by DK | Jan 18, 2016 | .
On Sunday, the 17th of January, 4 to 8 inches of new snow covered the ski trails at Alturas Lake. All trails were rolled twice and looked great for a short time.
On Monday, the 18th, 4 to 8 inches of new snow again covered the ski trails at Alturas Lake. Grooming with two passes of the roller was once again planned.
On Tuesday night, the 19th, 4 to 8 inches of new snow are predicted to cover the ski trails at Alturas.
“Heck…” muttered the old groomer, Davinius, as he rubbed his aching back, “this is getting a little repetitive.” He pulled down his dog eared copy of Edith Hamilton’s mythology from the book shelf and turned to the pages describing the myth of Sisyphus and his eternally rolling stones . Finishing that, he opened Nietzsche and studied his myth of the Eternal Return as he sipped his morning coffee. Next to his books and coffee cup, a deck of tarot cards lay on the table, cut to the tenth card of the major arcana, the Wheel of Fortune. The stereo was turned up loud in the background and Jerry Garcia called out from the spinning disc…
“The wheel is turning and you can’t slow down,
You can’t let go and you can’t hold on,
You can’t go back and you can’t stand still,
If the thunder don’t get you then the lightning will.”
Davinius decided that for his next ski trail grooming he would “try just a little bit harder,
try just a little bit more.”
by DK | Jan 17, 2016 | .
On Friday, the 15th of January all of the trails at Alturas Lake except for Sheep Thrills were groomed for skating and classic tracks were set. On Saturday morning, Sheep Thrills and all of the other skating lanes on the East side of Alturas Lake Creek were refreshed once again. However, as snowfall picked up in the afternoon, corduroy was quickly covered and Davinius, the veteran groomer of Alturas ski trails, could see that clearly more work would be necessary on Sunday to clean things up again. He also figured he could put up some new homemade signs on North Cabin Creek trail since the old official ones had somehow been lost under the deep snow. After digging several holes in likely looking snow drifts to no avail, Davinius had given up trying to find them. He left the digging, rather exhausted and with an aching back, thinking that what he really needed was a drink. It was Saturday night after all, but as luck would have it, also the 95th anniversary of the beginning of Prohibition. So in honor of the day, rather than slipping any further down the toboggan slide of the devil and into the local cheap saloon, he returned home, settled into his favorite reclining chair, pounded down a tall glass of orange juice with extra pulp, and fell asleep.
by DK | Jan 15, 2016 | .
On Thursday, all trails at Alturas Lake were corduroyed with two passes of the roller through 8 to 10 inches of new snow. Trails were beautiful but a bit soft. Classic tracks were set on half of South Loop and on the Trail to the Lake as far as the bridge junction. On Friday, a gloriously glowing golden dawn flared for a moment and then quickly morphed into a rather cold grey affair with a temperature of around 5 degrees reported at 8 a.m. . Ginzu grooming is scheduled at Alturas for Friday and Saturday morning to add more classic tracks and further compact the skate lanes. At Park Creek grooming was interrupted late Thursday when our intrepid groomer Randy, the Yankeeforker, was sucked into a deep drift on the top of Skyrocket and disappeared. After digging a 12 foot trench to no avail, he was forced to call out reinforcements and Thaddeus Sardonicus returned from his grooming retirement to pull him out. Skiers are cautioned be wary of the Woodsman and his helpers on Lupine Loop where they are hoping to finish hazard tree removal on Friday.
by DK | Jan 14, 2016 | .
The Park Creek Ski Trails were reported to be fine on Wednesday, with Lupine, Shooting Star, Camas and Skyrocket rolled for skating and touring. Hazard tree logging on Lupine Loop trail has begun again this week with twenty-some trees marked for removal. Watch for caution signs there. Our groomer is planning to groom through the logging and the new fallen snow to keep trails looking good. Approximately 4 inches of new snow fell in the Sawtooth Valley overnight and grooming is scheduled for Thursday morning at Alturas Lake as well.
by DK | Jan 13, 2016 | .
On Tuesday, the 12th of January, the skating lanes on all of the trails at Alturas Lake were regroomed and surreally good. Classic tracks still looked great on all trails except for North Cabin Creek trail which lacked the double grooves but made up for it in crazy, scary, corduroyed downhills. Skiers reported increased glide and an unexpected release of the creative potential of the unconscious mind.
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