Christmas Ski - Summit Prairie - FR 16 12/25/17

fr 16 & 1651 jct looking west; tire tracks with 1-2" powder

Location: Co. 62 rd from prairie city south to FR 16 jct.

Road & Trail Conditions: packed snow & ice. not plowed to summit.  4-8"

Snow Conditions: 1-3" base; 4-12" fresh powder on top

Skis on & temperature: 11am 26 degrees

Skis off & temperature: 2pm 32 degrees; occasional wind dropped 15 degrees

Distance: 7 miles

Rating (1-10; 10 awesome): 10

Comments:

beautiful day, blue skies, sunny. lots of fresh powder.

started out down 16 S., got too deep breaking trail 8-12". backtracked & headed west on 16.

no grooming, a few tire tracks. two snomos passed me heading west as i was returning east on 16.  looks like they started at huddleston, came down 153, a ways down 16 S & then back to 16 west to logan valley.  there are some older & newer tracks to follow.

outside the tracks, it is 8-12" of breaking trail.

kona in the deep stuff

 i don't mind skiing in tracks.

16 west is flat for about 3 miles (jct 1651) then 3 miles of rolling hills into logan valley, returning to flat.

 

Windfall Creek Loop - Starr Ridge - FR 333-465-353 - 12/24/17

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Location: Hwy 395 to Starr Ridge Sno Park

Road & Trail Conditions: snow & ice pack with gravel on curves

Snow Conditions: 2" base with 4-6" fresh powder on top

Skis on & temperature: 10 am  20 degrees

Skis off & temperature: 2pm  22 degrees

Distance: 8 miles

Rating (1-10; 10 awesome): 10

Comments:

lovely day to ski. fr 333 has recent tire tracks with powder.  465 & 351 have deeper powder & more breaking trail

tire tracks on fr 333 - easy to ski

breaking trail thru 6" on fr 353

still no signs of snowmos, possibly not deep enough yet.

kona ~ snow dog

Winter Solstice - 1st Ski of Season - Starr Ridge FR 4920 12/21/17

Location: Hwy 395 at Starr Ridge Summit, FR 4920 to Vance Creek Fr 3920

Road & Trail Conditions: going out at 10am 395 from canyon city to co. 65 was treacherous. lost control once on a straightway doing a giant slalom s curve across both lanes.  was ready to turn back when the road improved.  de-icer applied before return trip.  much better.

snow over cattle guard is thin.

Snow Conditions: 1-2 inches packed base, 1-2" fresh powder

Skis on & temperature:10:45a 22  degrees

Skis off & temperature: 12:45p 28 degrees

Distance: +/- 6 miles

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

Comments:

almost didn't go today. 5" on starr ridge snotel seems thin.  turned out to be excellent.

not deep enough for snomos.  tire tracks packed a base.  fresh powder on top.  no need to break trail. has to be best conditions  ever for first ski of the season.

all the roads around starr ridge should be similar:  333 & all connecting up to 4920

huddleston snotel shows 8".  am guessing those roads 101 etc, and summit prairie should be good as well.

should stay that way for the weekend with forecast, cold, maybe a little more snow on top.

took a buddy on the trip, kona toy-cueno.  didn't have the right size ski boot, so she trotted along.

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.