Happy Winter Solstice,

We apologize for the radio silence lately. The fact is, there wasn't much to report, or at least nothing good... Two weeks of Chinook winds and inches of rain obliterated our  24" snow pack and left us with an ice slick and ruts, not much fun to ski on. However, the storm and drops in temperatures left us optimistic, so we headed up top Pahaska to see what we could see:

The Good- We were able to tiptoe the Cat up the highway and despite only having a few inches of coverage, lay down a pretty good skate lane. There's also classic track that starts about a hundred yard up the first hill. Everything is firm and fast, with transformed snow. Also, the Park service groomed inside the East Gate, so there should be decent skiing for the next day or so. 

Also, we rolled down the Middle Fork from the top to where the trail drops down along creek level. Below that, the frog ponds still have open water, so the trail sort of dead-ends, but you can get your Middle Fork Fix going down from the top and then back up.

The Bad- Nothing else is really skiable, unless you have skis you don't like and don't mind throwing yourself of the trail to stop.  Also, we will likely get some of the incoming precipitation as rain, as the temps for the coming week look absurdly warm for Christmas. Santa will need water skis at this rate. Things look to cool off by the end of the year, so lets hope we can start off 2026 with skiable trails!  

Merry Christmas, and do your snow dances!