Eaglecrest packed the upper loop for skate skiing and it’s pretty good. Walk (or skate) up the road, stay to one side and be aware of downhill traffic. They said they will groom it tonight so it should be nice tomorrow. Thank you, Eaglecrest!
We groomed the mini upper loop on Friday night. It took a lot of groomer time to repair rain damage so we didn’t get a chance to track set. We hope to track set Saturday night. It should be a nice to day to get out. That said the lower mountain is locked up under a hard (very hard) layer. Getting to the upper loop will require something on your feet that has traction, ie ice cleats, snow shoes, etc.
Since there is no snow to ski on, come at 2:00 today to the visitor center for a large group photo in front of our shrinking glacier, to be shared with photos around the world to support the Paris climate talks. Look for group out by Photo Point or maybe just by lake shore below parking lot. No formal sponsor, just people. Bring friends and family!
The Dan Moller valley will be very sweet for one more day even though the machines are there. Parking at the lower Dan Moller lot, hike up out of the woods and and head to the right down into the cut across the creek. Wind up through first meadow; no machines there. I have ski tracked a trail on the right however you can ski anywhere. Joining the snow machine trail at the Treadwell, look for my ski tracks right away to the right diving into the brush where there is a challenging yet fun ski just above the Treadwell and then back up to the boardwalk for a bit and then along climbers right side at wood’s edge to the top of second meadow. I skied up to the pass and back and had good skiing avoiding snow machine tracks. where I could. Coming down, be careful of rocks just above and below the big tree by staying to the side. What was really sweet was diving skiers left just below the big tree and avoiding skiing down the narrow snow machine trail. You come upon a narrow hidden meadow and down through trees that are skiable. At the bottom before rejoining second meadow there was a creek that I tried to step across on skis and really should have removed skis and jumped. Lovely tour options of all lengths.
Skied the campground at noon on Thanksgiving. Despite no tracks, nordic was at least a 7 and better ins some places. The overnight cooler wx really helped. Enjoy before the floods come
Lower Loop is skier-packed the entire loop; good for classic but not skate. Meadows also fun to ski tour around.
Upper Loop is actually smooth and ideal for skate skiing now! Or classic without a track. Access is via the road up Sourdough/Sneaky, and you could skate this road if you’re hard core. It gets good for skate skiing at the top of sneaky, over to Blackbear, and then there is a figure 8 double loop that provides about 2 km of really nice skiing.
Rolled again this morning with about an inch of new snow. Conditions improved from yesterday. Manhole covers shoveled over and track in better shape than yesterday. Probably a 5+ out of 10 now. Sunshine and high 20’sF there at 10AM.