Ever Since Scott Fischer hung up his spurs, the title of Number One Groomer has been up for grabs. John Staub made a lunge at it with a 5am start on the upper loop. Conditions conspired against him , (snow too soft), to take the title easily, but it was a yeoman’s effort. Quality control found a few tread break throughs, and some uneven work, but a few stretches of really nice corduroy and so his grade is average. He rates it good for ‘Pioneer Skiers’.
I wont sugar coat it. Track is soft. One more day of coaxing and it will be perfect again. I did renew the corduroy up Trickster and down skiers right of sourdough. FWIW.
Real Groomers of SEAK episode 7. Visit with Reality TV Star Steve Box from ‘Building Alaska’ . The groomer hit the upper loop with the roller today and just about has the loop sorted. A new coat of corduroy, and nearly level. If you like corn snow, it’s prime right now. Secret corduroy lane up and down Trickster, shhhhh!
Leveraging the power of JNSKI and Eaglecrest Staff and BOD. The upper loop was coaxed back to life this morning. On a sunny day,the prime time is 8-10am. Even though temps didn’t drop below freezing last nightat 6 am the snow was hard. Contrast this with a cloudy Thurday night and soft Friday morning conditions at 6. Spring skiing, like love, is all about timing.
The warm weather didn’t do much to the snowpack on the upper loop. Coverage is still great. It was soft in the afternoon but not mushy. Ski it while we have it!
Went up to EC this a.m. for one last ceremonial skate ski this season and was very pleasantly surprised that the creek side of the Forest Loop and all of Guy’s Loop was totally skiable! A little bumpy and uneven, but pretty hard and fast. There was 1 patch at the bottom of one of the big hills on the forest loop I that was turning bare and gravelly, but could still ski around it. The warming around 8 gave some bite, and it was starting to get too soft by 9:20, when I left. It was 43F at 0800. f you need one last fix, now is the time! I imagine we have a few days left. The snow on the mountain looked solid, which makes the upper loop may be doable too. Anybody been up there recently? Either way, what a great season and thanks a ton to all the groomers!
Barb and I skate skied today for the last time this season–warm and getting quite “dirty” and icy but well worth going today. Time for other spring activities.