There has been no scheduled grooming this week due to low snow levels and warm temperatures. I did take the groomer out yesterday afternoon to the Alpine and back to level up the corner along the highway, due to the rotary blowing snow up on the trail, and went to Morning Creek and back to remove a tree in the trail. Thanks to Cecil and those helping him for cutting trees on the trails so we only have to push them off. The main roads are like highways and don’t need to be groomed, and due to low snow levels on the road, are not developing moguls. The only road that has ruts in it that I have checked out with the V-K snowmobile is Balloon Tree road. Connecting trails are a little bumpy through Spout Springs, but otherwise, main roads are smooth. Once I break the crust of the frozen surface, the snow is like sugar, it won’t set up and stay smooth. I did doze a burm of snow at Jubilee Road and highway 204 to keep vehicles off Jubilee Road. I had to help shovel an elderly couple in a Honda Car stuck at the work center thinking they could drive back on Jubilee Road, and also helped a phone repair man shovel his truck out. I got my exercise! At the request of the Sheriff, Cecil and I went back to the base of Baldy on the backside trail where it comes down the hill as a Nisson Pathfinder was on the edge of the trail, full of stolen items from cabins on the mountain. It was a safety issue for us as it was on the edge of the trail. It has been removed. Thus the need to close the road!
Everyone has a different take on how much snow there is. At the grooming shed there is less than a foot, but in the shady areas there could be almost a foot and a half, so it depends on where you measure, it is not consistent. Same way with grooming with the powder bar yesterday, I would be almost in the dirt in places and OK in the shade.
All Gates are open except Elk Trail. I have folded all the no vehicle signs up on Coyote Road, Jubilee Road, Balloon Tree Road, 31 road so vehicles can see the roads are closed. With low snow levels, it will be hard to keep them out.
The temperature yesterday was 40 on the SnowCat at 11:30 a.m. Typical inversion, cold here, warm there.
THINK SNOW!!
Jess Thompson TTF grooming chairman
