On the 28th of the month, all trails at Alturas Lake were rolled, while at Park Creek, all trails were packed and 16 fallen trees were cut off the trails. What a super effort by our most excellent and heroic groomers.
 

 December 28th is the Fourth Day Of Christmas, as well as the Feast of the Holy Innocents. This day is celebrated in Spain like April fools day here – however, the following is not a silly Joke from some Spanish calling bird! Ski trails in the Sawtooth Valley are covered with 8 to 12 inches of wet heavy frozen snow… maybe more. A ski sojourn is therefore not recommended. Valiant groomers Thaddeus and Chadeus Maximus have plans to beat down the slush at Alturas and Park Creek, but who knows when or if they will succeed? And one last serious announcement – grooming at the Stanley City Park is scheduled to start soon, no joke.

December 21st, the winter solstice, was an extremely stormy windy day in the Sawtooth Valley, with wind blown snow covering ski trails to a depth of at least 8 inches and drifting higher. Amazingly, the next day, Chaddeus Maximus ventured forth at Alturas Lake and rolled all trails there, even though the temperature never rose above zero degrees – a feat displaying classical heroism and devotion to duty. Davinius, warming himself by his wood stove and slurping a bowl of gruel, could only say, “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga-Din.” At the Park Creek trails, where winds gusted to 35 mph and the temperature hovered around -20 degrees, Jaydeus the younger displayed excellent judgement by just staying home. He may be able to groom some on Friday, weather permitting.