Good tracks at the beginning of the Blue Jay.
Open, 26º at 6:30am, forecast high 40º. 1/2 inch of new snow.
In the last week it snowed about 2 feet. All trails are open and have a double track thanks to our new grooming rig.
That snow has been groomed to perfection by Ian. (His birthday is today, somebody get him an egg sandwich from Bromley Market, and everybody else give him a hug.)
And, really, he has groomed to perfection. During a 24 hour period, about 10am Wednesday, until about 10am Thursday, he spent 17 hours driving one of the grooming rig or another. He also recruited our friend Jonathon to drive the snow mobile for a couple hours on Wednesday.
You see, lots of fluffy new snow is beautiful. But, for skiing, unless you pack and knock the air out of it the snow is soft and fluffy, great for snow angels, not so great for skiing. So around and around he has been and the skiing is fine.
The weather forecast is for snow to mix to rain and back again. The skiing will still be good. We have enough snow to work with and the right equipment to get the skiing good again, whatever the weather.
2 comments
I think “fine” is by far understating the quality of the skiing thanks to the great grooming. I skied out to Loon and back yesterday and it was so good I needed more so took in Woodcock and Snowgoose. It’s more like Olimpiics race ready! Since Ian also skis the trails, he knows just where to lift the track pans on hills. Perfect! Thanks Ian, and the whole Wild Wings team!
I got to talk with Ian at the end of my ski to Loon and I asked him how he made it so nice. He said he took the Piston Bully out there which does some great packing and filling the low spots. Then later he went out with the snowmobile and Tidd-Tech. He described his technique of setting a track down the middle then shifting the track pan to one side and still setting the same track down the middle with the snowmobile off center to make the trail wider and pack for firmer poling. It really worked!