Trail grooming begins for the new season…

by | Nov 30, 2020 | .

On the last weekend of November, all cross country ski trails at Alturas lake were compacted with double or quadruple snowmobile passes. That should be enough to allow for rough ski touring but not skating or “classic” techniques. Although snow coverage is generally pretty good, sage brush still pokes through the snow surface in some places and no directional signs are up yet. Tree trunks and rocks that are breaking the trail surface or just barely covered are clearly dangerous so extreme caution is advised. More grooming is planned over the next few days to smooth out the skate lanes and set classic tracks. At Park Creek we await the imminent return of Adam, the first man, from the wilds of Northern Idaho for grooming to commence.

P.S. Chadeus Maximus did in fact return to the Alturas Lake ski area on Monday, dug out the grooming equipment and flattened all trails for the first time this season. A light snow was falling steadily on Monday evening.


 

This may be the last time…

by | Apr 9, 2020 | .


On Thursday, the 9th of April, The birthday of visionary artist Charles Burchfield, Davinius was inspired to head out into the sunny winter morning to retrieve grooming equipment from the far side of Alturas Lake Creek and groom the trail on his way out. As he left his snow cave he hummed a little tune and wondered when he might groom again…
This may be the last time
May be the last time I don’t know
This may be the last time we ever sing together
This may be the last time, children
May be the last time we shine together
May be the last time I don’t know
I really don’t know what tomorrow will bring

When the party’s over…

by | Apr 7, 2020 | .


Wet soggy snow and high temperatures are leading to the demise of this ski season. Adam groomed at Park Creek after the last storm and Alturas was last groomed on Friday. We will be picking up signs and grooming out for a last time later this week. It is always sad to see the cross country season come to an end. But…
Once we’ve both said our goodbyes
Let’s just let it go…
Bye now.

LOOKIN’ GOOD!

by | Apr 4, 2020 | .


On Friday, the 3rd of April, all cross country ski trails at Alturas Lake (except Wapiti) were ginzu groomed. Davinius thought that the whole shebang looked pretty darn good and the Trail to the Lake looked even better, but when it came to good lookin’…nothing could match that pretty girl from the village.

Splendid Self Isolation

by | Apr 3, 2020 | .


On Thursday, April 2nd, the trail from the bridge to the lake and North Cabin Trail were double rolled… packed but soft, rough but beautiful and certainly skiable. All trails to the east of the creek were spruced up and looking pretty great. More work scheduled for Friday to make it all nice for the weekend.

New snow rolled at Alturas – no foolin’

by | Apr 1, 2020 | .


On the first day of April, all trails to the east of Alturas Lake Creek were groomed with a double roller pass through around 8 inches of new snow. The resulting trails were skiable but soft and without classic tracks. The pristine snowscapes were quite beautiful.