Posted on March 4, 2021 at 7:54 AM by Parks Department
Nordic Trails Conditions Update for March 4, 2021
- Almost on que spring has decided to arrive. Expect “springtime” conditions for the foreseeable future. Icy frozen and slick in the early mornings and slushy, sticky once it warms in the mornings and the afternoons, regardless of grooming. This is normal for this time of year. Next week looks like a potential storm mid-week. With our reduced snowpack this season, trails will deteriorate rapidly, be aware. We will groom Thursday morning, trails will still be in good shape, the weekend grooming may be an entirely different story. With temperatures pushing 60 Sat and Sun, with high winds, trails will become saturated with water, all bets are off as to what we will be able to do with them grooming wise.
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Grooming Factoid: Currently we have received 78 inches of snow for the season, we should be around the 150 inch range. If the trails become saturated this weekend as expected, they will retain “heat” in the snowpack regardless of any new snow on top and they will begin to melt rapidly from within. We will not groom slush. Grooming slush creates ice when it re-freezes, not just a surface layer that we can break up, but true ice that’s best suited for hockey and fishing through. Our grooming window in the spring is limited to when the snow is frozen to a sufficient depth that we are not grooming slush and only breaking up or processing frozen icy snow, as to not make bulletproof ice. With this reduced time window and ground speed of the grooming machine when dealing with ice, trails groomed may be limited.
- Ski passes are required for all that use the mountain trail system. Funds generated from ski pass sales go to maintaining and grooming trails. Passes can be purchased at Mountain Sports, Zeelo's, 42 Degrees North and Natrona County Roads, Bridges and Parks office in Mills.
