I found two stretches of snow on the Special K I was able to skate on, one only perhaps 50 yards long, and a much longer one on the outermost trail, several hundred yards long, where I enjoyed doing laps. The snow is mostly soft with a few small portions down to the icy bottom layer. The rest of the 6K consisted of some 150 small patches of snow, with just 1 percent snow coverage, down from 80 percent just five days ago when I last skied Snowflake. I'll definitely come back for more on the Special K stretches, but will call it quits on the 6K for the season. Thanks to groomers John Graham and Jim for another stellar season at Snowflake Nordic Center lasting seven months, from my first ski there on October 17 well into April. Cheers, skiers!

Photos:

(Lane Ellis)

Bright sunshine, warm temps, and now rain have taken a toll on all of the south-facing trails, and have completely erased the snow on the Sledding Hill. That means that we can’t get our groomers from the garage to the trailhead, thus we are done trail-grooming for the season. The 6K still offers 90% coverage, but use your “beaters” and check the downhills for bare ground before you commit.The Spaghetti/Fisketti Junction trails are also covered and best accessed at the Mole Hill or Powerline cut-thrus. The trails are now open to anyone, at no cost. It really was a good season! Thanks for your patronage and enjoy the “Seasons-between-Winter”.

(John Graham)

Today marks exactly 5 months since our first groomed trail opened, on October 17th. Not bad, for this odd winter. I just groomed the 6K skate deck, 3 passes with the Ginzu, and the skate deck is very nice, flat, and fast. The only exposed ground is on the downhill just past the 1K marker; you’ll have to sidestep over that, or be a competent jumper. I did open and groom the Biathlon Loop today, and it is decent. There is still some debris frozen into the deck, so B skis/rock skis recommended. The classic track is about 40% intact, and not very nice. I suggest that we are now a skate-groomed trail only. We are open 8-8, no restrictions at all. Let’s use the snow until we lose the snow! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Photos:

(John Graham)

The morning skating conditions at Snowflake are great this week. The trail is somewhat icy, but it has been chopped up nicely by the groomer yesterday and today. There was one bare spot, but the groomer shoveled it in this morning, so the whole 5.5K loop is groomed and skiable. There is a fair amount of tree debris on the trails, but no rocks or grass patches at all. The classic tracks are mostly gone due to thin base. It looks to me like it will still be good skating for awhile yet.

(Joe Gerard)

Excited to find snow that is skiable! Groomed for skating, the classic tracks are mostly faded. The red loops are groomed. Most of it was very nice - a few icy spots and one spot right after 1k that you need to take of skis to walk down (bare ground). There were two trees that had lots of leaves under them but other than that it was excellent and fast!

(Anna DeMers)

What a treat to be greeted with another day of fresh grooming this morning at Snowflake. The transformed snow after yesterday's meltdown was super fast. Still great coverage on most of the trail with the typical thin spots on some south facing hills. What is left of the classic track is basically a luge. As John mentioned, only the the 6K is open now. I think conditions will continue to be good for awhile. Thank you again Snowflake crew for a great ski season!

(Tom Heinitz)

53 degrees and sunny right now, and we are closed for the afternoon, however if temps drop tonight and we will be open, all day, tomorrow. The 6K trail is compacted, groomed, and has a track. 99% coverage, and lots of small debris, so B-skis or Rock skis suggested. One of our Ginzus literally broke in two yesterday, just past Mole Hill, so we are down to one Ginzu and will focus time and effort on the 6K trail. The 8K is open for ungroomed skiing. The photo shows the exit from Bee Hollow, yesterday afternoon.

Photos:

(John Graham)

After catching our breath, this morning, we decided to resume grooming the 6K ahead of tonight’s temperature drop. Several runs with the roller/compactor packed-down the dense snow, and tonight we ran the Ginzu around three times, and set a classic track. Should firm-up nicely overnight, so tomorrow the 6K will be groomed skate and classic. We have not been onto the 8K, but it is open for “back-country” skiing. We are open 8-8 on Friday, Spring hours on Saturday due to the high temps, then expect to resume normal hour on Sunday and into next week.

(John Graham)

The rain followed by 7” of heavy snow added a lot of weight to the trees on our trails, with resulting downed trees, branches, and trails blocked by bent trees. It took 2 hours to clear the Special K for sleds only! The plan now is to let the warm afternoon temps melt the snow/ice from the trees, and resume grooming tomorrow morning. We are OPEN for “Backcountry” skiing, for those so inclined. There are no set tracks, and skating would be very difficult until we can pack the snow.

Photos:

(John Graham)

We are putting our chips on providing groomed trails during the 2nd half of March. We are closed today thru Wednesday, due to the warm temps, and will likely be closed on Thursday to allow the trails to cool and dry-out from Wednesday’s forecast wet precip. We’ll recon the trails and groom on Friday morning, then update the trail-map. Temperatures look very favorable next week, so enjoy the temporary summer weather.

(John Graham)