Make More Tracks: “When All Else Fails, We Still Have Trails”
A Network Of Trails Run By Community Foundation Offers Multi-Use Recreational Activities.
Pat rides tubby tires, taking a break from skis. Round Valley, UT, has 25 km of trails for XC, biking, hiking. Summer activities include trail running, horse riding, mountain biking in the Park City area. Credit: Pat McCloskey
The motto above is the moniker of one of the most interesting trail systems I have seen to date. Round Valley, near Park City, UT, is a paradise for cross country skiers, fat bikers, hikers, and dog walkers. The well groomed trails encourage multi- use and 25 kilometres is groomed for traditional cross country skiing and freestyle XC over 700 acres of preserve.
This preserve was once slated for development until some of the townspeople thought better and put together a foundation to encourage an alternate use for the land. Click here to read about the Mountain Trails Foundation. They were successful, and today, it is a very popular place for recreation. Well marked, and used for many pursuits, it shows how forward thinkers can offer an alternative to the rabid development of available land for housing or commercial pursuits. Especially in a town where recreation is king.
Not only are the trails well marked and groomed, but there is a sense of pride that you can feel there with all the activity. Some of the different things that I noticed was the general health and shape of the people who regularly use the system. At altitude, it is impressive to see older people skating up a steep hill on freestyle XC skis. With a big smile on their face they greeted us as they hammered up the hill to the summit which has a breathtaking view of the surrounding Wasatch Mountains. You could see fat bikers off in the distance climbing on miles of trails and the traditional cross country skiers making good use out of the track setting. Gliding along they smiled and said hello as their dogs followed in hot pursuit.
Lots of dogs play with their humans along the way. Credit: Pat McCloskey
Speaking of dogs, I was amazed at how many of them were along with the hikers, skiers, and riders . At no time did they interfere with activity and they seemed to know to get to the side when going downhill so as not to impede the progress of their owners. All off leash, they seemed to have a sense of how to move with the flow of traffic and at no time did they seem like a menace to anyone on the trails. Even the dogs are welcomed to get into shape and never avoid a hill for fitness. But their sense of the trail layout and the difficulty of some trails and the gentle grade of others showed me that man’s best friends are more aware than I thought.
I always say when I venture west how impressed I am with the fitness of people out there. Even “older” folks seem to be in great shape and don’t let their advancing age hinder their pursuit for outdoor activities and the great visuals of the Wasatch. I suppose if you have over 300 days of sunshine, world class skiing, water sports, and multi use trail systems like Round Valley, you really have no excuse not to take advantage of the great outdoors. They have a great life out there.
For more information on a really well thought out recreation area, check out Mountain Trails and see for yourself how active people can make a difference to better their lives and other lives as well.
Dawn at Round Vally from the grooming team. Credit: Mountain Trails
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (March 19)
ISHA Treasure Chest, Wildcat Polecat Run, Hemingway Excerpt, Jan’s Series Wrap, Gift From COVID Year, Shared House Tips, Nordic Colorado.
I-25 in Northern Colorado during the Big Weekend Storm. Credit: eptrail.com
“There Is Much Weather In A March Day”: Irish Proverb.
Indeed, March has us betwixt and between. We had some beautiful mid 60s to 70 degree days early on in New England, then an abrupt switch to zero degrees and wind chill driving the sap up in the sugar maples around the farm. We march into spring hoping for those bluebird days and t-shirt skiing, and maybe that’s in the offing, based on the cockamamie fluctuations we’ve been seeing. There has been that huge, record-breaking dump of snow in Colorado for a potential season extender. We know I-70 and I-25 (see above) were a mess heading out of Denver. Pent-up demand is everywhere.
The new snow and cold temps are treasures for those chasing these coming weeks of spring skiing. A surprise, considering the wobbly start of the season in the Rockies. The West and Northwest have more than enough snow to carry on to Memorial Day. Snowmaking might be the extender device of Northeastern resorts. Unlike other years when resorts extended their seasons with late snows and found the numbers of visitors disappointing, this year we predict demand will keep folks coming out until the last snowflake melts into a vernal pool.
The ISHA Treasure Chest.
Speaking of treasures, we’ve just been cruising around the website of the International Skiing History Association. ISHA is a non-profit whose mission is to “preserve and advance the knowledge of ski history and to increase the public’s awareness of ski heritage.” To do that, the organization publishes Skiing History Magazine, a well-produced, bi-monthly, full color publication that has interesting articles about the sport’s past: equipment, places, personalities, and the like. Subscribers have access to the magazine’s entire archive collection, enough material to while away many an evening.
In addition to the magazine, ISHA maintains other treasures on its website. You can find profiles of people from the world of skiing from racing to business leaders to resort founders and on and on. There’s also an incredible library of videos with interviews and documentaries, a thorough and detailed directory of ski museums , collections and libraries around the globe, a section on Canadian ski history, a history of Nordic skiing and jumping, a glossary of ski terms over the years, Olympic lore and facts. There’s also a collection of vintage ski art and posters from the classic travel posters of yore to magazine covers, ancient woodcuts, and photos. And an extensive racing results resource that covers Olympics, World Cup and World Cup Championships
ISHA also sponsors an annual awards event that honors ski authors, filmmakers and broadcasters.
For researchers and enthusiasts, there is an incredible, massive ski bibliography assembled over a number of years by the Chief Librarian of Whitman College Henry Yaple. It contains a listing of every book, dissertation, film video and piece of software published on skiing, in English, between 1890 and 2002. The resulting two-volume work, comprising 732 pages, was published by ISHA in 2004. It lists more than 7,000 items, all searchable on the ISHA site.
We know SeniorsSkiing.com readers would love to belong to ISHA and read Skiing History Magazine. Such treasures and such value are available through a new discount introductory offer.
From now until June 30, you can join ISHA and get a subscription to Skiing History Magazine for only $12 for six issues with auto-renew. Be sure to use the code SRSKI21 to get this fantastic discount. Click on the ISHA Take A Run On Us ad in the right column or click here to access the details and sign up.
Incidentally, ISHA is searching for a new CEO to lead the organization. It’s a real opportunity for someone with leadership and non-profit experience as well as a commitment to winter sports. If you’re interested, contact Chan Morgan, Chairman of the Board, via email at Chauncey.g.morgan@gmail.com.
This Week.
Our Question For You this week asks you to think about the good things that might have descended to you and yours from this one year of virus restrictions and constraint. What’s the gift you have been given? Click here.
We found a wonderful short story by Ernest Hemingway for our Snow In Literature series that takes place in the Swiss Alps and includes descriptions of skiing techniques and equipment in the 20s. We’ve included an excerpt from the beginning of Cross Country Snow as well as a link to the entire story. Enjoy. Click here.
View from Wildcat to Mt. Washington. That’s Tuckman Ravine on the left. Credit: Tamsin Venn
Correspondent Tamsin Venn visits Wildcat in New Hampshire on a perfect spring skiing day. Here’s her report of her experience. Click here.
And we found a wonderful top-to-bottom video that shows a continuous run on Polecat, the longest green run in New Hampshire, from the top of Wildcat to the base lodge. It looks like a wonderful, easy trail. Click here.
Here’s Part Six of Jan Brunvand’s story of his skiing career, bringing us up to date on his adventures in Utah and beyond. Here’s a guy who has been skiing for eighty years, and he still gets a thrill out of it. Click here.
Our Make More Tracks story this week brings us to Colorado, normally thought of as headquarters for Alpine ski resorts. There are many excellent Nordic resorts across the state, and this article from the Nordic Approach highlights several of them. Click here.
Correspondent Karen Lorentz profiles the famous green-parka-clad Ambassadors at Killington, who help visitors navigate the huge resort as well as create a climate of friendliness and welcome. Click here.
Web designer and skier extraordinaire Alice Winthrop offers some rules that help make sharing a ski house stress- and conflict-free. Alice is SeniorsSkiing.com’s designer and IT consultant who also created Resercal, an app that takes confusion out of house sharing. Click here.
Finally, Herb Stevens wings in with a report on next week’s weather. The West continues to get snow, not so much in the East. Click here.
Final Note: We have finally received all the labels and envelopes from our printers for mailing our premiums to our donors who contributed during our recent fundraising. We should be starting our mailings in a week or so.
Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Tell your friends and remember there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.
Skiing Weatherman: Season Rolls On in West, New Snow Scarce in East
Fresh Snow in the Wasatch. Spring Conditions Reign East.
This week’s message is quite simple: If you want fresh snow, head west. If you enjoy spring skiing, the upper Midwest and East will sport those conditions much of the time through the end of the month. That said, I do expect the East to turn a little colder early in April, but the jet stream may remain benign enough to make it tough to support a storm with fresh snow for the Easter weekend.
As usual, I will point to jet stream features to explain my forecast. The jet stream is the hand that moves the high and low pressure systems at the surface around like chess pieces. Here is a look at the jet stream for Wednesday of next week.
The orange humps that you see in the Pacific Northwest and over the eastern third of the country are ridges, where milder than normal air is located at roughly 15,000 feet above sea level. Ridges produce warming at the surface, as well as a lack of storminess. The blue features that look a bit like buckets are troughs, where colder than normal air pools and supports low pressure surface storms that produce snow. The two lobes of the western troughs will produce snow this weekend into next week from the Sierra into the southern Rockies, and it looks the resorts of the Southwest and Colorado will enjoy another solid dose of powder after the dumping of last weekend. The Pac Northwest has been the bullseye for much of the heavy hitters this season, but that ridge you see in that region will lead to a relatively quiet week. No worries – base depths in this part of the country, as well in adjacent Canada, are VERY healthy and can withstand a mild spell with ease.
Now, I do think that the trough will consolidate and attempt to move into the East in about 10 days, but any time a trough runs into the back end of a ridge, the trough tends to weaken in terms of circulation and cold air, and be deflected by the ridge. Here is a look at the jet stream for Monday morning of the 29th with the ridge moving offshore and the trough trying to force its way into the East.
The trough will tend to lift out to the northeast from where it will be on the 29th, rather than bodily move toward the coast, so although we could see a late snow event around the 29th/30th, I don’t believe that it will be a major snowfall. The upper Midwest will stand a better shot at meaningful snow from this system. As we head through that week and toward Easter weekend, I do think that it will turn cooler in the East, but at this point, I would have to rate a fresh snowfall of significance leading into the holiday a long shot.
If you want fresh snow? Go west. Sliding in the Midwest or East? Grab some sunscreen.
REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Pac NW/B.C.:
Snow falls this weekend into early next week. Upper ridge develops and leads to dry spell after that.
Central and southern Sierra:
Cold air keeps snow dry this weekend; some light snow early next week with slow warming later in the week as ridge expands down the coast.
Rockies:
Light snow this weekend and again early next week central and north. Moderate to heavy snow Wasatch and southern resorts from a multi-day storm starting this weekend.
Midwest:
A mild spell settles in this weekend, turning cooler later next week. Turning colder late next week with improving prospects for snow.
Northeast:
New snow prior to the weekend in the Catskills and Berkshires. Seasonable temps and dry this weekend. Spring snow conditions rule region-wide next week.
Mid-Atlantic/Southeast:
Nice spring skiing this weekend then mild next week as ridge calls the shots. Days limited for skiing this season.
[authors_page role=contributor]