Home on the Range

Be on the lookout for some escaped American Bison who are apparently fond of Chicken.  Our groomer John said there are about 8 Bison roaming in or near the ski area.  Anyone want to volunteer to clean up after them?

John did a lot of grooming today, pushing down all the new snow (!) and laying down fresh skate AND classic track all over the place.  Hamlin is the only exception to that, and we are trying to rally troops to get that taken care of soon.

Also, the USFS is burning the big slash piles from the recent logging activity on the northeastern leg of the Lower Little Bauer Loop, so beware of that activity.  Take the new cutoff if you wish to avoid smoke inhalation.

John wins solo groomer of the month honors, so please leave him the prime parking spot in the lot.  He put in about 5 total hours today.  Thank him if you see him...

Updated Map Redux

I just wanted to re-post this map as it is the most up-to-date. Click on image to expand.

Quick Update

Fresh snow falling at the moment, and the forecast is for a bit of accumulation.  Should be just about enough to resurface the area, cover up the pine cones and needles and dog mess.  The area got re-groomed with new classic track set yesterday - Saturday - thanks to John.  Thanks, John.

So conditions ought to be very good, with a bit of fresh stuff on top.  We're working on lining up more grooming activity to follow the snow with, so please stay tuned.  Hank and Phil relocated the Polaris machine to and from the repair shop, and now we're back to 3/4 strength with the machines.  That all takes time, and John spent 3.5 hours grooming Saturday.  Total effort since the last blog entry from volunteers is 5.75 hours.

Friendly Reminder

Chicken-in-the-Sky asked me to relay the following:

• The track is groomed for skiers.  Period.
• Walkers are not welcome.  Ditto for bikes.
• Snowshoe walkers please stay to the extreme edge of the track, or - preferably - completely off the groomed track.
• Control your dog.  Please.  And fling the dog poo off the track.
• If you are skiing while grooming is taking place, please move completely off the track to allow the groomer access to whatever part of the trail he is trying to groom.

Alright, the scolding is over.  For now.  Please understand an enormous amount of time and effort goes into grooming the track.  Be respectful of the primary users - the ones who fund and maintain the ski track.  Uses other than skiing degrade the groomed surface quickly.  Thank you for your understanding.

The outer Bauer Loop got groomed this evening, as did all the upper terrain.  Rush Creek and Hamlin Loops are in superb condition, as is the Chicken Creek Road.  We had a mechanical issue which means the Bauer Loops did not see as much grooming action as we planned.  Additional grooming on the lower loops is planned for tomorrow (Tuesday).

John and Peter B put in 6 hours grooming, plus blog writing and donation collection for a grand total for the day of 7 hours.

Perfect!

A late afternoon skate was everything a person could hope for; Low-angle light sneaking in through the ponderosa, the thrum of some pre-storm wind, red-shafted flickers bobbing on the wing, chattering squirrels scolding my technique, and sweet sweet fresh corduroy laid down by my friends Peter R and Phil.  'Nuf said.

Me thinks everything up there saw the groomer's touch today.  I know Rush got classic track set and I'm thinking Hamlin did as well.  I ran out of daylight so I'm not sure.  If I'm wrong someone tell me and I'll revise this.  Conditions were bordering on obscenely good.  I was fortunate enough to get some first tracks up there and it was truly sublime.

Groomer time today was 9.5 hours, Joan did bookkeeping for 1.75 hours for a total of 11.25 hours today.

Oh Guano!

Some naughty individuals were riding their Fat Bikes on the trails Tuesday night.  For now we'll just assume they were uninformed (though the night-time commando-style nature of their visit would seem to argue otherwise).  As invested readers of this blog and committed xc skiers, I ask you to please gently inform any bikers you may see up there to look elsewhere for their sport.  Boggy Draw now has trails groomed specifically for bikes.  Transfer and Echo Basin both sport many miles of groomed track where bikes are welcome and encouraged.  As the person who last groomed prior to the incursion, I can tell you it was quite disheartening to see the damage to the trail today, both from their tires and their shoes.  I would not want to have to face Chicken-in-the-Sky for this kind of infraction.

Our season is short, the grooming is difficult and expensive; come on - please give it a rest.  Thank you.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned, Bauer Loops got a touch-up on Tuesday afternoon.  With any luck, all the trails will get a tune-up tomorrow as things are getting a bit crusty from the snow blowing down from the pondos.

Today we took a machine for a tune-up and a new starter cord, which involves trailers and time and effort.  additionally at this time I am documenting the volunteer time Joan spent writing grant applications at 9 hours, as well as her time writing receipts for those donating by check - another 2.5 hours.  All that adds up to 16.5 hours of volunteer labor.

Where's Fred?

Imagine the disappointment of the little children and their parents when Fred - the man on the cover of the Durango Telegraph - failed to show over the weekend, leaving dozens of folk in serious sweater withdrawal.  I mean that sweater is the bomb.  I have a lot of sweaters, including some nice ones, and none are in the same league as Fred's.  Seriously.

The actual snow itself however, left no room for disappointment.  So my feeling was people were able to overcome their initial let down and make the best of it after all.  Another full parking lot; cold crisp air; very cold snow (squeaky); amazing blue skies, yada yada.

The grooming report:

• We now have classic track set on several of the loops - plenty of terrain for the diagonal stride skiers.
• The Hamlin Loop and the CC Road to the turnaround are now groomed.  They were a bit soft initially after the groom, but ought to firm up nicely with the bitter cold overnight.
• Only one machine failed to function today (which represents a kind of victory).

Groomers Brad and Peter R braved the cold temps to deliver some gorgeous corduroy.  Thank you, gentlemen.

Sadly, the huge uptick in usage has not corresponded to a commensurate increase in trailhead donations.  Believe me, the Chicken-in-the-Sky will sort all this out one day.  But there's still time to get right with your groomer.  Here's how:  Send a big fat check right away to-

Chicken Creek Nordic
PO Box 111
Mancos, CO 81328

Brad and Peter R put in 8.5 hours today, gas fetching and delivery, blog writing, etc totaled another 1.5 hours for an even 10 hours.