A cold start to the day with early morning temp at -26!! No wind however and with bright February sunshine and temp warming up to around 0, beautiful conditions on the trails. The trails groomed Sunday are providing the best classic skiing with dry, and relatively clean snow and not so fast. Trails not groomed on Sunday but groomed last Friday or Saturday are glazed over in the exposed areas with fast tracks. Dusting of snow Monday morning took off the edge of some of the speed. Skating conditions are very nice right now, in particular on Skaters Waltz. High winds on Saturday did bring down some leaves and twigs but all in all the  trails are in great shape and folks skiing the past few days have reported good to very good skiing. On a personal note, I think the skiing is the best of the year right now!!  Grooming on Thursday and on through the weekend should make for some fantastic skiing as we enjoy the longer days and generally mild temps. On a side note, Saturday’s warm temps combined with the nature of the dry and light snow and high winds caused a unique situation in that snow rollers formed on certain areas. Not common to see this phenomenon but if you ski at Maplelag before the next snowfall, look in the skinny field to see the snow rollers!

http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/February3rdTrailReportPhotos

After the warmest weekend of the winter, temps cooling back down with highs in the negative single digits. Fresh grooming Sunday morning on Sap Run, Mother Hen, Sukkerbusk, JibFly, Twin Lakes, North Loup (track only) and Skaters Waltz. The trails groomed were getting the best reports for skiing Sunday including comments “doesn’t get much better!”  Grooming mixed the thin layer of crust with dry snow underneath and removing the debris from the trails as well. Trails not groomed Sunday morning have scattered icy spots but solid and fast tracks. The big wind on Saturday did bring down some leaves/branches and other forest matter to keep heads up for but all in all, some great skiing to be had on the trails.

Note: Lotvola Cup has been moved to March 7th for this year.

http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/Februrary1stTrailReportPhotos

A gorgeous start to the day with sunshine, light winds, temps in the lower 30’s and fantastic skiing. Warmed up to near 40 and trails did get soft in the exposed areas along with some big time wind. Cooling back down in the afternoon and trails getting glazed over in spots with some twigs and forest matter here and there. All in all a great day on the trails. Grooming on select trails tomorrow which will bring up drier and cleaner snow. Trails not groomed with have some glazed/icylike sections with some twigs etc. to watch out for. Trails groomed, including Skaters Waltz, should provide some nice skiing for Sunday.

http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/January31stTrailReportPhotos