FIRST SAWTOOTH SKI TRAILS GROOMED

On December 8th, the Roman poet Horace was born in the year 65 BC.  This year, December 8th is also the day that the Sawtooth Ski Club’s famous annual meeting will be held at  6 p.m. at the Sawtooth Hotel and the first day that the Sawtooth ski trails at Park Creek and Alturas Lake are somewhat groomed. Thus, we celebrate with these words from Horace’s first ode “Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus”, loosely translated “Now is the time for drinking, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth, kicking and gliding across the snow.” Unfortunately snow is still in very short supply in open meadows at the two ski areas. At Park Creek the best option would be the Dry Creek road trail section. Camas is not too bad, Shooting Star needs another 3″ of snow and is hummocky and wet in spots. At Alturas, most of the trails to the east of the creek received an initial rolling, but the first open meadows of sagebrush are so bushy and snow-bare that they will no doubt deter anyone looking for quality skiing. Right now, skiing at the two areas is best suited for those who might desire an early season communion with nature but wouldn’t mind encountering some stumps, boulders, sage colonies, soggy bottoms and dirt smears on the clearly rustic trails.