 Stock photo of wood ducks. This is the duck you see down on the river when you ski River Loop. We are open today from 9-5 with classic spring conditions. 17km open for skiing, 31km open for snowshoeing and fat biking. Malcolm is out grooming this morning. He will set tracks where he can, but mostly he's flattening and laying down a nice comb.
Conditions are currently loose frozen granular turning to wet granular snow by noon. The skiing is nice for spring skiing. Skate skiers will want to come early, classic skiers will probably want to wait a bit. The trees are full of birds coming back after a long winter, the ducks are in the river down on River Loop, critters are wandering down the trails in the early morning hours and every so often you hear the honk of geese as they fly past looking for open fields. Spring is coming to Vermont. Temperatures all week will be very warm. While we still have a lot of snow on the ground today, that will be changing rapidly through the week, so the best skiing is still now. Looking ahead, there is a good chance that we won't make it to the weekend. If there is snow to ski on, we'll be here but check back daily to keep track of the snow.  We are open today from 9-5. Conditions are currently loose frozen granular which will be turning to wet granular snow by noon. The skiing is nice for spring skiing. Skate skiers will want to come early, classic skiers will probably want to wait a bit.
Malcolm will be out grooming the inner trails, out Pines Run to the Riverside Farm fields. Boynton Run may open later for skiing, but it may have some walk around spots. I'll post an update as soon as he checks in. Temperatures this week will be very warm. While we still have a lot of snow on the ground today, that will be changing rapidly through the week, so the best skiing is now. We are open today from 9-5. 20km open and groomed for skiing. 31k open for snowshoeing and fat bikes. These photos were taking this morning from the groomer. It's a beautiful day.
This may be our last weekend. The temperatures this week are going to be very warm, we still have good cover on most trails but by the end of the week, that will change. Skate skiers will want to ski earlier in the day, classic skiers will want to wait a bit longer so things can soften up more. You will find loose granular with some hard spots where melting snow froze up overnight. Loose granular snow will be turning to wet granular snow by mid-day. Spring has sprung! We are open today from 9-5. 20km open and groomed for skiing. 31k open for snowshoeing and fat bikes. Loose frozen granular will turn to wet granular by mid-day as the temperatures warm up the snow.
UPDATE: 9:15 am. Boynton Run will not be open this morning. It's still too hard to effectively groom. It needs time. Malcolm will head back out around 11 to give it some love. We expect to have good spring skiing this weekend. If all goes according to plan, we will be skiing on loose frozen granular turning to wet spring snow. The best snow will be found after 10am when the sun and temperatures have had time to work on the groomed snow. In March, we experience melting during the day, freezing at night. Morning snow is harder and faster, afternoon snow is softer and wetter. The best thing about spring is the opportunity for a trailside picnic. There is something quite wonderful about skiing out to a sunny spot with a backpack full of food and libations. Sitting with friends, eating and laughing, soaking up the sun is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Closed today.
Rain yesterday, followed by temperatures dropping to the teens is just a bad combination for skiing. We could groom it, maybe enough to make it ok but it takes a terrible toll on the equipment when it's so darn hard out there and it still would not groom up to anything we'd be very happy with. So we will keep the trails closed for today. Later this afternoon as the temperatures warm up a bit, Malcolm will head out and start to crack into the trails. Tomorrow morning we will do some tandem grooming with both machines so we can pull up some nice spring skiing for the weekend. The temperatures are going to be quite warm which helps with the grooming and makes for a very nice day. |
