Windy Skylline Ridge FR 101 - 3/30/17

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Location: Co. 62 to Summit 101-125-skyline ridge

Road & Trail Conditions: 62 icy going up, clear going down

Snow Conditions: 3-4" new overnite over 3' solid base

Skis on & temperature: 12:30pm  27°    (JD 36° )

Skis off & temperature: 5:30 pm 30°  (JD 42° )

Distance: 12+ miles, 1600' elevation

Rating (1-10; 10 awesome): 8 for wind & ice on ridge

Comments: windchill was intense for whole trip, 20mph consistent, regular gusts 30-35, peak gusts at 50. kept temps. at 10-15 at lowest, 20 consistent.  headwind forced kick on downhill.  tailwind pushed me uphill, double poling. kind of crazy.

lots of tree debris blow down.  rock ski season.

first time i considered returning home.  in 4 winters, haven't seen this kind of wind up there.

where wind swept new powder away was pretty icy.  some of the descent on 125 was difficult.

101 had some sweet powder.  125 started getting crusty.  ridgeline alternated powder with firm ice.  tough to move thru.  in a rare wise moment, decided to skip going down east slope & backtrack.

still looking for a loop to jump off ridge & come in on 101 before skyline trailhead.  getting thru the trees is the challenge.

Dixie Butte - Spring Ski 3/26/17

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Location: Hwy 26 east to dixie summit sno park

Road & Trail Conditions: 26 clear, snopark mushy. FR 2610 all the way

Snow Conditions: declining base with 1-4" new sno

Skis on & temperature: 9:30am  33°

Skis off & temperature:  2:30 pm  36°

Distance: 10 miles, 2000' elevation climb

Rating (1-10; 10 awesome): 10 on the spring ski scale

Comments: some new sno at elevation, still pretty warm - dubious. snopark was very patchy & ice.  beginning of 2610 was questionable.  a few bare spots along 2610, one required skis off. almost turned around.

very glad didn't.  about 1/3 ascent sno got powder & deeper, some of the best of the season.  first 1/3 crusty on ascent, mushy on descent.  after that pretty darn good.

did first hot wax a few weeks ago which probably kept sticky sno off.  worth learning how to do it.  without, imagine would have used 1-2 applications of maxiglide on trail with marginal results.

1/2 mile from top a snosquall blew in, happened every trip up dixie this season. waited an hour huddled behind a skinny tree.  clouds socked in, visibility 20 yds.

planning to summit & practice turns down east slopes.  wind has swept slopes pretty bare. base has dropped considerably, lots of ground exposure.  low visibility & many exposed shrubs & rocks changed my mind.  with clear visibility could probably find a line.

stiff wind dropped windchill in 20's higher, disappeared lower; glad packed googles & winter layers.  even when snopark seems balmy, take winter gear!

last ski was 3/5 at anthony lakes practicing downhill turns.  paid off for today.  great downhill even along 2610, in some ways better than anthony.  powder!

last thurs. kayaked monument to spray, north fork, 60 sunny, blu skies, 26 miles, 3+ hrs. ski dixie today, back to winter.

~  i love this place ~

FR 2645 east of Austion Jct Hwy 26 - 3/13/17

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Hi Kyle, Travis and I did a Krust Kruze this morning on the 2645 (Squaw Creek) on skate skis. On the snow 10 a.m. temp then 34 off the snow 11:50 temp 46.  We did well, a few soft spots.  If we could have been there an hour earlier it would have been pretty firm and fast everywhere.  Really hard to guess with this weather system, needs to get pretty cool at night for best conditions.  Was going to send it to your blog but wasn't sure how to attach the map.  We bushwhacked a couple hundred yards in the sw corner, but other than that good forest roads and older slightly grown over roads, quite skiable though.  Nearly 10 miles.  Lots of elk tracks, also coyote, bobcat and cougar.  Used Swix LF 7 for a glide wax, it was fast in all but the warmest snow.  Glen

Sheep Mtn. - off trail - 3/2/17

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Location: Co. 62 to huddelston snopark

Road & Trail Conditions: 62 mostly clear, patchy ice in shade. 1665 groomed 1/4 mile, then 6" powder over 4' firm base. some crust on top = breaking trail

Snow Conditions: several thaw & refreezes makes a little crusty depending on elevation, sun exposure & time of day.

Skis on & temperature: 9am  31°

Skis off & temperature: 6 pm  36°

Distance: 14 miles +/-

Rating (1-10; 10 awesome): 8 (-2 for crusty sno)

Comments: another offtrail adventure.  sno was marginal.  got up to explore new area for future trips.
from ridgeline saw 4 snomos take off south on fr 14. didn't see or hear them rest of day.

met sean at the snopark, an rn at burns hospital, his wife is the d.o. family doc there. skied together & learned a lot about telemarking.  the gear he had is what i've been lusting after. great connection, even if the sno wasn't premium. you may see him around here.

Winter Returns - Huddleston 101 - 2/26/17

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Location: Co 62 to huddleston snopark

Road & Trail Conditions: FR 169-101-125-1649

Snow Conditions: fabulous; fresh groomed, 2" powder going out; 6" powder coming back.  oh, my!

Skis on & temperature: 9am  22°

Skis off & temperature: 5pm 28°

Distance: 13 miles

Rating (1-10; 10 awesome): 10+

Comments: it doesn't get much better than this. started out 30mins. behind groomer, with consistent mild to moderate sno thruout day. great runs thru lots of powder.  125 & 1649 were perfect for practicing downhill turns.  have had some rough previous runs on these on icy.

getting off trail was too deep for my skis.  keeping on roads was terrific.

met emily, biologist for the tribes from prairie. avid skier. you'll probably see her out there.

skis moving downhill thru 6" powder

Grooming Report - Summit Prairie - 3/1/17

Made pre-trip repairs to cat and groomed a small loop around Summit Prairie, snow is in good condition with 5 to 8 inches of fresh. Cat tripped an engine light so it was a short day but the snowpark and close in trails are all dresseed up.

Red line on map is todays route

Cheers

Dave