Of Chickens and Snow Bikes

Greetings winter lovers:
This entry is an attempt to correct an earlier entry regarding the use of Snow Bikes at the Chicken Creek Cross Country Ski Area on the groomed trails.
The earlier entry stated the bikes were not allowed.  Since then I have received a clarification from the Forest Service, and I will mostly just cut and paste here so I don't change the meaning.  This is from an email received today from Chris Bouton of the Dolores Ranger District.  Here goes...

"Snow bike use is not prohibited at the Chicken Creek Ski area.   We would like to encourage bike users to utilize other groomed routes in the area such as the West Mancos road or the Echo Basin road and are open to discussing the issue more.

"If anyone would like to talk about the bike issue and how best to approach it, please feel free to give me a ring.  One idea that I have heard tossed around from a few people is encouraging bikers to stay on the dog loops. Thanks again for all of your help and feel free to call me if anyone would like to discuss this more."

Chris can be reached at 970-882-6831.

So that is the official position.  I would like to add a few unofficial thoughts into the mix as well:
This is a new issue for us and we're trying to get our minds around it.  Common sense probably ought to enter into the equation as some point.  If the bikes are doing disproportionate damage to the track there will most likely be a backlash.  When the trails are super firm, as they are today, there is really not much of an issue.  When things warm up and the snow gets slushy, it will be a different story.  Trail courtesy (safety) and respect for the trail conditions may go a long way in making this work out for snow bikes in the long run.  We have very limited manpower (and machine power at present) with which to groom the trails.  Snow biking looks fun, and I bet it is.  So I'm asking all parties to exercise courtesy and common sense when exercising their bodies out there on the trails.

Feel free to share your thoughts with comments here on the blog as we enter uncharted territory.  See you on the trail...

Finch Preens Poultry

Brad was out yesterday - New Years Day - grooming down the feathers at the Chicken.  We skied it today and conditions were fabulous.  Cold, cold, fabulous.
No new terrain open since we're still teetering at one functional grooming machine.  The one machine is DOA, and another is going to get looked at by an engine Dr. sometime over the weekend.  The break in snowfall comes at a fortuitous time, and the chilly weather is keeping the snow intact.  Yes!

Brad groomed everything, Bauers, Rush, Hamlin and the road.  There is fresh classic track as well.  Very cool days and nights in the forecast so with any luck we'll keep this little snow we have on the ground for the foreseeable future.

On a scale of 1-10 I'd have to rate it about 9.  Go get you some...

Oops, I forgot to mention...

Our liaison with the US Forest Service mentioned he saw the tire tracks from 2 "snowbikes" yesterday.  He wanted me to pass along that these are not allowed on the groomed trails of Chicken Creek for safety purposes.
So sorry, no snow bikes.

The few, the tired...

Saturday night update for you hungry weekend skiers:

John G. Spent a lot of time grooming this afternoon and got it all!  Everything that's been done so far, anyway, which is:
Bauer, upper and lower
Rush Connector
Rush Creek Loop
Hamlin Loop
The road linking them all, but only to the top of Rush Creek Loop

He also Set classic track on Bauer Loops, Rush Connector, and the road.  Thank you John!

John was using the only remaining working machine we have at the moment, with 2 machines out of action due to mechanical issues.  Looks like Ol' Yeller is done for the  season, perhaps eternity.  And the relatively new machine we got last year will not start (four stroke, fuel injected).  And when it was running, it would not go backwards.  Our board president, Hank, is pretty-much singlehandedly trying to get these issues in hand.  He is feeling out of his depth, and if anyone out there can help, please email me at jpeterbee@yahoo.com

Hopefully the high winds won't undo all John's work tonight.  See you at the base tomorrow!  Better get some before our last machine decides to quit...

New Years Resolution? SKI, SKI, SKI

What a beautiful winter wonderland up at the Chicken Creek Cross Country Ski Area these days.  Today was filled with a whole lot of great volunteer helpers to help rectify the little Christmas burp that our jolly old St. Nick encountered on Christmas morn.  John Gilbert groomed out the Upper and Lower Bauer loops, Rush Connector, and up the Rush Spur.  Then the fine engineering by John Gilbert and Hank Taylor, along with Tom Rice, Allan Farnsworth and passerby skier David Blaine (Absolute Bakery), were able to get the very stuck and dead Ginzu Groomer fired up and dug out and back in service.  Allan F. ran the Ginzu groomer over the Upper and Lower Bauer Loops then handed off the snow machine to Tom Rice who rolled Rush Connector, Rush Loop, the road (twice), and Hamlin.
However, we regret to say that the yellow machine (Old Yeller) is still at a standstill on the top of the Rush Loop.  It may be a sad day for Old Yeller and for the humbled volunteers of Chicken Creek.  The prognosis so far does not look good.  But needless to say the skiing is fabulous so get out there and ring in the new year with some great resolutions like . . . "I'm going to ski like crazy this year" . . . or . . . "This time I'm really going to put money in the Chicken Creek donation box" . . . or . . ."I'm going to save money by just paying for the suggested membership listed on the envelopes in the SIGN IN box" . . .or even . . ."I'm going to sign in every time I ski, because this is my contribution to help these crazy volunteers possibly get some much need grant money."
Oh yeah, see you up there.

Christmas Day Extravaganza in the Chicken
Fine Folk of the Skiing Kind . . . hear ye, hear ye.  The Lower and Upper Bauer Loops got a fine grooming on Christmas Day by non other than our Good Ole Jolly St. Nick (Hank).  Yes, your wondering eyes DID read correctly.  However, when St Nick was planning his get away up Rush Loop some of the reindeer decided to go on strike.  "NOT ENOUGH CHICKEN!" seemed to be the chatter among the retaliating fleet.  So they left the sled right in the middle of the Rush Road and off they went to . . . greener pastures?  Hmmm.  So watch out for the sled in the middle of Rush as Santa and his helpers are planning just what strategy it takes to get that sled full of presents and toys back to it's proper home.  Keep checking for more updates on this very pertinent event for the Chicken.

T'was the flight before Christmas...

Good news classic skiers:

Cap got up there yesterday and set fresh classic track all over the joint.  That combined with nice cloud cover today should make for some nice skiing.  Burn off a few extra calories today, eat a few extra tomorrow.  Ah, balance.