On Friday, January 6th, the temperature finally rose above zero for a few hours in the afternoon and trail grooming resumed at Alturas Lake. The Trail to the Lake as far as the creek, Over the Hill, the Connector, Wapiti, South Loop and Sheep Thrills were groomed for skate and classic and looked great.
With 4 inches of new snow on the Alturas Lake Ski Trails, and a morning temperature of minus 26 degrees, cross country skiing at Alturas is not recommended for Thursday, January 5th, 2017. Temperatures below zero degrees test the mettle of both man and machine so grooming today is unlikely without substantial warming. Three frozen ginzu groomers motors were taken apart, thawed, greased and reasssembled yesterday and should be ready when temperatures warm before the next foot of snow falls this weekend. January 5th is Sausage day in the United Kingdom and National Whipped Cream day in the United States… a gastronomic epiphany and a menu to celebrate! Bon appetite!
Warning, this report is not guaranteed to be accurate with regards to times, dates, the names of those involved, or what might generally be considered the facticity of these events. It has been enhanced literally and photoshoppily for dramatic effect.
On Monday and Tuesday, intrepid groomers, Davinius and the Yankeeforker, finally overcame their fear of getting stuck in the deep untracked snow, and revving sputtering snowmobiles, they climbed the steep slopes of Skyrocket and North Cabin, the trickiest trails to groom at Park Creek and Alturas Lake. Getting stuck pretty quickly, and shoveling plenty of pow-pow, they drove out of giant snow holes that went right down to the frozen earth. Careening on, flipping, flopping and flailing along the high drifted ridge lines, they packed out these last two elusive routes for the first time this season. Additional grooming should eventually smooth things out. All the other trails continue to improve. No classic tracks at Park Creek yet but coming soon. The Trail to Alturas Lake was looking “relatively” great for both classic and skate. Skiers should expect blowing snow to drift and fill in corduroy and classic grooves where the trails cross open meadows.
On Sunday, the first day of the year, the 3 kilometer cross country ski trail in Stanley’s Pioneer park was groomed for skate and classic. At Alturas Lake, the skating lanes on all trails to the east of the creek were touched up. On Monday morning, light snow was falling from a low grey sky barely tinged with sad ephemeral blue.
At 11 o’clock on the first day of 2017, the temperature near the Alturas Lake Ski area was a balmy 17 degrees. Of course, that information from the Smiley Creek Airport weather station was published automatically and could not be guaranteed as to accuracy or timeliness. “That’s like the trail grooming reports”, thought Davinius, “NOT GUARANTEED!!!” When he or the Grooming Yankeeforker thought that the trails were in “pretty good shape” or “looking really good” it probably reflected a rather optimistic point of view and the knowledge that the trails had just been so much worse after that last storm… just soft meandering troughs through deep drifts and snow dunes.
On Saturday, at Alturas Lake, a long stretch of classic track was added from the bridge to the lake. That stretch of the trail, while still rough and far from perfect, is certainly skiable. The trails to the East of Alturas Creek were all touched up with ginzu passes and looked to be in “pretty good shape.”
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