News

Just a quick note to say that I went up to Pahaska today to repair the Cat, which had some sheared bolts. After the repair, the temps were still cool, so I took it across the river and groomed all the trails on the South side, including the short loop on the SG east trails. 

Remember, the best skiing will be before noon, after that, the snow will get soft and sticky if you haven't waxed your skis recently.  Lots of warm temps this week, but it looks like snow is in the forecast for the weekend!

Some days don't go as planned. The groomers had more than their share of mechanical issues, which took most of the day to resolve and rendered the cat inoperable. Nevertheless, we were able to groom most of the trails with the snowmobiles. They had inconsistent results setting fresh track due to the firm base on the trails, but the skate lanes turned out nice. After a while, we just gave up trying to reset track and left the old track from last week, which was arguably better anyway.  With only an inch of new snow, even trails which did not get groomed should ski pretty well.

Trails groomed:

Moose Flats, Crow Creek, Barn Road, Race Park, Middle Fork, Haul Road, SG East and Canfield Loop. Also the Highway to the East Gate

Trails Not groomed:

Becker's, Penny's, Outlaw, Dog Trails.

The weekend forecast looks cool, with good ski temps, but all mid week temps look to be unseasonably warm. This is a bummer because we don't actually have that much snow on the ground. Please help us to preserve our trails by avoiding skiing and snowshoeing in the warmest parts of the day... if you're leaving slushy ruts or big divots, they are hard to remove without more snow, especially without the use of the Cat. Also the skiing is better when its cool!

The following weekend looks more promising, just in time for the Nordic Kids  clinics, so keep doing your snow dances, or putting an angel in the freezer, or drink Hamm's, whatever you do to appease the Snow Gods.

see you on the Trails!

The storm system that swept through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has deposited 8-10" of snow over the last week. The Groomers have been out regularly, packing, profiling and leveling the trails. We are pleased to report that nearly every trail is open and skiing well.  Having said this, its always important to remember that thin spots and hazards exist throughout, particularly in the tracks, so keep a sharp eye out for them. 

Trails in great shape: Moose Flats, Crow Creek, Barn Road, Middle Fork, Outlaw, Penny's, and the Road to the East Entrance.

Trails that are groomed but have thin spots: Race Park, Becker's, Haul Road, Sleeping Giant Trails. The Far East loop has been packed but will need another grooming lap before we debut it.

Yellowstone Park is currently closed due to avalanche danger from  the recent storm, but once its open, the Park Service  will re-groom the road to the Windy Point Outhouse.

We've started marking out the Dog trails, but it will take more snow to get them ski-able.

Due to the slow start to the season, we have had a preponderance of hikers on the trails. Now that everything is groomed, we ask that anyone on the trails be on skis or snowshoes, and to pass the word along to anyone you may encounter on foot.

Happy New Year!

The Groomers

Happy Fall!

We are excited to announce that we have started rolling trails and beginning the snow packing process!  All the trials North of Pahaska, (Moose Flats, Crow Creek, Race Park) and the Middle Fork Trail have been rolled. I would not say they are "skiable" yet, although if you have an old pair of skis you don't care about, you'd certainly be able to do some gliding. Keep a watchful eye out for rocks and other hazards sticking up out of the snow. All the trails were mowed this Fall, so it wont take too much snow to provide adequate coverage, but we are still a storm or two away from declaring the trails "open". 

We are waiting on more snow to get across the bridge to begin rolling the South side trails.

For some reason the Highway was plowed up to the East Entrance. There is still a 8' wide swath of snow on either side that is skiable, but we are waiting on more to actually build the trail along the south side.

Finally, The Forest Service has finished burning slash plies around Pahaska. They cleaned up nicely and should not be an issue this season. The piles on the East side of the river near the dog trails will be burned after Thanksgiving.

It Looks like a drop in temps coming at the end of the Month, so everybody do your snow dances and burn off that turkey and pumpkin pie!

The Groomers

The last week of 50 degree weather has taken its toll on the ski trails. The groomers went up today and discovered that it was much warmer and sunnier at Pahaska than in town, making most of the trails slush, with water running everywhere. A little trail recon revealed many melted out tree wells and bare spots where the trails do not connect. Not much snow is in the forecast, and with March nearly over, we have made the call to hang it up for the season. Nevertheless, there is still a fair amount of snow coverage, If the temps drop and the nights get cold, the crust can set up and make for some good crust skiing.

We will leave the porta-potties up through this week, but will begin removing signage and markers.

Volunteers; Stay tuned for a bridge removal workday in early April.

This season certainly has been an interesting one! Thanks for joining us on the trails, we are already looking forward to next season!

Heads Up, the Forest Service has closed the Crow Creek ski loop due to a wolf-killed elk carcass in the proximity. It will likely be closed a few days.

All the other trails are open and freshly groomed. The skiing should be fast in the morning, changing to spring conditions later in the day.

Hi all, not much new snow to report, the storm forecast to hit Pahaska never really materialized. The heat from last weekend has shrunk the snow pack down noticeably, but there's still plenty of snow for now.

We groomed yesterday, (Wednesday) and spruced up the trails that never really got the attention they needed because of the large snowfall last week.

Trails Groomed:

Moose Flats, Crow Creek, Barn Road, Race Park, Middle fork and the Highway.

It got too warm to continue, so we plan to go up Friday AM and finish all the South side trails before the weekend.

This Saturday is the last session of the Nordic Kids program. It going to be warm and sunny, so bring water and sunscreen!

The following week's forecast is ridiculously hot, so I don't imagine all the trails holding out for too long. This is likely the last weekend to get get access to all the trails. One bright spot, however, is that this warm, sunny weather will likely create some great crust cruising, where you can ski anywhere on firm crust, (as long as you go when its cool). So take advantage of some great spring skiing while you can!

18" new inches at Pahaksa since last Monday. The groomers wallowed around in it for quite some time and managed to get a nice groom on all the trails, (except for the dog trails East of the river). Nighttime temps are supposed to get quite low so the trails should set up and be very firm tomorrow morning. Expect spring conditions by afternoon. Everything should ski really well, but look out on corners for the occasional bit of Cat Chowder, (track marks).

Snowshoers, The Pahaska crew has been out setting their snowshoe tracks that criss-cross the groomed ski trails back to the barn and up above the lodge. If you haven't tried them yet, you should check them out.

Even though we've had over 60" of snow in the last 2 weeks, the long stretch of warm temps coming up will take its toll, so get it while it lasts.

see you on the trails,

the Groomers

Grooming Update, 3/2/24:

Well... we got some snow. It happened to come all at once, so that makes it difficult to stay ahead of it and keep it packed down, but we are glad to have it in whatever way it comes down.

Pahaska got 4" of wet snow on Thursday night, the groomers rolled everything in anticipation of more snow on the way. Saturday Morning brought another 9" overnight and HEAVY snowfall throughout the day, totaling 18-20". Every trail was groomed on Saturday and some areas were groomed twice. There is 1.5-2" of powdery fresh snow on the trails that came down after we finished, but the skiing is really good despite that. We are taking a break for the rest of the weekend and the will be back up the first part of the week to reset.

The forecast calls for snow throughout the coming week, so March should have some great skiing!