On the Chickadee with a Skida/Wild Wings hat! 3/6/2019

Open, 1º, sunny, high today about 19º. What a great mid winter ski day. 22 km classic tracks and 6 km of skate. Ian re-groomed all the low trails this morning with the PistenBully, and groomed the Chickadee and Middle and Upper Blue Jay yesterday. After he groomed the Chickadee, Upper and Middle Blue Jay 5 people skied the Chickadee and 1 or 2 people skied the Middle and Upper Blue Jay. Perfect, set up tracks. Oh, what a day!

Where’s Waldo? Ian grooming on Waite’s Place Loop. 3/7/2019

Chickadee. It has a couple loops off of the main trail. One Ian calls the extension. It is the loop shaped like a heart just before the Loon. The Loon. And Waite’s Place Loop. Someone asked the other day why Waite’s Place Loop wasn’t a bird name. Well, we don’t consider it a separate trail. And the Waites had a homestead up there sometime in the early 1800’s. (This is why, if you live in Vermont, your place will never be called by your name, always the name of whoever owned it before you.) The Waites that lived up there are great grandparents of Bobby and John Waite of the real estate world. They didn’t live up there very many years and they moved to Weston. As you can imagine, it would have been a very unfriendly place to live by yourself in the winter. So there you have it. Your 2 cents of trivia for the day.

Up the Grouse. 3/5/2019

Open, 0º and sunny at 7am. Forecast high 15º and sunny, clouding up late in the day. There is very little wind in the woods and the skiing is absolutely fantastic! The sun will warm you right up this morning! Wonderful mid-winter conditions. The low trails all groomed with the PistenBully and the Chickadee, Middle and Upper Blue Jay groomed this morning with Ian on the snow machine. What a great day for a ski. Remember your sun glasses and your sun screen.

The picture above is Ian working in the PistenBully on the Grouse, coming down backwards, pass number one. Pass number two will be on the other side and will put the track back in. This machine makes a really great track, and a solid skate lane. Also note the snow being pushed by the plow in front of the machine. Leveling out the trail, filling in the low spots. The machine is great. But learning to be a great machine operator. Priceless.

The skiing today really is one of the best days of the year. (Tomorrow will be too.) Get your warm clothes and gear together and get out and enjoy this beautiful day! This sign is from a few years ago. The base today, 3/6/2019, is really about 2 feet.

Open, 1º and sunny. Expected high 17ª and sunny. Really great mid-winter conditions. Beautiful, beautifully groomed snow. 22 km classic and 6 km skate. What a great day for a ski! WOW! All trails open, except the Loon.

Ian is in the new machine today, It is amazing. A one pass wonder. Between the blade and the tiller, it works wonders with the snow. The Woodcock and Snow Goose are a great example of what it can do. Using the blade on the front Ian has smoothed out most of the trail. I am glad we have lots of snow for him to work with. Dick stuck a pole into the snow on the trail on the Upper Blue Jay, and there is 2 feet of snow on the trail. That is a fair amount.

Good skiing for the next 5 days or so. What are you waiting for.

This machine gives us an amazing track!  And a great skate lane. Photo credit Bob.

Skiing on the Middle Blue Jay. Someone will get first tracks.This photo 2/28/2019 by Cliff Dutton. 

Open, 24º, 3 inches of fluffy new snow, and cloudy. Cloudy today with a high of 26º. Great day for a ski. Powdery snow, great tracks. 22 km classic and 6 km skate. A really nice day for a ski.

Chuck is grooming the low trails with the Ranger/Ginzu set up.

Ian is coaching the Burr and Burton ski team at Rikert up by Middlebury. The first part of the state meet was last Thursday at Craftsbury, the skate half of the race. Today is classic, individual and relays.

Ian and G. coming in off the Chickadee. 1/13/2019