December 14th is International Monkey Day so we encourage you to get out and monkey around and celebrate monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, apes and other non-human primates. It is a day to raise awareness about all the different types of monkey in the world whilst also highlighting the issues that they face on a daily basis. On Tuesday all trails at Park Creek were graded. Today the plan was to take out the ginzu and also to retrieve the drag that was left stuck in a snowbank. At Alturas on Tuesday, all trails to the east of the creek were rolled and today the plan was to reestablish a link to the lake without getting stuck there in the deep drifting snow. After the big weekend dump, getting stuck has been an all too common occurrence.

On Monday, December 12th, the 159th birthday of Edvard Munch, progress was made reclaiming cross country ski trails in the Sawtooth Valley after a weekend of heavy snowfall. At Park Creek, all trails were looking really good after repeated rolling and grading by Thaddeus Maximus and Jaydius the younger. At Alturas Lake, where the snowfall was heavier, Chadeus Maximus compacted and rolled all trails to the east of the creek except for two small sections of South Loop. On Tuesday, Davinius plans going over those trails and filling in the missing sections of South Loop if he can find them.. He is, however, still hesitant to proceed on to the the Lake until the new snow firms up or we receive our new tracked ATV grooming machines. With Galena Pass now open, we are hoping that could happen later this week. It would make things a lot easier and perhaps instill some confidence in that doddering old fool Davinius.

On Sunday, the 11th day of December and the 345th day of the year, new snow accumulations of a foot and more have made skiing the Sawtooth cross country trails unadvisable.

All trails at Alturas lake and Park Creek ski areas we rolled with corduroy over the last two days. The skiing.should be fine for a bit as new falling snow heralds the appearance of a new winter storm. The national weather service has warned that you may want to stay home and play with your toys there.

And now the good news … Park Creek trails are looking great! Trail compaction and rolling begins again at Alturas as back up snow-mo thrown into service. Broken snowmobile arrives at shop for repair. New tracked grooming ATV’s almost ready for delivery. Red planet reappears! Mother Nature rules! ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!