12" of new fluff! The 5K and SpecialK have been groomed for both skate and classic skiing. We have done 10 runs with the sleds and groomers to compact the deep snow, but it is still soft and spongy. For that reason, dogs are not permitted on the trails for the rest of today. They will punch right through the deck, and ruin 7 hours of labor. Once we transform and get some use, the trails should be ok for members' dogs. We're open til 8 tonight.

Photos:

(John Graham)

Scraped and groomed the Skate deck of the 5K, SpK, and 10K(-) this morning. Corduroy over a hard and icy base. 5K Classic Track is worn and a bit beat-up by the thaw, but skiable. Only fully exposed areas are the entry to Bee Hollow and Geno's Jump: walk them. The winds have put a lot of debris on the trails: Rock skis recommended, but the trails are nice.

Photos:

(John Graham)

Skate Skied 5K and extra K after 7PM. Given the warm/wet of the last two days, the base has held up surprisingly well. Pole plants still ok. Shoveled in a couple of thin spots, so entire loop could be skied without removing skis. With the sun low, it was just beginning to firm up a bit, which made for an enjoyable ski. If it freezes hard, could be a little tricky Friday morning til things soften.

(Gordy Mesedahl)

48 degrees yesterday afternoon, light rain at midnight, some wet snow early today, and present temps above freezing: not conducive to grooming today. We need a sub-freezing overnight to make the base groomable. When/if we get it, we will regroom the usable trail segments, Close segments that may have become dangerously exposed, and post updates on the phone and Skinnyski. The weekend forecast is promising! Our trails remain open, regular hours, but ski at your own risk.

(John Graham)

Thanks Groomers! Snowflake continues to impress! I skied the 5k since I wanted tracks and they were in super shape! People have shoveled so the bare spots have a "path" to the next snow allowing you to ski instead of taking them off or traversing over the grass. Well worth the trip!

(Eve Graves)

The groomers took a day off today, but returning skiers reported good trail conditions and fast skiing in the morning. Afternoon skiing was slower, as temps neared 40 degrees. We will be grooming tomorrow morning, and will update the trail status as soon as we're done.

(John Graham)

This morning we re-groomed the skate decks on the 5K, Special K, and open segments of the 10K. Very nice! Entry and exit from Bee Hollow are partially exposed, and Geno's Jump has become very exposed; those entries are marked with caution tape. Dave Johnson joined us and set a new classic track on the 5K, which is not hardened-up but still very nice. We're open til 8 today and regular hours for the rest of the week. Attached pix are all from this morning.

Photos:

(John Graham)

We received about 1" of dry snow overnight, accompanied by winds aeraging 18 mph with gusts to 35 mph. This morning we groomed the skate decks on the 5K, Special K, and previously groomed segments of the 10K. We compacted the new snow into our base, however the "corduroy" could not survive the blowing snow, so we have firm skate decks with a thin layer of loose, dry snow on top. The 5K classic tracks were also effected by the blowing snow, about 40% of the tracks being covered-over. Conditions do not favor resetting the classic tracks at this time, but returning classic skiers reported that the remaining tracks were fun to ski, and that it was easy to connect the tracks through the covered areas. So, we have about 12K of good base, groomed for skating, and available for classic skiing, on the right side please. Normal hours all weekend, and member's dogs have no restrictions. We will be grooming on Saturday morning.

(John Graham)

Skiing at Snowflake today was such a treat. The skate lane was drawing rave reviews from everyone and the classic skiing was excellent as well. Two small bare spots on the entrance and exit to Bee Hollow as is normal in the spring. Everything else was just perfect....mid winter conditions on April 4th...what a gift. Thanks John and crew for taking such good care of a place that means so much to so many.

Photos:

(Dave Johnson)

A wonderful morning to groom! 2" of new fluff, 10 degrees, and it's the 4th of April! We did four runs on the Skate deck of the 5K, Special K, and the groomed segments of the 10K. So those decks are compressed and corduroy. The classic track on the 5K remains defined, but picked up some snow. This is not the time to fill and reset it, so it just needs to be skied-in. There is no classic track on the 10K - it is wall-to-wall corduroy - so skaters are encouraged to ski out from the 5K trailhead to Hovland Hill, then follow the groomer tracks to the cut-through onto the Swamp Loop, and enjoy the skiing. The 10K return via Geno's Jump is Open/groomed, but check the downhill before you commit, as our patch is exposed to the sun. This is "use it while you have it" time, so we are open regular hours, and no restrictions on dogs.

Photos:

(John Graham)