good. It is still snowing lightly but steadily. I will go out later to pack and smooth the surface.

1 to 2 cm overnight

We received a little new snow overnight. It is -16.5 and windy outside, and the temperature is supposed to drop during the day. If you're a ski fanatic you might want to try skiing today; I think there is just enough snow on the trails to make them acceptable.

Tuesday January 6 Conditions Improving

It's -11 and breezy out there, with occasional light flurries. What we've been left with after the warmth and rain and then a return to cold temperatures is about 5 cm of icy crust, topped by about 2 cm of fresh powder. The crust, however, is not uniform, having been walked on and skied on before the cold returned.
I've been out with the groomer, breaking the crust and smoothing out the lumps and humps. This will make a decent base for any new snow that comes. 4 or 5 cm of new snow would give us nice ski conditions.
The forecast is predicting snow squalls with up to 10-15 cm of accumulation. But will they come? Who knows?

Window of opportunity opens ..... then closes

Yesterday afternoon between 2 and 4:30, when the temperature was -3 and the snow was still falling, skiing was good. Then the snow changed to rain and freezing rain - not a happy ending if you're a skier.
This morning it is 0 outside. There is a crust of ice on the trees and on top of the snow. Underneath, the snow is very wet. Skiing is not recommended today.
The good news is that much colder weather is moving in later today. This may be accompanied by snow squalls, which could bring significant snow accumulations.

Precipitation in several forms

It is noon hour Saturday and things are happening outside! Right now it is snowing fairly hard and should continue doing so for another couple of hours. After that the forecast calls for freezing rain, followed by rain, with temperature rising overnight, then dropping again tomorrow.
There may be an hour or two this afternoon when we have decent ski conditions. After the rain and warmth have passed through, we'll see what is left.

Still Waiting

We got about 1 cm of snow yesterday, and another 1 cm of new snow overnight. That brings our total on the ground to about 3 cm; still not enough to ski on.
There is a storm predicted for Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately it looks like it is going to bring us more rain than snow.