Open, 26º at 6:30 am and cloudy. Forecast high 40º and cloudy.

The big red groomer saves the day again. Ian is grinding up the snow and turning it into a nice loose granular, sugary snow. It is very skiable and nice to ski on. The low trails will be groomed with the big machine, the upper trails will need to warm up, and soften a little to slow down. The temperature is suppose to be 35º by 10 am.

Above Gus spotted a Barred Owl on the Grouse. The owl wasn’t hooting his “who cooks for you”. Gus caught a little feather rustling movement out of the corner of his eye. The owl hung out for a bit there, looking for breakfast. Keep your eyes open, you never know what you’re missing.

Open, 22º and snowing. Forecast high is 40º and after 1 – 3 inches of snow, changing to rain later in the day. 25 km of classic skiing and 6 km of skate skiing. All trails were groomed yesterday. The skiing is really good. New snow on a nice base. There will be a time today when Maxi Glide will be needed on no wax skis.

Yesterday Sonya, on the right and registered Birkie skier, Mary, middle and ski support, and Sverre, left, coach and friend, skied the 43 km (26.7 miles) for the Virtual Birkie. They had 2 refuel stops that include hot soup. They skied 2 Chickadees, 6 Snow Gooses (or Snow Geese?), 3 Turkeys, 2 Grouse, and a Middle Blue Jay and an Upper Blue Jay. Don’t do the math, I may have remembered wrong, they got it right. It was wonderful to be part of a dream, a plan and an event. It may have been small in numbers, but the spirit was spot on.

Open, 16º at 7 am and sunny. Forecast high today, 33º, and sunny. Variable conditions are now pretty much the rule for skiing. Changing with the temperature and the sun.

This morning Ian is grooming the low trails, Turkey, Snow Goose, Woodcock, Peregrine, and Grouse with the snow cat, and it is nice. Chickadee was groomed yesterday and still looks good. Middle and Upper Blue Jay and Loon have not been groomed since the snow softened on Wednesday, choose wisely.

At 6:30 this morning it was a nice loose granular where he had been with the tiller. Because I was skiing while he was working I also skied on some snow he groomed yesterday and it was ok too.

Once spring skiing is here, and the temperatures vary, and the sun comes into play, the one thing you can plan on is: Faster in the morning and in the shade. Slower in the middle of the day and in the sun. Faster in the afternoon as soon as the sun isn’t hitting the snow. (Conditions can go from OK to FAST in 10 minutes.)

The picture in the middle is Sonya and Mary, they are skiing their virtual Berkie, 43 km today. If you see them ski by give them a shout out and a thumbs up. 43 kms is a really long ski!

Open, 29º and cloudy. High today 31º, clouds and sun. This picture is from this morning. It was a pleasure to ski on. The snow is faster than it has been but is still really skiable. 18 km classic and 6 km skate.

Ian is out grooming and will groom Woodcock, Snow Goose, Turkey, Grouse, Peregrine and Chickadee. He will not groom Loon or Middle and Upper Blue Jay today. And today the groomer to use is ….ta da…..the Ranger!

The temperature was warm yesterday and the snow was wet, the wind blew overnight and the snow has dried out. There are a few sticks and twigs and pine cones that have blown down. I picked up some on Turkey, if you see any big ones, toss them aside.

The skies have been very dramatic this winter. This photo is from this morning.

And this photo was yesterday, Wednesday, morning.