EXCELLENT TRAILS

Approximately 8 cm of snow fell last night. Mike was out grooming this morning and as a result the trails were excellent. The temperature was -3 when we arrived at 9:00 and it warmed up slightly before we left. Mike plowed the parking lot but the road up was not plowed.

Conditions remain very good

There was a trace of new snow overnight and no new track setting was done. The temperature at 9:00am was -7C and had warmed to -3C by 10:30. The new snow was fine grained and this did reduce the glide. Once the track had been skied in the glide improved considerably. -2 to -7 wax provided adequate grip for classic skiing. It did look like the skating track may still be soft in places. I expect conditions will hold through the rest of the day but there is a forecast of snow overnight and a possible change to rain by noon tomorrow. Perhaps it will be best to plan an early morning ski tomorrow.

Fresh Snow

There was another snow fall of 1 to 2cm last night and most of the tracks were set early this morning. Gunanoot has not been set but it is still very skiable. Temperature at 8:30am was -7C and at 10:30 was still cool at -4C. I expect there will not be much melting during the afternoon today so the skiing should remain very good. A -2 to -7 wax was very good earlier this morning. As temperatures rise a warmer wax may be needed. The skating track was a bit soft. I give the classic track an excellent rating on all the fresh set track and a very good rating for skating until the track settles. Conditions should remain very good into Monday.

Conditions vary

Mike was out with the track setter again this morning. His efforts were put into Gunanoot so the new tracks up gunbarrel, around Gunanoot and back down Cataline are in excellent conditions. The tracks through the stadium are wind blown. The rest of the classic tracks were in very good condition. The temperature at 9:00am was a pleasant -4C but had warmed up to -1C by 10:30am. The waxed skis were starting to pick up snow from the track on the way back through the stadium. Expect this to increase as the day warms up. The skating track has set up since yesterday and Gunanoot also has a firm base. Skate skiing is excellent on all trails. I expect the classic track will take a beating through the afternoon but you can still count on good skiing tomorrow.

New Tracks

All of the tracks inside of Cataline were set fresh this morning, sorry no Gunanoot. At 9:30 am the temperature was -5C and at 11:00 it had warmed to -3C. I expect we will not see a lot of melting today and conditions should not change much overnight. The Classic track was in excellent condition, a -2 and colder wax provided adequate grip this morning but that might have changed with higher temperatures this afternoon and as the track gets compressed with more use. The glide was not wonderful. The downhill runs were not fast. The skating track was a bit soft and will need time or a second pass of the setter so you will be happier doing classic for the rest of today.

New Snow

4 to 5 cm of new snow has fallen on the tracks and at 11:00 am it was still snowing. Tracks have not been set and few skiers are using the trail. If a track has been skied on a few times there might be some glide. Classic skis were picking up a bit of ice with the use of a -2 or warmer wax. The new snow is fairly moist. Skate skiing will not be worth trying as the snow is fairly heavy. Overall conditions are rated as fair until the tracks can be reset.

CHANGE to Temperature report: I have been reporting temperatures as they are recorded on the thermometer by the warming hut. I am now convinced that the thermometer is reading 3 degrees colder than the actual temperature. From now on when I report a warming hut temperature it will be 3 degrees warmer than the temperature recorded on that thermometer. With that in mind the warming hut temperature at 9:30 am was -3C and at 11:00am it had warmed to -1C.

Thanks for the snow dance we were/are in need!

Still Skiable

The centimetre of snow that fell Monday is still keeping conditions skiable. At 12:00pm the warming hut temperature was still down at -4 so I expect conditions will not change much in the next 24 hours. I'll still give the tracks an overall fairly good rating. -2 and colder hard wax was providing adequate grip for classic skiing. The skating track is very hard and the skis did slip out a bit but that is more likely related to my lack of experience and bad technique. The skating track got better the further up on the trails I skied. The S bends are very fast and hard but are smooth. At times it was hard to hold the skis back.

There was enough snow overnight to make the ground barely white at the parking lot to a couple of cenitmetres at the top 0f Catalene. The temperature was -4 at 9:00 but it will probably get near or above zero later in the day. The trails were in good shape and the weather was great.

The temperature fell sufficiently overnight to enable Mike to groom. As a result the trails were in good shap this morning. At 10:00 it was +3 but the trails were holding up well. If it continues to stay cool overnight we should be able to contine skiing for a while as there is still plenty of snow. I was using waxless skis and the worked very well. I did a bit of skating and the trails were very good for skating.

The temperature this morning when we left was +3 which wasn't helping the trails. The wax I was using, -2 and warmer, functioned very poorly and I also had very little glide. As well with the snow starting to melt the groomer can't be used for fear of packing the snow into a solid mass.
Until it cools sufficiently Mike will not be able to groom. The good news is that the temperature is sopposed to start dropping near the beginning of next week. If you don't mind the slower trails, and you have waxless skis or know how to wax for these conditions, you can still have a pleasant outing on the weekend.