Grooming Report

The weather has cooled the last few days and the area received an inch to an inch and a half of new snow. The groomed trails held up well during the warm rainy period of the last week and a half. The area was groomed today, but just the inner core trails and Skateaway were groomed and no track was set. The surface is currently too hard to effectively set track. The rest of the area was not groomed, because packing of the new snow on the surface below hardened by rain only made the runs faster. In addition, there was a incursion into the core area by a wood cutter. He drove just beyond the Panhandle Hut and turned around causing quite a mess and deep groves in the surface. A good deal of Pulaski and shovel work and grooming passes with the scarifying equipment corrected most of the problem, but it took many passes by the groomers. This took time from other trails they could have visited. In response to this incursion, we have turned closed the big green front gate. We apologize for this measure that makes the trail head less than welcoming, but with the hard undersurface and an open lane in, it is the only means to terminate any further incursions. Depending on snow conditions we may need to operate in this mode for the rest of the season or until deep soft snow again removes this treat to the trails. We will have a solution to this problem next season. Even though the gate is closed the trails beyond are groomed. We are expecting snow on the trails late Saturday so Sunday may provide great cross country ski conditions.
Snowshoeing on the area was little affected by the thaw. Those visiting the upper snowshoe trails report them in good snow depth condition with a few obstructions but none impassible