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MARCH - MAY 2006 TRIPS (Scroll Down for April & May)
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03/04/06
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Sat. Pvt. Ski: Three or our group, Vickie, Norma, and Nick skied in
the Ben Ali Haggin's Mile High Nordic Ski Race at the Haggin Mountain Ski
Area. Click
Here to see race results. Since this was a “freestyle” race, most were
skate skiers. There were only 5 Classic Skiers. It was like there were two
races at the same time. The skate skiers took off and in about 2 seconds they
were all but out of sight. Nick did the 19K and Norma and Vickie along with
two other young women did the 9K. It was a lot of fun and the onlookers
seemed to enjoy the fact that the Classic Skiers had showed up. Next year we should plan to have a few
more of our group enter this. The time keeper made the comment that they were
surprised to see so many Classic Skiers - so you see 5 is a-lot compared to
what they usually have. They got a great workout, had soup and beer
(provided) and contributed to the grooming effort up there
We are thinking about having a trip up there later this season. Let me (Cliff) know if you’re interested. Click
Here, and Click
Here, and Click Here
for more information.
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03/05/06
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Sun. Grp. Ski – 1 folks. I finked out and apparently most
everybody else did too. Tanya was the only skier. She went to Chief Joe and
skied south on the Anderson Mt.
Road to Anderson Mt.
She described the snow as “EXCELLENT! A tele paradise! I had my touring skis so didn't get the
turns in, but the powder was awesome! I broke trail from Richardson Ridge to
the end, so hasn't been a-lot of traffic out that way since this last storm.
Hopefully next weekend will be as good!”
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03/10/06
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31 Fri. Pvt. Ski: Cliff
& Lou had a short afternoon exercise ski. We left the Meadow Trailhead
and took the left fork down to the Wapiti Loop. It took about 15 minutes to
get to the actual start of the loop; and after a total of 40 minutes we
completed the loop. We ski back on the right fork (right coming down actually
left for us) to the Meadow TH.
Last weekend the snow had been reported as icy. Now there was at least 4”
of new snow in the trail and ALL THE UPPER MEADOW TRAIL AND WAPITI LOOP WERE
EXCELLENT SKIING.
Snow depths: Meadow TH: 37” with 4” to a hard layer.
Cougar
Point: 25” with 2” to a hard layer.
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03/11/06
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32 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
Tawna, and Tim went to the Lost Trail Ski Area. The powder was great – one of
the best days I’ve had. For the most part we skied on Chair 4. We ate at the
new yurt at the base of Chair 3.
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03/12/06
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33 Sun. Grp. Ski – 7 Folks: Cliff,
Marlene, Lou & Tim drove to Chief Joseph where we met Janice, Sally and
Cye (sp?) from the Bitterroot side. We shuttled Tim and Cliff’s vehicles to the Richardson Ridge Trailhead
(3 miles east of Chief Joseph Pass) and skied south on the Anderson Mtn. Road
for 1.5 miles where the Richardson Ridge starts (or ends if you climb up) on
the left. We were amazed that nobody had skied it since the last few snow
storms. We could barely see an old track. However the snow was set perfectly;
hard enough so we were able to get up a little speed on the downhills (we
only sank in 6” or so), but soft enough that we were able to control
ourselves. Some of us were able to make about as many turns as I’ve ever made
on this trail. There were several yahoos.
However before heading down, we ate lunch at the high point about a half mile out on the
trail. It was slightly chilly, but the sun was out most of the time. A
perfect “picnic in the woods”. We finished a little after 01:00 PM after
about 1.5 hours skiing time..
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03/14/06
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34 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
Marlene, and Tim skied the William’s Cr. Trail System, including the Upper
Meadow Trails and the Wapiti Loop. SNOW WAS EXCELLENT. Tim & Cliff skied down the Meadow Trail past the “Big
Clearcut” and started down to where the “Cutoff Trial” heads left and the
trail to Cougar Point goes right. However we cut down to the right through
some trees for 100 feet or so to another clearcut which faced south directly
into the sun. The south exposure resulted in a hard crust that held our
weight and allowed us to make several turns down to the lower SE corner. Here
there’s a small creek or bog that we followed about 100 yards to the Meadow
Trail to Cougar Point.
The steeper section of trail through the logging area has been
fantastic skiing this winter. We’ve skied this trail more this year than in
the previous ten years. However today it wasn’t good. There was a breakable
crust and we fell down on almost every turn. We finally gave up trying to
turn and just did traversed and kick turns. Once we did that it was fun
again. This may be our last trip on the lower section of this trail.
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03/18/06
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35 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
Tawna, and Tim went to the Lost Trail Ski Area. Temperatures have been a little
warm and the winds had been strong so we weren’t expecting the powder to be
very good. We’d also had a report that the snow was crusty on the Saddle Mtn. Road.
Thus were really happy when we got into some good powder right away. We
exited Chair 5 going up on the right. We then bared left onto a cat track
that fed onto the Elk Basin Trail. The powder was great. We did find the
powder was completely wind & sun set at the top of Chair 4, but depending
on the exposure, the snow improved within 100 yard or at least by ¼ mile of
the top. We skied the entire day on Chair 4, eating lunch at the new Yurt at
the base of Chair 3 (Huckleberry Chair).
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03/19/06
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Sun. Grp Ski: Tim, Wayne and Tanya drove to Chief Joseph
and met Jill from the Bitterroot Side. They skied 4 miles south on the Anderson Mtn. Road
making exceptional time. Much faster than I could have done. I think they
only took 1.5 hours. They then skied down the Cabinet Cr. Trail. At some of
the steeper areas they explored some off-trail routes and reported good
skiing.
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03/19/06
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36 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
and Marlene, skied the right fork of the Meadow Trail and the Wapiti Loop. SNOW
WAS EXCELLENT again on the trails. Marlene returned on the Left Fork
(right going up) and Cliff
continued down the Meadow Trail, taking the “Cutoff” to the Lower Aspen Loop.
I (Cliff) had to break over a foot
of snow in places on the “Cutoff” because most of our skiing to date has been
down to Cougar Point and not down the “Cutoff”. Snow was a little crusty in
places.
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03/23/06
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37 Thu. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
skied with four ladies of the Snowshoe group (names to be added later.) I
found that I couldn’t keep up with the faster snowshoers going up hill but could
go faster on the flats and of course much faster going down. We skied &
snowshoed up the Buckhorn Trail about 3/4 of the way to the William’s Cr.
Trail and back to the Meadow TH. They get a very early start, and so we were
finished by about 10:30 AM. The new snow was still powdery at this time, but
it soon became sticky. I (Cliff)
elected to work on a re-route to the Right Fork of the Meadow Trail. I want a
route that beginning skiers can use to access the Wapiti Loop.
Snow depth at the trailhead was 40” and it was 8” to a hard crust. However,
by afternoon the snow had turned sticky and the soft surface will not last.
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03/26/06
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38 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
and Marlene skied the Right Fork of the Meadow Trail and the Wapiti Loop.
Once again snow was excellent. We then skied down to the “Big Clearcut” and
back to the Meadow TH. Snow depth had dropped to 39” and there was a crust on
top of the snow in exposed areas, however as I stated, snow in the previously
skied trails was excellent.
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*04/01/06
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APRIL 2006
Sat. Grp. Ski – Richardson Ridge Trail @ Chief Joseph. I
(Cliff) wasn’t able to make this one because I was in Maine preparing for and attending my
Mother’s funeral.
I’ve lost my notes, but I think it was Tim & Nancy and Wayne &
Tanya from the Salmon side, and I think Janice from the Bitterroot Side. As I
recall they made one run on the Richardson Ridge Trail.
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*04/13/06
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39 Thu. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Tim drove to Lost Trail
Pass where we made our
annual “after the ski area closes tele ski trip”. We shuttle a vehicle
about 2.2 miles north of Lost
Trail Pass
at the start of the West Camp
Cr. Road, and drive back to the ski area parking
lot. We then ski the trails on the Huckleberry Chair Lift # 3. This year we
only made two runs. The first was down the Gunsmoke run which is the 1st
run you encounter (skiers right of the lift). It took about 10 – 15 minutes
to ski about a mile down to the base of the lift where there is now a yurt,
and another 25 – 30 minutes to ski 1.4 miles out on the West Camp Cr road to
the shuttle vehicle. The second run was over to the Candy Stick Run. It took
us about 20 minutes to ski down about 1.25 miles and about 35 minutes to ski
back to the shuttle vehicle. The snow was fair but there was no recent snow,
and the snow prior to last weekend had been tracked up by snowmobiles which
seem to happen every year. Folks that ski Lost Trail realize that these are
relatively easy trails, but for us with light touring equipment they
represent a challenge and provide good turning practice.
We then drove up to Chief
Joseph Pass
and skied out the Gordon Reese Cabin where we had some hot cocoa. Cliff skied
back to his car and Tim made a loop on the Lost Trail Loop Trail before
heading home. The snow was getting a little sticky.
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*04/15/06
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40 Sat. Pvt. Ski: I (Cliff) drove to 100 Acre Woods where I
met Dave and Dorothy from Cedar City,
UT. They are close friend with
Bob and Nancy and they are interested in setting up a ski trail system near Cedar City. They wanted to see what our ski
areas were like, to get some ideas. I discussed the history of both the Chief Joseph Pass
area, and our William’s Cr. Summit area. We then drove to Chief Joseph.
We skied out the Timber Trail to the “Tele Trail” and followed it to
the Sentinel Meadows. We then skied out to “Windy Corner” and back to the
Vista View Trail, and took Broadway and the CD Trail back to the Cabin where
we ate lunch. After lunch, I skied back to my car, and they made a loop on
the Lost Trail Loop Trail. This gave them a fairly good overview of the
trails.
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*04/15/06
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41 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Marlene met Dave and Dorothy at
the Stagecoach Inn Motel parking lot and we then drove to the Meadow
Trailhead of the William’s Cr. Summit Ski Trails. The snow was fair, although
we occasionally encountered a “rotten spot” where we sank in. We skied the
Right Fork of the Upper Meadow Trail and the Wapiti Loop, and back up the
“Left Fork”. This gave them a chance to see what an un-groomed trail system
could look like. Although the Wapiti Loop didn’t follow an existing road as
many of our other trails did, it was relatively easy to cut because it was
kept quite narrow so that not too many large trees had to be cut. This has a
disadvantage in that the snow gets intercepted by the trees; and being narrow
it would be difficult to groom. The snow was still about 36” deep at the
trailhead.
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*04/25/06
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42 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Tim drove to the Meadow
Trailhead for a “scouting” trip. We walked across the road and skied
northerly up a small creek in the direction of the point where the Perreau
Meadows Trail hits the William’s Cr. Trail. We were looking for a possible
loop so that one could ski up the Buckhorn Trail and then ski back to the
Meadow Trailhead without needing to ski as far down as the Upper Aspen Loop.
On the way up we got off course and ended up on the upper portion of the
Buckhorn Trail. We then skied down to the point where the Perreau Meadows
Trails ends on the William’s Cr. Trail. This is near the east end of the
large meadow. We found a good route, south, up to the ridge-top, but the only
logical route beyond the ridge-top was a little steeper than we were hoping
for. Further down, however the creek bottom became gentler and it opened up
so that one could easily ski. We then found an old road that took us directly
to the south end of the Upper Aspen Loop. We then realized that we might have
stumbled onto another good route. That is - a route from the Upper Aspen Loop
directly up to the Meadow Trailhead. We still had more exploring to do to see
if this was possible.
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*04/29/06
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43 Sat Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene and Tim & Nancy
skied up the Buckhorn Trail and down the William’s Cr. Trail through
the “big meadow”. The snow was more rotten this day than it had been last Tuesday
and as we left the meadow and started down, we broke through several times. We
decided to ski back to the route that Tim and I had scouted out on Tuesday.
Opposite from the end of the Perreau Meadows Trail we skied up to the ridge-top
to the south. This is a good route, however the first section on the south
side of the ridge will need more scouting if we want anything less than a “Most
Difficult” (Expert) route. After getting down the creek a ways to the point
described above as “gentler” and “more open”, we looked for a route over to
the Meadow Trailhead. We had dropped too low and had to climb back up along
the road, but with a little more scouting we may be able to at least find a
connector between the Meadow Trailhead and the South end of the Upper Aspen
Loop.
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*05/02/06
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May 2006
44 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Tim drove to the Meadow
Trailhead and walked across the road. We looked for the “connector” route
described above. We found a perfect route which will require almost no
clearing. The slope is less than 10%, which is within the limitations of a “More
Difficult” (Intermediate) cross-country ski trail. Part of the route is
somewhat boggy precluding any summertime use, however there were only a few
spots that didn’t have enough snow and considering that this is May 2nd,
there should be enough snow to cover the creek and boggy areas most years. As
it turned out this was my last ski trip of the year.
The number 44 at the start of the paragraph means that this was my 44th
ski trip this year. See the wrap-up below.
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Ski Year 2005/2006 Wrap-Up
Counting trips to Lost Trail and not counting four times
when we walked on the trails to do some trail work, I’ve skied 44 times this winter. Last
year was only 34. My first trip was
November 20, 2005 and the last trip was May 2, 2006. Our two re-routes of
the Buckhorn Trail to take out the steepest pitches resulted in our skiing
this trail more this year than we’ve done for the entire previous decade.
Ditto for the Lower Meadow Trail to Cougar Point. Although the snow was quite
limited in the Valley, it was adequate down to about the level of Cougar
Point – better than most of the last several years. We also found some
alternative routes through the timber cutting unit that improved this trail.
Hopefully our finding a new extension to the Upper Aspen Loop that will allow
us to ski up do or down from the Meadow Trail, will increase our use of this
trail next year. Later this summer or this fall, I intend to put up
additional blue diamonds on several trails.
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FEBRUARY, 2006 TRIPS
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02/05/06
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27 Sun. Grp. Ski – 4 folks. Cliff,
Marlene, Helen and Dave did almost an exact repeat of our Tuesday, 01/31/06 trip.
Scroll down to 01/31/06 for distance details. We skied up the Ridge Road, west
on the Fireline (Deep Cr. Ridge Trail) and down the Shoshoni Trail.
GPS mileages agreed except this time the “Lower Trail” measured 0.7 miles
(closer to my summertime measurement of 0.8 miles).
We ate lunch at William’s Cr. Summit and then Dave drove home, Marlene drove
to Cougar Point and did some snowshoeing, and Helen and Cliff skied the Meadow Trail down to Cougar
Point. Cliff and Marlene made
it back home in time to see the Superbowl kickoff and to see the Seattle
Seahawks get beaten by themselves and the referees.
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02/08/06
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28 Wed. Pvt. Ski:
Tim, Cliff, and Jim drove to the
bottom of the North Moccasin Trail to see if it might be a good trip for this
weekend. Our parking area hadn’t been plowed, so we shoveled out a space
large enough for 1 vehicle to be completely off the road. Scroll down to
01/18/06 for details of this trail. Except that this time we skied directly
up the trail. Our 01/18/06 route up had less climbing but was longer. I used
my new tele skis so that I could see how steep a climb I could make with just
a coat of blue wax. With the warm sun, I found that skins would have greatly
helped. I guess I’ll order a pair. They are currently on sale at http://www.sierratradingpost.com
Go to Outdoor Gear – Skiing & Snowboarding – View All, and page through
the list. They have good prices on 3-pin touring boots too. I just got a
pair and they fit well.
We ate lunch in the warm sun. This was very comfortable, but it was obvious
that the snow in the meadow would soon be very crusty as a result. Above the
meadow where we ate the trail is quite steep and narrow and we noted that
there were only a few inches of snow in a snowmobile track. This renders the
trail unsafe in my estimation. Thus we’ll change our planned ski location for
this weekend. We skied back down the meadow and I was able to get enough
float to make a few turns. It took about 41 minutes to ski up and about 10
minutes to ski back, but where the Meadow is steepest it took about 35
minutes to ski up and 4 minutes to ski down.
We then drove to the Mukluk Trail lower trailhead. The snow was slightly
crusty at the trailhead but was great once we started up the trail. This
trail has a north (facing) aspect and is generally shaded from the sun, thus
unless there are very warm temperatures or rain, it will have excellent snow.
I would recommend the Mukluk Trail and an excellent up and back ski for
intermediate skiers. The trail is steep enough that you need to have skis
that climb fairly well or use skins. However, I found that with a fresh
coating of Swix Blue wax I was able to climb fairly well. By skiing back in
my own tracks I was able to make a few mini turns, had I wanted to ski slower
I could have skied in the soft snow. We decided that this would be a good
destination for our Sunday, 02/12/06 Ski Trip.
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02/12/06
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29 Sun. Grp. Ski –
4 folks. Cliff, Marlene, Tim
& Lou Drove to the Meadow TH and skied up the Buckhorn Trail. This
was the first time in a couple of weeks that I didn’t use my new BD Havoc
tele skis. I’ve been pleased with them. They are fantastic going downhill,
and now that I’ve figured out how much wax to use, they climb fairly well. Click here to see my skis.
However today, with my ”Rossignol Randonnee” touring skis, I was really
kicking and gliding. It was a real pleasure.
We then continued down the William’s Cr. Trail to the Upper Aspen
Loop. The snow was ok in the flat meadow, but most of the steeper
slopes had a fairly firm sun crust that made turning quite difficult.
Again, skiing on the rolling Upper Aspen Loop was great. There was only an
inch of two of new snow in the previous tracks. We ate lunch in the meadow
just before returning to the road. At the road Marlene went up the Meadow
Trail to the vehicle, while the rest of us skied down the Meadow Trail to
Cougar Point. The last stretch down through the cutting area was fairly
good. There was some crust, but the trees protected the snow somewhat.
We’d planned to ski the Mukluk trail, but changed our mind. The snow would
have been better, but with only 4 folks to break trail we decided to wait for
another day.
The warm temperatures last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Yesterday have resulted in
a sun crust on most southerly exposed slopes. The flatter sections of all
the trails are excellent. I’d rate the William’s Cr. Trail as POOR
because of the crust on the steeper sections. The steeper portions of the
Meadow Trail are not recommended for beginners although I’d rate most at
least fair and some sections good where the sun hasn’t made a crust. It was
fairly warm up there today, at least 35. Pray for snow and cooler
temperatures.
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02/18/06
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Sat. Grp. Ski – 2
folks. Actually nobody showed up for the group ski, probably because it
was so cold. However in the afternoon, Judy and Sarah skied several of the
Chief Joseph groomed trails including some stops at the Gordon Reese “Cabin”
to warm up. Lost Trail Ski area was closed.
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02/19/06
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Sun. Pvt. Ski: Judy
and Sarah skied up the Buckhorn Trails and down the William’s Cr. Trail to
their shuttle vehicle, parked at the Big Fir TH. They reported the snow to be
fairly good and the temperature somewhat warmer than the day before.
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02/20/06
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30 Mon. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene were at Brenda’s
in Portland, OR. We all drove E. up the Columbia on I-84 to Cascade Locks where we crossed the “Bridge of The Gods”
into Washington.
We continued E. up the Columbia on Hwy 14 past
Stevenson to Carson,
where we turned NW on the Wind
River Road. We followed this road and the Wind River up to Paradise Cr. where the road climbed
out of the river up to “Old Man Pass”. We didn’t find snow until almost to
the pass at about 2,700’ elevation. This is about 65 miles from North Portland near the I-5 I-84 Junction. We had to
get a $9 parking pass in Carson, but when we realized that most of the trails
were groomed for both classic and skating we didn’t feel so bad about the
price. The snow was a little icy and our glide was also hindered by the
numerous tree branch tips that had been deposited by the recent strong winds.
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02/26/06
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Sun. Grp. Ski – 0
folks: I don’t know if anyone showed up for the planned group ski or not.
Let me know if you did and how it went.
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JANUARY, 2006 TRIPS
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01/01/06
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14 Sun. Grp. Ski – 10 folks. Cliff,
Marlene, Lou, Janice, Craig, Judy, Paul, Renee, Anita
and Tawna all skied up the Buckhorn Trail to the “Big Meadow” where we
ate lunch. Marlene and Janice backtracked to the Meadow Trailhead and brought
two vehicles down to the Lower Aspen Loop where we were supposed to meet. Anita, Tawna, and Cliff
skied down the William’s Cr. Trail and were surprised to see that the
rest of the group had continued past the Lower Aspen Loop. We need to
have a rule that nobody skis past a trail junction until the rest of the
group catches up. Cliff, Anita, and Tawna skied out the Lower Aspen Loop
and we all drove down to pick up the rest of the group. The Meadow TH had 22”
of snow with 7” to a crust, Cougar Point had 12” with 1” to a hard base.
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01/01/06
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Ski Group Party at Judy and Paul’s. Others included Dolores,
Jim, Wayne, Tanya, Cliff, Marlene,
Renee, Wes, Roger, Pat, Chuck, Aaron, Anita,
and Tawna. Among other things we viewed photos of Anita
and Tawna’s Trip to the Canadian Selkirk Mountains last summer with several
others. We also saw photos of Lou’s trip to the Himalayas and to Europe.
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01/04/06
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15 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Tim, Cliff,
and Marlene skied the Wapiti Loop and Meadow Trail down to the
“Big Clear-cut”. Cliff & Tim
continued down to the Cougar
Point TH
and Marlene skied back and got the vehicle. We cut a log that was blocking
the Wapiti Loop.
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01/05/06
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Thu. Pvt. “Ski”: Marlene accompanied her hiking group to Chief
Joseph where they snowshoed beside some of the ski trails, and ate lunch
at the “Cabin”. Then they went to the Lost Trail Hot Springs for a swim.
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01/08/06
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16 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Tim, Cliff,
and Marlene skied the Wapiti Loop and Meadow Trail down to the
“Big Clear-cut”. Cliff & Tim
continued down to the Cougar
Point TH
and Marlene skied back and got the vehicle. This was almost a duplicate of
our 01/04 trip.
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01/11/06
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17 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Tim, Lou, Cliff,
and Marlene skied up the Buckhorn Trail where we cut some leaning trees
that were blocking part of the trail. We then continued up to the “Big
Meadow” and skied down the William’s Cr. Trail to the Upper Aspen Loop. It hadn’t been skied for quite awhile and
took some extra effort to break the trail. Cliff
Skied up the “Left (coming down) Fork” of the Meadow Trail and got the
Vehicle. The others skied down to the Lower Aspen Loop.
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01/14/06
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Sat. Grp. Ski – 10 folks: Marlene, Lou, Dave, Judy,
Paul, Renee, Tim, Nancy, Anita and
Vickie all skied up the Buckhorn Trail to the “Big Meadow” where they
ate lunch. Most of the group skied down to the Big Fir TH (after
taking a detour) but some skied out the Upper Aspen Loop and back to the
Vehicles. Once again part of the group took the wrong trail.
18 Cliff went to Lost
Trail Ski Area for the “Tele Ski Demo”. He tried the Black Diamond Havoc
Ski and really liked it and will probably get a pair.
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01/18/06
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19 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Tim & Cliff
drove past William’s Cr. Summit. At Milepost 16.7 the Deep Cr. road bears
left. We took the Leesburg Mine road to the right. The mileposts
continue, and at MP 17.5 there’s a road junction and the normal parking area.
It wasn’t plowed so we continued past the end of the North Moccasin Trail at
MP 17.6 and somewhat past MP 18 where we found a spot wide enough to park
safely. Rather than ski down the road, we angled across the upper portion of
a logging cutting area and in 30 minutes we reached the meadow and the trail.
We continued up the meadow and at 42 minutes reached the trees and the point
where the trail forks. We continued up the trail until we’d skied about an
hour and turned back. On reaching the meadow we skied south on the “Left Fork” (going down) for a ways and
backtracked. We then skied down the “Right Fork” trail location to a log
fence and then skied around the north side of the fence and back up the road
to the vehicle. On the way back we shoveled out a small nook at the normal
parking spot. Hopefully the Mine grader operator will see it and plow a small
parking area in the future. To see the mileages to all the trailheads CLICK
HERE.
We measured the snow depths as follows: Meadow TH: 31” with 17” to a
light crust. There had been 7” of new snow since last Saturday. Cougar Point TH:
22” with 12” to harder snow.
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01/21/06
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20 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Judy, Tim, and Cliff
went to Lost Trail. We skied entirely on Chair 4. I (Cliff) tried out my new Black Diamond Havoc Skis with
G3 Bindings. My Scarpa T2 tele boots had been causing pain on my bone spurs
so I broke down and got a pair of Dynafit “heat-moldable liners”. (Aka thermo
liners). Click
Here for more info on liners. Based on my “demo” last week I knew the
skis would work but I was concerned about the bindings and hoping that my
feet wouldn’t hurt. Friday afternoon had been very windy so I was also
expecting that the powder would be “wind-set”. I was happy on all counts. The
skis, bindings and boots worked perfectly and the SNOW WAS EXCELLENT. In
addition they left a little more powder unpacked than usual.
The lower part of Two-Dot was unpacked so we skied it first. We then skied
Lewis & Clark down to Odyssey and finished on Two-Dot. Again quite a bit
was unpacked. Then, after skiing Sacajawea, we ate lunch at the new “Yurt”.
After lunch we joined Wayne and Tanya and
skied Oreo and Elk
Basin and “Sacajawea
North”. This ranks as one of the top 5 days in my book. One of the reasons
was because they didn’t pack as much as usual. I thanked owners Bill &
Scott Grasser and will send them an email thanking them and encouraging them
to leave more unpacked.
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01/22/06
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21 Sun. Grp. Ski – 15 Folks: When we arrived at Chief
Joseph, 12 skiers from the Bitterroot Club were starting down the Anderson
Mtn. Road for the Cabinet Cr. Trail. It took us awhile to do our shuttle
However our first group of skiers which included: Wayne, Tanya, Renee, Judy,
and Dave eventually passed the Bitterroot Group. Marlene, Janice, Paul, Toni,
and Jason skied out on the Anderson
Mtn. Road and back to Chief Joseph. Cliff, Tim, Helen, Lou, and Anita
became the second group and finished about the same time as the last of the
Bitterroot folks. The snow was excellent and we all enjoyed the day. It’s
about 4 miles to the start of the 3.3 mile Cabinet Cr. Trail so we skied over
7 miles.
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01/24/06
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22 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
Marlene, Tim and Helen drove to William’s Cr. Summit. We “bushwack” skied
down to where we hit the Wapiti Loop.
This would be a nice run if there weren’t so many trees. The first 100 yards
was great, being in a clear-cut that hadn’t quite filled in with trees yet.
We skied down to the Cougar
Point TH. We drove back to the Summit and ate lunch and
shuttled again to the Meadow TH where Cliff,
Tim, and Helen made another run.
Part of my objective for this trip was to try out my new skis in a “touring
situation”. Previously my plastic boots really hurt (see remarks for last Saturday.)
even more in a touring situation. The new liners were very comfortable. I
think that I should be able to make a tour of a mile or so with no problems.
I also wanted to try out the “touring setting” on my G3 bindings. This allows
the cables to be set very loose so that you can easily lift your heel. I
found they even worked ok for turning at moderate speed. One of the bindings
did come off a couple of times so I’d not want to use the touring setting
when skiing on steep slopes. The wide skis don’t glide very well in the track
but they were great on the downhill and allowed me to “float” on top where I
wouldn’t have been able to with my touring skis.
Snow depths: Meadow TH: 30” with 15” to a hard layer.
Cougar
Point: 20” with 10” to a hard layer.
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01/27/06
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23 Fri. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
Marlene, and Tim drove to the Meadow TH and skied the Wapiti Loop and down
the Meadow Trail toward the “Big Clear-cut where we widened and smoothed the snow
bridge across the creek. Marlene skied back to the vehicle and Cliff & Tim Skied down to Cougar Point
TH. The snow was
excellent.
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01/28/03
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24 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff
and 4 others backcountry skied. I wanted to try out my new tele skis on a
longer hike and they worked well. I found that I had to wax almost the entire
ski length with Blue Swix wax to get them to climb without slipping. That
retarded the glide a little but after it wore off somewhat, they seemed fine.
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01/29/06
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25 Sun. Grp. Ski – 10 Folks: Cliff,
Marlene, Tim, Lou, Helen, Anita,
Judy and Paul drove to Chief Joseph where we met Jill and Janice from the
Bitterroot side. After shuttling two rigs to the Cabinet Cr. / Shoofly Trailhead,
we skied out the Chief Joseph “Timber Trail” to “Windy Corner”. My GPS showed
this to be about 1.25 miles. We then skied north a few hundred feet on an old
road to the start of the Scooter Cr. Trail. The forest service
ski trails list shows this trail to be 3.0 miles long. Essentially the
same as the 3.2 miles I got on the GPS. The trail ends at the Shoofly Trail.
Cliff, Marlene, Anita, Judy, and Paul elected to head straight
back to the vehicles. We took the “More Difficult” route which was shorter. I
measured 1.8 miles. The rest of the crew took the Shoofly Trail 1.5 miles
north to the Hogan’s Cabin. They took the “Easier Route” to and from Hogan’s
Cabin, but on the way back they took the same route we did. It took them
exactly 1.5 hours more to do the extra 3 miles. We will probably plan another
Hogan’s Cabin trip where we go in and back on the Shoofly Trail rather than
going in on the Scooter Cr. Trail.
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01/31/06
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26 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Cliff,
Jim, and Tim drove 0.7 miles past William’s Cr. Summit to the “Lower
Shoshoni Trail-Head and left Tim’s car. Click
Here for a description of the trailheads. We returned to the Summit and skied
about 0.6 miles south on the “Ridge
Road” to the Deep Cr. Ridge Trailhead. We
then skied west on the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail which follows a fire-line
about 0.7 miles to the start of the “Upper Shoshoni Trail” which is on
the right (North) side of the fire-line just before it gets very steep. The
trail to this point is suitable as an up and back for advanced beginners. The
Upper Shoshoni Trail is listed as a “Telemark Trail” for experienced skiers.
We skied out this trail about 0.2 miles to a large meadow and another 0.2
miles along the top of the ridge where we ate lunch. The telemark portion
consists of two 0.2 mile long meadows connected by a short flat section of
trail through Lodgepole Pines. They range in steepness from about 20-25
degrees (36-47%). Click
here for a list of the trail segment mileages. Note that the table (using
my previously measured mileage) shows this section of trail to be 0.7 miles and
today’s GPS measured ski route was 0.8 miles. This sounds about right because
I didn’t ski straight down.
We found the snow somewhat wind-set but generally soft enough to make good
turns. At the bottom of the lower meadow we reach the head of Moccasin Cr.
and the start (or end) of the Lower Shoshoni Trail. Note that only the
Lower Shoshoni Trail is on the current ski trail map. Click
Here for the map. This lower section is almost 0.8 miles long according
to my previous measurements, although the GPS only showed 0.6 miles. Jack had
skied this trail the day before so we were able to fly out fairly quickly.
This lower section of trail is suitable for advanced beginners as an up and
back trail. A couple of sections are a little steep to climb in some snow
conditions.
We then skied the Meadow Trail from the Meadow TH to Cougar Point. Above
Cougar Point we found a better route. The existing trail, as marked by a few
blue diamonds, bends to skiers left, goes through a flat meadow, and then
bends right and drops steeply. Now, since the Forest Service Timber Sale,
there is a clear trail going almost straight downhill on a uniform moderate
grade. I will put up new blue diamonds later this winter or next summer.
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DECEMBER, 2005 TRIPS
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12/03/05
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04 Sat. Grp. Ski – 10 folks: Cliff,
Marlene, Tawna, Lou, Helen, Judy, Renee, Ingrid, and Tim & Nancy all skied
up the Buckhorn Trail to the William’s Cr. Trail where we at lunch under the
spruce trees. We then skied down to the Upper Aspen Loop. Marlene and Judy
skied back to the road and walked up to get the vehicles. The rest of us
skied down to the Lower Aspen Loop and out to the Lower Aspen Loop Trail
head. Most of the group then skied down the road. We picked them up several
miles down the road. The skiing was excellent. Better than any time I can
remember for this early in the season and better than most days for the last
few years. More to be added later.
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12/04/05
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05 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Judy drove Tawna, Tanya, and Cliff to Lost Trail Ski Area. Judy snowboarded and
the rest skied on tele gear. We met fellow ski-list member Joe from Corvallis and we all
skied together most of the day. All the easy powder had been skied, but the
packed snow was great – very soft. Joe and Tanya skied the entire day, but
the rest of us went in for cocoa by 3 PM. I forgot to check the snow depth
pole so I can’t evaluate the accuracy of their snow predictions. I think
their total depth reading is more than the actual unpacked depth;
However, it sounds like the Lost Trail reports of new snow are fairly
accurate. CLICK
HERE for a report on Saturday’s conditions. I wish I could have been
there, but I don’t regret going cross-country skiing.
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12/06/05
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06 Tue. Pvt. Ski: Helen, Jim, and Cliff
& Marlene drove up to the William’s Cr. Big Fir Trailhead (TH). We waited
for the County grader to finish plowing and left Jim’s trunk. We then drove
up to the Meadow TH. They had plowed half of this (and finished it while we
were skiing). To evaluate our trip, you can click to call up my Trail Segment Table
and my Trail
Map. Dual mileages here are cumulative from TABLE/GPS: We took the Meadow Trail “Left Fork” down
to where it hits the road again and joins the trail out to the Wapiti Loop
(0.3/0.3 Mi.), and we crossed the road and went down about 300’ to the start
of the Upper Aspen Loop and Skied out the William’s Cr. Trail (0.8/0.8). We
followed our track from Saturday, down to the Lower Aspen Loop (1.3/1.6) and
set new tracks down the lower section of the William’s Cr. Trail (2.3/2.5).
We were amazed how short this lower section was, and I think the GPS mileages
(listed second) here are more correct than the table. The snow was fantastic
and I’d rate all trails EXCELLENT except as follows: After
leaving the Lower Aspen Loop Junction you go through a couple of small
meadows and then go through a “gut” in the trees with two steep pitches
before you cross the creek. There are rocks on the last pitch of the
William’s Cr. Trail before it crosses the creek. Sidestep this short 20’
section. (We almost always find rocks here on our first trip. This year is
was Helen, last year it was Lou.)
We drove back to the Meadow TH and ate lunch. We then skied around the
“Right Fork” of the Meadow Trail down to the entrance trail to the Wapiti
Loop (0.5/0.5) and back out to join the main meadow trail (0.6/0.6). From
here Jim went back to the vehicles. Cliff
Skied down to the creek crossing just before the big clear-cut and Helen and
Marlene skied down to the “William’s Cr. Road Cutoff” (1.5 mi.) where the
trail bears right to Cougar Point. They took the “Cutoff” down to the Lower
Aspen Loop TH. (1.8 mi.). Cliff’s
GPS mileage included a trip back up and a trip out and back to the actual
start of the Wapiti Loop. His GPS mileage for the afternoon was 1.9 or 4.4
for the day.
I expect that one could ski all the William’s Cr. Trail system including
the Meadow Trail down to Cougar Point. Just be careful of ROCKS IN THE COUGAR
POINT CAMPGROUND and watch out for trees across the lower section of the
trail because it’s not been skied yet.
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12/11/05
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07 Sun. Grp. Ski – 6 folks: Cliff,
Marlene, Tim, Anita, and Jean
drove to Chief Joseph (CJ), where we met Janis from the Bitterroot side. We
were planning to park a shuttle vehicle at the Richardson Ridge
Trailhead (TH) 3 miles east. Imagine our surprise when we found that
neither that trailhead, nor the Cabinet Cr./Shoofly TH had been plowed all
winter. We did find a plowed pullout 2 miles east of CJ which would have only
been an extra mile. But we decided to drive back to CJ.
We skied south on the Anderson Mtn Rd Trail 2.5 miles to the “Big
Meadow”. As is often the case, we found a spot to eat lunch that was
sheltered from the wind but still in the sun. It was very pleasant, with
temperatures at least 10 degrees warmer than at home. Anita
and Cliff made a few turns in the
meadow. However we did hear quite a few “whomphing sounds in the snow –
sometimes an indicator of avalanche potential. There was 3’ of snow showing
on the snow gauge by the CJ parking lot entrance. We found that the un-skied
snow was well consolidated and that we only sank down about 6”.
Marlene and Jean volunteered to go back to the vehicle and pick us up,
so the rest of us skied the Richardson Ridge Trail. Except for a few hundred
feet, we were putting first tracks on this trail. Once we did see where some
tele skiers had bisected the trail as they’d skied some of the slopes to the
north of the trail. I had my GPS and determined that the initial climb up to
the point were the south portion of the Ander-Rich trail goes south (right)
is about 0.25 miles. I also noted that it’s about a mile before the trail
starts to drop steeply. Although it was better to following in someone’s
tracks the snow was firm enough that even those breaking trail could get in a
few turns. We agreed that this was about the best snow conditions we’d found
on this trail. I called on the radio for a “pickup” once we reached
Richardson Cr., 0.3 miles before reaching the TH. The GPS showed the trail to
be 2.5 miles, exactly as described on the Trail Map.
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12/14/05
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08 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Jim, Cliff
& Marlene drove up William’s Cr. to the Cougar Point Campground
Trailhead. We put on skins and climbed up the lower section of the Meadow
Trail. We’d done this before but still had a lot of trouble finding the
trail. Currently there are no blue diamonds facing downhill and there are
significant gaps in the diamonds facing uphill. We need to replenish these
diamonds. It took us about 1 hour 40 minutes to get up to the “William’s Cr.
Road Cutoff” Junction. Going downhill and not having to search for the trail
took us only about 40 minutes. The sign says this section is 1.2 miles. My
GPS showed about 1.4 miles. It’s about 0.9 miles from the “Cutoff”
Junction down to the point where the trail actually enters the logged
area. Snow depth seems adequate here and I’d rate conditions excellent.
However once one reaches the cutover area the snow depth drops off
considerably and there are numerous places where one might hit downed logs
and limbs. Once you reach the campground you will almost always hit a rock or
two - snowplow or walk this section.
Since the last timber sale there are some options to straighten the
route and make it easier to follow, but this will have to wait until summer.
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12/18/05
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09 Sun. Grp. Ski – 8 folks: Helen, Tim, Judy, Cliff, Lou & Janice, and Anita & Tawna skied from William’s Cr.
Summit to the A-Frame. My GPS miles seemed to agree with my Trail Segment
Table (see below) with about 2.0 miles to the “Telemark Hill”, where the
William’s Cr. and North Moccasin Trails take off, and 2.5 miles to the
Buckhorn Trail, and 2.7 miles to the A-Frame. Some made a few turns on
the Telemark Hill and then we all ate lunch at the A-Frame. The wind was
horrible. Later we discovered that it was quite comfortable back on the road,
so THAT’S THE LAST TIME I PLAN TO EAT AT THE A-FRAME. Judy and Janice
skied back to the summit. The rest of us skied up the road (north) another
0.2 miles and at 2.9 miles we skied to the right (east) onto the Perreau
Timber Sale Road. We had elected not to ski the added 0.6 miles up to Perreau
Meadows and the start of the Perreau Meadows Trail. Rather, we skied on the
TS road about 0.7 miles and hit the Perreau Meadows Trail at its 0.6
mile point. The intersection of the trail and road is quite well marked, but
below the road the trail is very poorly marked. WE NEED MORE DIAMONDS ON THE
PERREAU MEADOWS TRAIL. We lost over 20 minutes looking for the trail a couple
of times and were uncertain several more times. Here’s a hint. If you don’t
see blue diamonds, or standard trail blazes, look for trees that have had the
limbs cut off. That was the only way we found the trail in several spots. Use
caution on this trail, because if one get’s lost before crossing the Saddle
from Perreau Cr. back into William’s Cr. they could really get lost. Once past
the Saddle, then all they’d have to do is go down hill.
My GPS showed it to be 1.3 miles from the TS road to the William’s
Cr Trail, exactly the same as on my Table below. However, my mileages for
the William’s Cr. Trail vary somewhat from the table. I think the GPS is more
accurate. After I compare a few re-measurements, I’ll change the table.
Anyway, I had 0.9 miles down to the junction with the Upper Aspen Loop, 0.7
mile more to the Lower Aspen Loop, 0.2 more to the Creek Crossing and the end
of an old logging road, and 0.8 more to the Big Fir Trailhead. This last
mileage from the Lower Aspen loop does agree
with the trail sign that lists 1.0 miles from the Lower Aspen Loop to the
Trailhead. Judy had skied up from “Big Fir” past the creek to meet us. Note:
See the caution on 12/06/05 trip – it still applies.
I showed 1.7 miles
of skiing for the day. CLICK
HERE for trail descriptions, and HERE for trail
segment mileages.
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12/24/05
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10 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Brenda,
Cliff & Marlene skied
the “Right Fork” of the Meadow Trail, the Wapiti Loop, and back
to the road and up the “Left Fork” of the Meadow Trail to the TH. The GPS
showed about 2.1 miles. We’d skied the Meadow trail on Dec 06 and there were
several inches of frozen snow in our track. The Wapiti loop hadn’t been skied
since Nov 27 so it was almost like skiing in untracked snow. I think, for the
most part our ski tracks will leave these “Upper Meadow” & Wapiti Loop
trails in at least GOOD condition and with a few more skiers, I’d say all
but the steeper pitches would be EXCELLENT. Conversely, I’d rate the
backcountry skiing or any skiing on steep slopes in this area as POOR until
we get more snow. At this time I’d advise beginning skiers to stick with
these Upper Meadow Trails and the Wapiti loop, until we get more snow. The
snow depth at the Meadow TH was 17” with 0.5” of powder on top of a
breakable rain crust. (The depth on Dec 06 had been 22”) Trails that have
been previously skied will be quite fast on the steeper stretches, and it
will be hard for all but expert skiers to turn in the untracked snow.
Previously we’d skied down to Cougar Point, but I wouldn’t recommend it until
we get more snow. On Dec 14 the snow depth at Cougar Point was 13”
with several rocks in the trail. Today Dec 24 the depth was 9” with no
powder on top – just the breakable crust and heavy snow underneath. Once
we get a few more inches of snow conditions should be good because the
current snow will make a good base.
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12/26/05
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11 Mon. Pvt. Ski: Brenda,
Cliff & Micah went to Lost
Trail Ski Area to practice our tele turns. Brenda
and Micah were using their touring skis, but Cliff
cheated, using his heavier tele skis and boots. We skied on the (Saddle
Mountain Chair 4) Sacajawea, Two-Dot, Oreo, and Lewis & Clark Trails.
Using the North Bowl and (Huckleberry Chair 3) Gunsmoke and Main Street
Trails for access. We practiced some of the hints in “Allen & Mike’s
Really Cool Telemark Tips” book. I thought they improved a lot by the end of
the day.
The easy powder had been skied up and the skied powder was generally
too heavy for us. We did get an idea of what it must have been like on
Saturday when we found a little untracked snow on skier’s right of upper
Oreo. The un-skied powder was slightly wind set but very skiable. However the
packed snow was excellent. We only found a few small stumps showing on
Lewis & Clark.
It was snowing when we left and the Ski Area and Snotel reports
for Dec 27 show that they got a couple of inches more. Note that the
report is for all lifts (including Chair 4) to be open all this week.
The ski report for today indicates that Chair 1 is not running, but that was
the same report yesterday and Chair 1 WAS running.
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12/27/05
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Tue. Pvt. Ski: Tim & Nancy skied both of the upper
forks of the Meadow Trail, the Wapiti Loop, and the Meadow Trail down to the
“Cutoff” and over to the Lower Aspen Loop TH. Since they only had the one
care they had to walk back up the road to the Meadow TH.
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12/28/05
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12 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Brenda,
Cliff & Marlene skied up
the Buckhorn Trail to the William’s Cr. Trail at the “Big Meadow”. Brenda received new skins for Christmas so she and
Marlene tried out the skins by skiing up the original trail location. Cliff skied via the new trail “re-routes”. It was
a little faster for Marlene & Brenda
on the shorter but steeper route, but counting the time to install skins, not
too much different. Cliff’s GPS
distance was 1.2 miles and it took about 1hr 10min to ski. The map shows the
old route to be 1.1 miles which seems logical. The snow was very heavy and
stuck to our skis. The rain & warm temperatures had degraded the
snow. After skiing back to the Meadow TH, Brenda
and Cliff Skied down to the
Lower Aspen Loop TH via the “Cutoff”.
The snow was quite wet and slow but the depth was adequate. Snow
depth at the Meadow TH was 23” with 5” of semi soft to a crust. Driving
out, we measured the snow depth at Cougar Point at 11” with no new snow
above the hard layer. Caution even though the snow depth hasn’t dropped too
much, there are bare spots starting to show, especially near rocks &
stumps.
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12/29/05
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13 Thu. Pvt. Ski: Tim & Nancy and Cliff
& Marlene skied up the Buckhorn Trail and down the William’s Cr Trail
to the Lower Aspen Loop and out the Loop
to the TH. The snow was excellent.
It had cooled off and we’d received 2 or 3” of new snow since yesterday.
Meadow TH snow depth was 23” with 7” of powder to the crust. This depth was
enough that the crust didn’t seem to be a problem when skiing the steeper
sections of untracked snow. However the snow had set enough that I was able
to plane and able to turn fairly well. Snow depth at Cougar Point was 12”
with 2” to the hard layer. We saw that someone had skied either up or down at
Cougar Point. Note my caution about the bare spots in the 12/28 report. I have
a report that the Meadow Trails and Wapiti Loop were very good, but I don’t
know the condition of the fork down to Cougar Point other than the need for
skiing very slow in the campground.
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JULY - NOVEMBER 2005 TRIPS
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07/16/05
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01a Sat.
Wrk. Day: Cliff & Marlene walk the area west of the Mukluk
Trail. Previously Jim Lou, & Cliff
found a connector trail between the Lower Shoshoni Trailhead and the Mukluk Trailhead.
The only problem is that one stretch is too steep – well over 20% slope. Our
trip today was in part to find a re-route around this steep pitch. We found
an old horse logging trail that will work in part. But we need to check out
more of this route.
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08/16/05
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01b Sat.
Wrk. Day: Cliff & Marlene
clear some of the smaller logs and tie flags to mark two “re-route” areas on
the Buckhorn Trail. These will eliminate some very steep pitches on this
trail which hinders climbing up for all people and is a problem skiing down
for all but advanced skiers..
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10/26/05
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01c Wed.
Wrk. Day: Cliff & Marlene
accompany Marty & Chris to clear the two “re-routes” of the Buckhorn
Trail. Marty & Chris fall the larger trees in the lower re-route while Cliff & Marlene clear smaller trees on the
upper re-route. A few larger logs remain to be moved off the trail and
several stumps need to be “flush cut” with the ground.
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11/13/05
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01d Sun.
Wrk. Day: Cliff & Marlene put
up signs & diamonds on the Buckhorn Trail. The snow was too deep to allow
us to flush cut the stumps and move some logs, so we marked these hazards
with sticks & orange flagging.
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11/20/05
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01 Sun. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff, Marlene, and Lou Skied
up and back on the Lower Buckhorn Trail to the William’s Cr. Trail. Part of
our objective was to try out our two new “re-routes” of this trail. They
worked well going up but there is one 100’ “gut” that’s too steep for some
snow conditions. There is an easy re-route for this re-route. Which I’ll try
and do when I get time.
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11/27/05
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02 Sun. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff & Marlene skied
down the “right fork” of the Meadow Trail to the Wapiti Loop, around the Loop
and down the Meadow Trail to the “big clear-cut”. We skied back to the “left
fork” of the upper Meadow Trail and back to the Trailhead.
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11/29/05
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03 Tue. Pvt.
Ski: Cliff, Marlene, & Jim
skied the Lower Buckhorn Trail and skied across the William’s Cr Trail at the
“big meadow” any up the Upper Buckhorn trail about 0.2 miles to the point
that it got too steep. We backtracked to Trailhead.
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