On January 8th, the birthday of Elvis, a pale rising sun slowly illuminated the grey sky above the Sawtooth Valley until it merged totally with the snowscaped hills below and all the world seemed to glow a light light grey. The temperature was about 20 degrees at 9 a.m. On Thursday, all the trails at the Alturas lake ski area, except for Sheep Thrills, were groomed with some combo of the Smiley Creek Piston Bully and our own Ginzu Groomer. Further refinement of that grooming, to smooth out some ridges, fill in some holes and cut classic tracks to the lake, is scheduled for Friday. The trails are now wide and flat and should be most excellent for the upcoming sun filled weekend.

At Park Creek, after some equipment hiccups, the new grooming team is off and running…trails were rolled on Thursday and classic tracks were being worked on.