Salmon, Idaho Cross-Country Ski Trip Reports
Winter 2004 - 2005
Author: Cliff
Keene Latest revision: 04/20/2005. Minor edit July
1, 2006 to correct my web location.
Items with an "*" were added since previous revision of 03/25/2005.
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E . Web Site
Statistics
A. MARCH - APRIL
2005 TRIPS
B. FEBRUARY, 2005 TRIPS
C. JANUARY, 2005 TRIPS
D. NOVEMBER - DECEMBER
2004 TRIPS
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03/20/05 |
28 Sun. Grp.
Ski - 4 folks: Cliff, Tanya, Tim and Lou drove to Lost Trail Ski area to
cross-country ski the Saddle Mountain Road. We purchased “Single Trip
Lift Tickets for $4.00 each. As we were putting on our skis we talked with
Tony and Annie and they were also going to ski the same road, but were going
to ski all the way up. We then skied over to the top of lift 3 and around the
base of lift 5 to the Candy Stick “Easiest” Trail to the bottom of lift 4.
The packed snow was fairly hard and we found it hard to make telemark turns
so we had to snowplow most of the way. It took about 15 minutes to do this.
It took another 15 minutes to get to the top of Chair 4. This is called the
Saddle Mountain Chair, even though Saddle Mountain is actually over a mile NE
of the top of the lift. We then climbed a couple hundred yards up the Oreo
Run which, when it tops out, follows a fire-line down a gentle slope to the
south. The new snow had crusted to the point that we were unable to make any
turns in the unpacked snow at the side of the run, so I was apprehensive
about the conditions on the road. The Saddle Mountain Road leaves the ski run
/ fire-line on the right (west) about 100 yards beyond where the Oreo Run
flattens out. It took us about 6 minutes to ski to this point. We were amazed
to see that Tony and Annie had reached the road at the same time. They
started out, breaking trail. It had snowed a couple of inches the day before,
and 2 more inches last night. The temperature was fairly warm. In the past
I’ve found the cross country skiing in fresh snow in warm conditions can be
horrible with the snow sticking to your skis. However, I was amazed to find
the kicking and gliding to be excellent. We skied out to the 2nd
Saddle, about 2 miles to our lunch spot. It took me almost an hour to get
there, but as previously arranged they had their lunch about eaten when I got
there. Tanya and Tim continued to the top of Saddle Mountain, probably
another 2 miles or so. After a leisurely lunch I waxed up my skis. I corked
on two coats of blue, then corked in a light layer of red. I was taking it
easy but found the kick and glide was PERFECT. I still don’t know why because
in what seemed like identical conditions, I’ve had lots of problems. Tim and
Tanya had a nice view from the top. CLICK HERE for their pictures. They
caught up with us at the 1st saddle. In the past couple of years
we’ve skied down the rest of the Oreo Run. But this year we decided to ski
the Saddle Mtn. Road. From the Saddle Mtn. Road sign, one skis south on the
fire-line / ski run and takes the first fire-line to the right. I took the
left turn on Oreo, but it was an easy ski up through trees back to the
fire-line. At the next junction the fire-line again bears right. Take the
road that forks to the left. A ways past the switchbacks take the fork the
right (the road to the left goes up to the top of Chair Lift 2. A ways
further and the road joins the ski area and becomes the ski area “Cat Track”.
This was much faster than we’d expected and found that we had to snowplow
most of the way. |
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03/24/05 |
29 Thu. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Lou skied the Meadow Trails. Trailhead snow depth was 20” total with about 3” of light powder on top. Actually in places the road and parking lot had over 5” of new snow. It’s about 0.1 mile to a fork in the trail, we took the RIGHT FORK OF THE MEADOW TRAIL. There was a good base for all but one part of this trail. Just past the fork in the trail, there is a short steep area and this had a good base. Then there’s a boggy area, and except for one exposed tree limb this is well covered. The trail then turns to the left and starts down a steep pitch. Here we discovered that for at least 10 feet, the only snow was the 3” of new snow, and I did in fact hit a small rock. Be careful here. Generally the next section where the trail turns right is also skimpy, but we found a fair base. The rest of this section and all of the Wapiti Loop was in great condition. After skiing the loop we skied out to the main Meadow Trail and skied down to the “Big Clear-cut”. Just as we started down the steeper initial section of this trail, we again found a short stretch that had lost all its base that could have rocks. Be careful here. We skied back up from the “Clear-cut” out to the road and up the “Left Fork” (actually for us going up it’s the right fork) to the trailhead. This loop took us about 1 ¼ hours. After eating lunch we drove 1.5 miles west of William’s Cr. Summit to the Lower Mukluk Trailhead. We skied out to the south on the Mukluk trail past the main creek crossing and another 100 yards or so to a spot where a road bears 90 degrees to the left. We skied about 1/3 mile on this road to the point where it bears the right and starts climbing very steeply (over 20% grade). This road eventually ties in with a road that comes down from the Lower Shoshoni Trailhead. We hoped to find a gentler route to avoid the steep section. Thus we continued at a level or slight climb. Going was good for awhile but alas we found that our route would be across a slope that was too heavily timbered and too steep. Maybe we can find another route, or make some switchbacks in the steep route. I do think this would be a nice section of trail to make “official”. There are several logging roads that take off from this route and all have good snow cover due to their north facing slopes. It took us about 50 minutes to ski out to where we gave up and about 25 minutes to ski back. Last Sunday I had good skiing
but it’s wasn’t REAL powder, today we had real honest to goodness powder. I
really like GOOD spring corn snow conditions, but nothing can beat powder. |
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03/26/05 * |
30 Sat. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff, Wayne & Tanya, and Judy skied at Lost Trail Ski Area.
This was scheduled to be the last weekend of skiing. Since the area was not
open during the week, we had hoped to get some of the powder that Lou and I
had experienced on Thursday. However, we had two strikes against us. They had
packed most of the runs almost wall to wall (As usual.) and with the warmer
temperatures and strong wind, most of the powder was quite wind set and
almost non-ski-able. Since Chair 2 was a little slow in opening, we skied
down directly to Chair 4. The packed runs on “Chair 4” were a little icy in
the morning. So we skied Chair 2 for the early afternoon. There was a little
unpacked snow on the south side of lower Far Out that would probably have
been great in the morning. The trees are taller here, so there’s more
protection from the sun and wind. We went back to Chair 4 and finished the
day. The sun had warmed up the runs and the packed snow was great. I assumed
that this would be my last day skiing at the ski area for the 2004/2005
season and I was wondering where the winter had gone. BY, I guess. |
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04/02/05 * |
APRIL 2005 31 Sat. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff and Judy skied at Lost Trail Ski Area again. I’d
planned for this day to be my annual “After the Area Closes Telemark Practice
Day”. But with almost of foot of new snow in the early part of the week
the Ski Area decided to open for April 2nd – 3rd. They
had publicized the previous weekend as the “last weekend” and there didn’t
seem to be too much publicity about their changing their mind, thus there
wasn’t much of a crowd. The snow conditions were about the same a last
weekend. However the sun warmed the snow up faster and we had excellent
packed slope skiing right off. By late afternoon, the sun had warmed up the
wind-set “powder” so that it was ski-able. But by then we were about skied
out. I’m working on a new turn which is working well on easy packed slopes
and in good untracked powder. It’s called the Para-Mark. I get in the
telemark position, starting, for example, with the right foot advanced and
the left foot slightly behind and make a telemark turn to the left. My weight
is on the front big toe and rear little toe. Then without changing the lead,
but changing the weight, I make a “Reverse Telemark” to the right. This is
like a parallel turn, but still in a crouch with the right ski still ahead.
However the weight changes to the rear big toe and the front little toe. I
find that I have to emphasize the weight on the rear ski for this turn and
I’m told that doing this is good exercise. I ski this way for awhile and then
reverse the lead ski. |
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04/05/05 * |
32 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Lou drove to Montana Hwy 93 MP 2.4 to the West Camp Cr. Road #729. This was to be a scouting trip to make sure there’d be enough snow for this coming weekend and also to see how the road might be for mountain biking. We skied on the W. Camp Cr. Road #729 for about 3 miles, and about 1.5 hours skiing time. (Refer to the 1995, USFS Lost Trail & Chief Joseph Pass Cross-country Ski Areas Map.) There’d been 2-3 inches of new snow. The road starts going to the southwest at a very slight climb (less than 1%) for about 1.5 miles, where it crosses the East Fork of Camp Cr. at the base of Chair Lifts 3 & 4. It took us about 40 minutes to cover this distance. At first the snow in the shade was quite powdery and the snow in the sunny areas was grabby. As the day warmed we found the snow better in the sunny areas. At the Chair Lifts, the road bends and goes almost due North, climbing at over 5% grade (about 3 degrees). Within about ¼ mile there’s a closed road to the right, which is easy to miss and I expect would not be good for mountain biking. After about ¾ of a mile from the Chair Lifts the road forks. Road 729 bares left, where in 100 yards there’s a closed gate. Although, this is the “main” road, it’s closed to all motorized vehicles year-round. Both roads eventually go to the Indian Trees Campground, near Lost Trail Hot Springs. The right fork is a little shorter and open for motorized vehicles. Either fork would probably be good for mountain biking. However, it would be good to have a map, because there are a lot of logging roads and it could be easy to take the wrong road. At any rate, we continued on the left fork and soon saw very fresh Moose tracks. At about 1.5 miles from the chair lifts we saw a large blue diamond with an arrow, indicating that the ski trail makes a sharp left turn off the road through some 15’ tall Lodgepole pines. The sign indicates that it’s 3 miles back to Hwy 93 and it took us about 1.5 hours. We ate lunch and skied on the trail a short distance. This is called the Saddle Mountain Burn Trail the trail (including the portioun that we’d just skied is about 6 miles. Thus it would be about 3 miles back to the ski area parking lot. However, parts of the trail are hard to find now, with the “new” (since 1999/2000) ski runs. We decided to ski back the way we came and save scouting for another day. I’d skied on this trail sometime in the last 10 years, in the other direction. However, I’m sure that we cut down to the road sooner than at this junction. It took us about 1.5
hours to ski to this point and it took me about 1 hour to ski back. Lou got a
second wind and beat me back by 15 minutes or so. It was nice to see the
Moose tracks, and discover that there is enough snow for the weekend, and also
that the roads would be good for mountain biking. J |
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04/09/05 * |
33 SAT. Grp. Ski - 3 folks: Cliff, Judy and Lou drove to the closed Lost Trail Ski Area to practice telemark turns and cross-country ski the W. Camp Cr. Road. See the previous trip report for the location of this road. This is my annual “After the Area Closes Telemark Practice Day”. Lou and I left the skis and packs with Judy at the Ski Area parking lot, and drove to the W. Camp Cr. Rd. (See previous trip report.) where we left my vehicle. It took about 15 minutes to make the shuttle. We had on our touring skis and relatively light boots so it was harder to turn than with wider skis and plastic boots. It appeared that we’d received at least another 3” of snow since Lou and I were here on Tuesday. However the snow had started to set up. I could tell however that if I had enough room I could makes some turns. We elected to ski Gunsmoke, the run on skiers right of Chair 3, because it’s fairly narrow and we know that the snowmobiles would soon trash the new powder. However, we were too late. We only had a narrow band of powder on each side of the run. When we got to the bottom we skied on the road, about 1.5 miles back to my vehicle. After driving back to the ski area we ate lunch at the Ski Lodge poarch and then made another shuttle. This time we skied over past the base of Chair 5 and down “Main Street” and over to “Side Street”. Again the snowmobiles had trashed most of the middle of the runs, but I was finally getting my rythum at the bottom of Side Street and made a few good (for me) turns. With my lighter gear, I found that I had better luck keeping my skis at a fairly wide angle – almost like a snowplow, but once the skis got around to it they whipped around nicely. Most of the terrain that was gentle enougn for us to ski in our light equipment had already been packed by the numerous snowmobiles, so we decided to call it a day after only two runs. This will be the last of my “group ski trips” this year. Notwithstanding the lack of snow at lower elevations and on south facing slopes, it’s not been too bad a year. Ski Year 2004/2005 Wrap-Up |
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May |
I may try one more trip
skiing out to the Continental Divide Trail from the Fourth of July Creek Road. It will have to be after the snow melts enough to drive well past 4th
of July Cr., but early enough to have some snow on the north exposures to
ski. Stay tuned. /s/ Cliff Keene, 04/20/2005. |
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02/01/05 |
20 Tue. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Jim drove to the Mukluk Trailhead which is about 1.5
miles west of William’s Cr. Summit. On Sunday, I’d noticed that the snow was
deeper and softer here, largely due to the north facing aspect. I wanted to
find a connector road between the Mukluk Trailhead and the Lower Shoshoni
Trailhead. We followed several roads and finally found one that appeared
to be heading up to the Shoshoni TH. Time didn’t allow us to complete the
loop. However the skiing back in our own tracks was excellent. There is a
crust everywhere but on northerly exposures the snow under the crust is quite
powdery. Total Skiing was about 2 hours. |
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02/02/05 |
21 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Lou left Cliff’s vehicle at the Mukluk TH and drove Lou’s VW bus back up to the Shoshoni TH. We skied down the old road which at first is the Lower Shoshoni Trail. We left that trail where the road switches back to the right (west) and goes down the right (north) bank of Moccasin Cr. We skied down for about 18 minutes and crossed the Cr. to the south side, where the road climbed up slope, bent to the right and continued down the Cr. At 22 minutes we met my tracks from the day before where the road climbs up slope for about ¼ mile. There are quite a few small trees and a few blow-downs in this section. At 33 minutes there is another road that we took to the right going across a ridge for 100 yards or so to a 4 road junction at 37 minutes. The main trail is not straight but the next road to the right. The road going straight will take a bend to the left and begin a climb to a dead end. Going hard right will go over to some old logging areas. Going “middle” goes to the Mukluk Trail. However for about ¼ mile this trails is very steep, at 20% to 25%. With only one set of tracks it was quite easy to ski. Once several tracks are made and especially if they are set up, the skiing would be difficult. Depending on one’s ability and equipment, it might take 2 minutes or a half hour to go down this ¼ mile section. With some chain saw work it would be possible to make a re-route to avoid this steep section. There are quite a few blow-downs and small alpines firs, but it should be possible to avoid cutting many big trees. Once down the steep section we had 4 minutes of perfect kick & glide back to the Mukluk Trail and 5 more minutes back to the trailhead. Thus excluding our exploration it would have taken about 50 minutes to ski from the Shoshoni TH to the Mukluk TH (allowing 4 minutes for the steep section). If we’d had to break trail all the way it would have been 90 minutes or so. Counting our exploring our skiing time was about 1.5 hours. We were very impressed with this “trail” but felt that it was a little too short. I’d like to find a nice loop in the vicinity of the Mukluk Trailhead because the snow is so good here. I measured the snow
depth at the Meadow TH. There was a crust on top (not enough to ski on
and fairly easy to break) with about 11” of fairly soft snow to a hard base. Total
depth was about 16” South exposures have much less snow. At about the
same time the Lemhi Ridge Snotel had 21” snow depth. |
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02/05/05 |
22 Sat. Grp. Ski - 9 folks Including: Cliff, Tawna, Judy, Linda & Bill, Wayne & Tanya, Helen from Challis and Lou skied the “Mukluk” Trail. Actually we skid 0.6 miles south on the Ridge Road, and west on the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail before we actually got on the Mukluk Trail. As expected there was a slight crust on top but we were able to ski with fairly good control even on the steeper portions (some as much as 20%) on the Mukluk Trail. This is about a 5 mile ski and requires trail breaking the entire way once we leave the Ridge Road. W e were lucky in that Tanya likes to break trail. However, never ski this trail without several folks to help break trail. Later all, except Helen,
went to Bertram’s for a happy hour and supper. Marlene, Anita, and Dave joined us. I was presented with a thank you card and a gift of a GPS/stopwatch
exercise training recorder. (See below). |
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02/08/05 |
23 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Jim drove to the Shoshoni Trailhead which is about 0.6 miles west of William’s Cr. Summit. We skied down the same road that Lou and I skied on Wed. the 2nd and then took a road off to the left (southeast). We were hoping to find a connection between these old roads and the Upper Shoshoni Trail. This would be a good alternative for folks that want to ski the area but don’t want to ski the steeper “telemark” portion of the Shoshoni Trail. We ran out of time but did find a couple of roads that might fill the bill. This was a good chance to
try out my GPS / Stop Watch recorder. I discovered that when I stopped the
watch temporarily while taking a rest stop, the watch started a new “lap”.
I’ll need to figure out how to avoid this. I think the watch has a feature
where it only records when one is moving. That will be very handy if it
works. I’m sure that part of the time while in a small canyon, the GPS wasn’t
recording miles, but if I was going in a fairly straight line at the time it
should be about right. At any rate the GPS said that we skied 1.5 miles for 2
1/3 hours. I would think that we actually covered more miles that that. I’ll
have to keep checking. |
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02/11/05 |
24 Fri. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Lou drove to the Shoshoni Trailhead and skied up the Lower Shoshoni Trail. Since I was planning a trip down the Upper Shoshoni Trail though the Shoshoni Meadows on Saturday, I thought it best to check out conditions in the lower meadow. We found that the snow in the creek bottom was great and, to my surprise, deep enough to cover all logs. However the conditions in the lower meadow were bad. It is possible to “ski” (actually traverse and kick turn), but one need to watch out for sagebrush and even some open areas. We put on our skins and climbed ¾ of the way up to the upper meadows. We decided to do some
exploring and found a semi meadow to the northeast. It had slightly
better snow but the trees were closer which limited ones maneuvering room. I
think this might be an alternative to the “lower meadow” when snow conditions
are just right. We came out on the Lower Shoshoni Trail in a small 100 yard
long meadow which does show on the aerial photo and is about 1/3 mile from
the creek crossing. Skiing time over 2 hours. |
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02/12/05 |
25 Sat. Grp.
Ski - 2 folks Including: Cliff, and Tim (and Sam the dog) who skied south
on the Ridge Road to the Deep Cr. Trailhead and up the Deep Cr. Trail
(fire-line) to the start of the Upper Shoshoni Trail. There was about
1 inch of new snow on the road and for part of the way we followed a
wolf’s tracks. The snow was great in the fire-line as we broke an
inch or so of snow in our tracks from the previous Mukluk Ski. The snow in
the upper Shoshoni meadow was crusty so that we were only able to make a
few turns, mostly traverses and kick turns. We already knew from my trip the
day before with Lou that the lower meadows would be bad. However the Lower
Shoshoni Trail was great as we flew back in Lou’s and my tracks. We ate
lunch after getting back to the Trailhead. |
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02/16/05 |
26 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Jim drove to William’s Cr. Summit, ate lunch and skied south on the Ridge Road to the Deep Cr. Ridge Trailhead. We were surprised to see 4” – 6” of new snow since Saturday. We skied the upper Shoshoni meadows and I found that with the new snow I could make a few more turns, but I still broke through the crust most of the time and didn’t do much better. When we reached the lower meadows we veered of to the left and skied the “Northeast Meadow” that Lou and I had discovered. Although less crusty the snow was still too variable to do much turning. The snowmobile club has groomed the Ridge Road in both directions. I think they probably have done all the way to Iron Lake to the south, but I’m not sure if they finished the grooming to the north. I expect that the road is great at least as far as we normally ski. It looks like skating would be excellent. The only caution is that with the warm sun, by the weekend, the sections that face directly south may become icy. I checked the Meadow
Trailhead and all the trails look excellent. Depending on when they were
last skied all have between 2” and 6” of new snow. Backcountry skiing
may not be much better but the upper elevation trails are now excellent.
I measured about 4”+ to a crust, 12” to a hard base and 19” total snow
depth. There was about 6” of new snow in the parking lot. At least 4”
since last Saturday. |
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02/17/05 |
27 Thu. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff, Judy & Tanya Skied at Lost Trail Ski Area. |
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01/01/05 |
Sat. Grp. Ski - 7 folks Including: Marlene, Anita, Tawna, Judy, Pat, Vickie, and Lou. All but Marlene and Lou had dogs so it turned into a dog ski. They skied from William’s Cr. Summit, North on the Ridge Road 2.7 miles to the A-Frame where they ate lunch. The weather and snow conditions were great and all had a good time. Most of them also attended the Potluck supper. Linda and Bill hosted a
great potluck supper that evening. Those attending included: Marlene, Anita, Tawna, Vickie, Dave, Renee & Wes. |
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01/04/05 |
09 Tue. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Jim drove to Chief Joseph and ate lunch in the parking lot.
We then drove 3 miles down to the Richardson Ridge Trailhead which was in the
shade and much colder. We skied up to where it gets steep, put on skins and
skied up most of the steeper parts of the trail. There was about 27” of snow
at the TH and most of the trail seems to have a good base. The older snow had
crusted somewhat and set. However there was enough new snow on top to give
fairly good control. The powder is not deep enough that I’d recommend the
trail for beginners yet. There is about 30” of snow on the gauge at the
Chief Joseph TH entrance. I think that reads a little low. |
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01/07/05 |
10 Fri. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene Skied the Upper Meadow Trails and checked the Wapiti
Loop. Cliff then skied down the Meadow Trail past the “Big Clear-cut”. Snow
is now EXCELLENT on the Upper Meadow Trails and Wapiti Loop down to this
point. Below the “CC” one still needs to use some care. I didn’t hit any
rocks in the trail but that would still be possible. There is a tree that is
partly across the trail. Watch for my flagging. Also just past the William’s
Cr. Rd Cutoff/ Cougar Point Junction the trail is still somewhat torn up from
a truck spinning out. |
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01/08/05 |
11 Sat. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene Skied the Ander-Rich Trail which parallels the
Anderson Mtn. Road south of the Chief Joseph Pass TH. We’d added diamonds to
the north end of this trail last fall and it looks like that’s helped.
Several parties had used the trail. The section just north of the Richardson
Ridge Trail still needs more diamonds. Going north from Richardson Ridge the
trail follows the west side of a small clear-cut. We put first tracks on the
section of the Ander-Rich Trail south of the Richardson Ridge Trail. The south
end of this trail has no diamonds for the last 100 yards before it joins the Anderson Mtn. Road. I’ll plan to add some so that more folks may find this section of trail.
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01/09/05 |
12 Sun. Grp.
Ski - 8 folks: Cliff, Marlene, Bill, Linda, Vickie (1) and Judy drove to
Chief Joseph where we joined Suzanne and Vicki (2). We skied south on the Anderson Mtn. Road and all but Judy skied up the Richardson Ridge Trail. At about the
point where the trail begins to drop, we ate a short lunch and continued down
to the trailhead. There had been quite a bit of snow since I’d skied the
lower part of the trail and There was about 30” – 36” of snow in the more
open areas with roughly 13” of soft power (resulting in a fairly firm base of
almost 20”). One always needs to watch for stumps and logs, but I’d say it’s
about as safe as one could expect. I saw no hazards on the trail. I don’t
know the condition of the Cabinet Cr. Trail, but would expect that it would
be similar to Richardson Ridge. |
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01/13/05 |
13 Thu. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Judy & Vickie Skied at the Lost Trail Ski Area. The Area had reported 12” of “new” and we had at least that much. We got an additional 5” or more during the day. It was some of the best powder skiing we’d all had. The super cold temperatures to the north didn’t make it to us but it was cold enough that the powder didn’t “set up” right away after folks skied it. So although we didn’t get many “first tracks”, “second tracks” weren’t too shabby. I was told by one of the
employees that they planned to open the “Saddle Mountain” Chair 4. This has
some fantastic intermediate level powder skiing on and between the four main
runs on the east face. Experts can find even more to the south in Hollywood
Bowl and other areas. |
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01/15/05 |
14 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Judy & Tawna skied at the Lost Trail Ski Area. There was no new snow the night before but since Chair 4 isn’t normally open during the week, and had not been open, we got to ski in the 12” and 6” of snow they got prior to the 13th and 14th respectively. Since it was the first grooming, they groomed “wall to wall”, thus reducing the amount of powder for us. However we still we able to get in some nice powder skiing. The wind had set the snow a little, which was actually good because with that much depth there are places that are normally too flat to make turns. We planed on top quite well although there were still a few rocks on the steeper areas. I “demoed” some new wide
telemark skis and that really helped. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to
demo all the brands and sizes that I’d wanted to. There just wasn’t enough
time. |
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01/16/05 |
15 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene went to the Lower Aspen Loop Trailhead where we took my chain saw and cut 8 or 10 logs that were across the Lower Aspen Loop Trail. They were in a steep area where folks like to find their own route rather than following the same trail. This is because the trail center gets icy and it’s safer skiing in fresh snow. Thus we cleared a 100’ swath mostly above the main trail. We cut several stumps lower and pruned quite a few limbs. We’ll need to come back later and cut more stumps and prune a few more trees. Just after we got to the trailhead we met John and his partner who went out to the William’s Cr. Trail and, I think, climbed up to do some backcountry skiing. We also saw Judy, Vickie, and Pat with their dogs. They went up to the Meadow Trail and skied the upper loop. After packing the tools we decided that we’d had enough exercise and just drove up and checked the snow depth at a few trailheads. On the way back we met Wayne and Tanya. They’d skied up the Buckhorn Trail and down the William’s Cr. Trail to the Lower Aspen Loop. They said our log cutting had helped. I measured 16” of snow at
the Lower Aspen Loop TH with about 6” of soft snow to a hard layer and about
3” of that, very light new snow. Unfortunately the subsequent warm weather
has degraded the snow and made for difficult travel. The Meadow TH had about
18” of snow with 6” to a hard layer and about 3” of that, lighter new snow.
Add another 2” or so for William’s Cr. Summit. Note that the depth later in
the week was somewhat less but the snow was harder. |
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01/22/05 |
16 Sat. Grp. Ski - 9 folks: Cliff, Marlene, and Tim drove to Chief Joseph where we met Diane & Dave, Janice, Si & Roxane, and Jill. We shuttled vehicles to the Cabinet Cr./Shoofly TH. Marlene elected to stay at Chief Joseph and take part in the ski lessons, which she enjoyed. The rest of us skied out the Timber Trail to Windy Point, and took the Scooter Trail to the Shoofly Trail. CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO. The snow wasn’t too bad where the trail wasn’t too steep. However, the warm weather had degraded the snow and it was fairly tough skiing on the steep sections. We elected not to ski to Hogan’s Cabin. We side stepped and used the “drag your poles between your knees technique” down the steeper parts, especially on the Shoofly Trail to the south of the ridge. Once we got DOWN, we ate lunch. The trail from there back to the TH was GREAT, the snow was fairly warm and we were getting a great glide. The reason the Cabinet
Cr. /Shoofly TH was not being plowed last winter is because it was too soft
for the heavy truck. This year they are plowing it with the (lighter weight)
grader, although they don’t use the grader after every storm. However it
appears that the snow doesn’t get too deep. I see that folks are not using
the Richardson Ridge TH for the Shoofly Trail as they did last year. |
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01/23/05 |
17 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene went to the Meadow TH and looked for a “Beginner (Easiest) route” for the Buckhorn Trail that takes off across the road. We found that a gentle beginner trail was not feasible, but we did find an Intermediate (More Difficult) level trail route to bypass two very steep areas. There are a couple of other steep sections and I think Wayne has a fairly good route to bypass them. Currently the plan is to leave the blue diamonds on the existing route and have green diamonds on the easier routes. There are a few pitches that exceed 17% and some over 20%. A More Difficult trail can be up to 12% with short 15% pitches. I hope to keep the grade between 10% - 12% so that one can easily ski UP the trail without skins, and so that advanced beginners can ski down easier. I’m sure we saw a wolf’s
tracks a few hundred yards north of the Meadow TH and later along the trail
by the second meadow (going up). The Meadow TH had about 16” of snow with a
crust and about 12” to a moderately harder layer. It was sunny and about 45
degrees, while it was foggy and didn’t get over 28 in Salmon. This has been
typical all week and the snow is melting fast at the lower levels. The lower
William’s Cr. Trail by the Big Fir TH has bare spots now. |
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01/25/05 |
18 Tue. Forest Service Ski: Cliff, Dave & Lou joined Norma Staaf to discuss the William’s Cr. Cross Country Ski system and how and where Mountain Bikes and in some cases other uses are proper and where restrictions are needed. Rather than elaborate here, I refer you to: http://home.custertel.net/~ckeene41/SNSA_SCFdiscussiontopics.htm We walked a ways up the “old” Deep Cr. Ridge Trail. It appeared that it had been cleared at least a ways up from the Deep Cr. Road. At this point it’s too steep and doesn’t usually have enough snow to use as a cross country ski trail. However, Dave and Lou felt that it would be a good route for mountain bikes. We’ll need to check out several of the cross-country ski trails of mountain bike opportunities next summer, especially the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail. Here, a gentler re-route to the north exposures would be needed for a ski trail. We then drove to the junction of the Moccasin Cr. Road and the Leesburg Mine Road and parked. We then skied (climbed) up the Right Fork (right coming down) of the North Moccasin Trail. I wanted to show Norma the steep section of the trail above the meadow. This is the section that is not safe to ski if snowmobiles have used it. In fairness, the trail seldom gets either snowmobile or ski traffic. But it’s one of the trails that I propose for a “formal” closure. I should note that based on personal experience and on Emails that I’ve received, the majority of the local Salmon Ridgerunners snowmobile club are supportive of our ski trails and don’t ride on them and don’t want to ride on them. Actually at this time the
snow is so hard that it would be a suicide run on cross country skis. It took
us about 40 minutes to ski up to the trail junction and another 20 minutes or
so to ski up and back a ways on the steeper part of the trail. Then we skied
on the Left Fork (coming down) of the trail which follows an old road. This
road is now washed out at the south end so the trail switches back down to
the 1st small clear-cut on the Mine Road past the Deep Cr. Road
Junction. It took us just under an hour to ski back to the road and down the
road to our vehicle. Actually as long as one doesn’t try and ski down any
steep slopes, I didn’t think the snow was too bad considering the warm
weather and lack of snow. Soon after starting back from the meadow we saw a
set of wolf tracks. On the way up and for a couple of spots on the way back
we walked across bare spots. We had to take our skis off at least once. The
south exposures in the meadow were completely bare but with only a slight
re-route we were able to ski on snow up through the meadow. |
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01/30/05 |
19 Sun. Grp.
Ski - 5 folks: Cliff, Marlene, Linda, Tim and Lou made essentially the
same trip that I made on Tuesday, January, 25 (See previous trip above). We
skied up the bottom of the “Right Fork” of the North Moccasin Trail. We made
better time because of the tracks that we’d made before. It took about 30
minutes to ski up the meadow. CLICK HERE for
a photo of us at the meadow. We then skied up the trail through the trees
for a few hundred yards and tried to ski back down. The snow was hard.
However, with her “Outer Bounds” skis, Linda was able to make several nice
tele turns. We returned on the “left fork of the trail and ate lunch part way
back. It took us about 40 minutes skiing time to ski back to the car. |
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11/05/04 |
01a Fri. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene walk the upper Meadow Trails and Wapiti Loop. No obvious hazards although snow depth only about 4” with some bare spots. We placed tree limbs on several boggy spots to act as a bridge with the next snow. These trails are part of
the William’s Cr. Cross Country Ski Trail system, on the William’s Cr. Road, southwest of Salmon. Refer to my Salmon, Idaho XC Ski Page at: http://home.custertel.net/~ckeene41/cksalxcski.htm for links to descriptions
of these ski trails. |
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12/02/04 |
01b Thu. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Jim skied the Upper Meadow Trails & Wapiti Loop. Some
rocks and stumps were hit. Snow still not adequate in some areas. Meadow TH
snow depth about 8” including 5” of soft surface. Depth @ William’s Cr.
summit is about 2” more. |
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12/08/04 |
02 Wed. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Jim skied the Upper Meadow Trails & Wapiti Loop, and
part of the Upper Aspen Loop. Some rocks and stumps were hit. Snow still not
adequate in some areas. Meadow TH snow depth about 10” including 7” of soft
surface. Total ski time about 2 hrs. |
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12/16/04 |
03 Thu. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene skied the Upper Meadow Trails, Wapiti Loop, &
Upper Aspen Loop. The sign is down where the Upper Aspen Loop joins the
William’s Cr. Trail. Snow depth about the same as previous trip, but snow has
consolidated and stumps & rocks seem to be covered in the trails. Still
not advisable to ski fast in steep areas. Some rocks and stumps were hit.
Snow still not adequate in some areas. Meadow TH snow depth about 10”
including 2” of soft surface to a crust and 6’ to a hard base. Depth @ William’s
Cr. summit is about 2” more. |
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12/18/04 |
Sat. Pvt.
Ski: Tim Jones raced in the 4th Annual Continental Divide Classic Ski Race at
Chief Joseph Pass. Conditions were very icy and several folks fell, including
Tim. His fall cost him quite a bit of time. To see a list of results go to
the Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club’s Special
Reports Section, or the Missoula Nordic Ski Club’s Race Results Section.
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12/21/04 |
04 Tue. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Jim skied from the Meadow TH up the Buckhorn Trail to the
jct. w/ the William’s Cr. Tr. in the big meadow. Snow depth adequate. Trail
condition now good but crust layer requires caution coming down the steeper
areas near the trailhead. Ski time about 1.5 hours up and 45 minutes back.
Meadow TH snow depth about 11” including 3” soft surface to crust layer w/ 9”
to a hard base. |
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12/24/04 |
05 Fri. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff, Marlene, & Brenda skied the Meadow Trails & Wapiti Loop,
in conjunction with a Christmas Tree harvest. The Wapiti Loop and Upper
Meadow Trail is good down to the “big clear-cut” and new rail fence. Folks
wanting a loop can follow the blue diamonds up and down the hill past the
rail fence and then follow the rail fence back to your tracks. Caution, the
Meadow Trail below the big clear-cut is not yet skiable. We hit several
stumps and rocks. (Note this has changed – see later reports.) |
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12/26/04 |
06 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Brenda & Mica went to Lost Trail Ski Area for a personal “Telemark 101 session”. Snow was barely adequate with a few rocks and icy spots, but we improved our telemark technique quite a bit. We also checked the snow
depth at Chief Joseph and the Cabinet Cr./Shoofly Trailhead. Chief Joseph had
about 22” unpacked depth and there was about 16” at Cabinet Cr. At this time
it appeared that CABINET CR. TH WAS BEING PLOWED. There was only 5” of new
snow. Last year they stopped plowing the Cabinet Cr. TH and thus those skiing
to Hogan’s Cabin parked at the Richardson Ridge TH and skied on an alternate
trail out to the Shoofly trail. We saw tracks on the “normal trail” and also
on the alternate trail from Richardson Ridge TH. |
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12/27/04 |
07 Mon. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene skied over to and built a log and snow bridge
at a rocky creek crossing about 100 yards below the “big clear-cut”. There
are still some stumps and logs below this spot but once we get more snow this
will be a safe crossing. |
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12/29/04 |
08 Wed. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff, Marlene, & Brenda drove to the May Cr. Campground TH on Hwy
43 east of Chief Joseph Pass. We skied on the May Cr. Trail to the May Cr.
Cabin, ate lunch and skied back for a total of about 5 miles. This trail is a
fairly flat skier packed trail. It usually is well packed the first 2.5 miles
out the cabin. Beyond that it continues fairly flat about 2.5 more miles.
Conditions vary depending on how many skiers have skied past the cabin. At
about 5 miles from the trailhead the trail climbs very steeply for about a
half mile and then eventually joins the Cabinet Cr. Trail. If one were to ski
all the way from Chief Joseph it would be about 11 mile. I would recommend
this ONLY FOR A VERY EXPERIENCED GROUP. However the lower trail offers good
flat track skiing for beginners, especially for those with dogs that can’t
ski at Chief Joseph. The temperature was mild and we were able to kick and
glide very well. Snow depth was marginal with a few bare spots. (Note that
with more snow in early January, snow should be deeper now.) |
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Abbreviations Used In the Above:
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Cr. |
Creek. |
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Grp. Ski |
One of our scheduled group trips. Some may only want to read the group ski reports. Do a Find - Grp to do this. |
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Mt. |
Mountain. |
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Pvt. Ski |
Not a group ski. Anyone that has an interesting trip should let me know and I'll add it. If possible indicate the snow depths and conditions. |
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Rd. |
Road. |
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TH |
Trailhead. |
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Word Count: 6,264 |
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Web Location |
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Last revised on web: 1/ |
03/25/2005 15:30 PM |
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Previously revised on web: |
02/16/2005 21:50 PM |
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Home Page Location |
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Contact: |
Email is: ckeene41-b4 followed by an @ and then yahoo.com |
1/ Items with an "*" were
added since previous revision. *
Two ** indicate minor update between ski
reports.
