XC Skiing In The Spring Is The BEST!
Even In Mid-April You Can XC Ski; You Just Have To Find The Snow.
Spring cross country skiing can be found in high country and xc resorts. Credit: Mike Maginn
As the cross country (XC) ski season winds down, most XC ski areas close because of lack of skiers rather than lack of snow on the trails. The sun comes out, the temperature rises, and the XC skiers quit. Why? Are we infected with winter fatigue? Is the lure of spring time recreation too strong to ignore?
XCSkiResorts.com spoke with some ski area operators around the nation to get their take on spring skiing. Many areas host springtime season pass holder parties and offer big discounts for purchasers of season passes for next year. Lapland Lake in Northville, NY, commented that their trails are compacted on a daily basis so the snow does not disappear like in the city or open areas in suburbia. Lapland’s Kathy Zahray encourages skiers and snowshoers to “get out and enjoy this weather and these great spring conditions!”
Zahray admits that “the reality is that in the spring it costs more for grooming and staffing than the amount of income earned from the diminishing number of skiing patrons, however this is one of the most fun times of the year to enjoy the outdoors. The milder temperatures and discounted rates are terrific for everyone, and it is fun to ski in shorts and t-shirts.” Lapland Lake is offering special lodging prices through March.
Carters XC Ski Centers in Bethel and Orford, ME, have been very busy this spring renting cabins and selling equipment. Carter’s hosted the Burger, Beer & Bike Festival for their patrons to try fat bikes and enjoy the area.
In Minnesota at Maplelag Resort, proprietor Jay Richards concurs “that people want to get on the snow early but get tired of winter and ready for warm spring days.” He feels that “skiers in the Midwest are conditioned to colder and drier snow compared to skiers in other regions who are more accustomed to a wider variety of snow conditions.”
At Cross Country Ski Headquarters in Roscommon, MI, they run spring events on machine-made snow such as the Hawaiian Barbecue where they have locally raised pork hocks, along with island style veggies and of course fresh grilled pineapple. Proprietor Lynne Frye invites everyone to celebrate all that is great about spring: long, sunny days of great cross country skiing in MI!
Skier Brenda Winkler, who is a regular at Izaak Walton Inn said, “There is nothing like skiing on Piston Bully groomed trails at Izaak Walton Inn. I skied yesterday and then enjoyed the best Buffalo burger in the restaurant. Izaak Walton Inn has had great grooming all season and there is a lot of winter left at the Inn!”
The Breckenridge Nordic Center in CO has skiers who are enjoying the patio and lounging around with a glass of beer or wine. They’ve held some well-attended fundraising events this spring and expect to remain open through April 22. Owner Josh Dayton said “We’re having really warm days but our snow holds up very well.”
The folks at Methow Trails in Winthrop, WA, stated, “This season has been another fantastic snow year! We have no shortage of snow but people stop skiing in the spring which is really too bad because we often find the best skiing of the season comes in the spring. The trails are well packed, and the days are lighter and warmer making it much more comfortable to ski. We’re seeing that in the Methow right now there’s some of the best ski conditions we’ve had all year!
Ridin’ With The Cats
What’s It Like To Groom Trails At Night?
Snow cat groomer making the ski run smooth for skiers the next day. Sun Peaks Resort, BC.
They come out at night and do their job. You can see their lights progressing across the ski slope and occasionally hear their roar. And the next morning, they’ve left this delicious set of corduroy tracks across the ski hill.
I’d always wanted to go on-slope with a snowcat groomer. And so, at Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia, Canada, I did. And it’s a tour anyone can sign up for.
Snow cat groomer makes its way down a ski slope at Sun Peaks Resort, BC.
It’s astonishing how much damage skiers can do to a run in a single day. If the snow is soft, bumps form, and the middle gets dug out because that’s where folks prefer to ski.
Enter the snowcat groomers. These are powerful cabs—Piston Bully 400s with 320 hp diesel engines— atop tank treads with a blade on front and a tiller on the back. The blade knocks down bumps and that nasty looking tiller, which rotates at over 1,000 rpm, can turn even ice into something resembling powder, which is then smoothed flat into that hero corduroy.
Of Sun Peaks’ 24 operators, two are women.
“Honestly, the women do a better job. They are more detail oriented,” admitted my guide for the night, Leo.
It takes three years for a groomer to really learn how to do this well, he added.
It was one of the women running the winch cat that night. Picture eight tons of growling machine attached by a line to a tree to keep from sliding downslope uncontrollably. This is how the really steep runs get groomed. Back in the day, these runs got so bumped and carved out, they were barely skiable.
It takes three years to become an expert groomer. Sun Peaks, BC.
Rob Gayman, grooming manager at Mt. Hood Meadows resort in Oregon, once described operating a winch cat this way: “It’s somewhat like dropping off a cliff. At the top break-over as the machine teeters above the brink, your heart starts to palpitate, and your natural survival instinct pushes you back into your seat.
“As the machine creeps forward and the operator adjusts the winch tension, the cat tilts forward into the darkness. The cat’s lights don’t shine down low enough; you can’t see what lies below. It tilts more and more. You start to fall forward out of your seat. Now you’re standing on the floor; surely this can’t be right? But then the cat finishes its forward tilt and the ground below you comes back into sight. It wasn’t a cliff after all. Snow rolls and tumbles down in front of the cat as the operator blades and tills his way downhill.”
For me, as dusk fell, the whole scene took on a surreal feel. Our headlights shining on the ridges of snow, leaving them glowing with weird shadows, along with the blinding headlights of an oncoming behemoth.
On an average night, more than a third of Sun Peaks Resort’s ski runs will be groomed. But among those, will be every green (beginner) trail.
And if you are lucky, your favorite black run will have been groomed early, then covered with ankle deep powder overnight, making for a run that feels, well, like skiing a glacier.
There are two women groomers at Sun Peak, BC, said to be more detail-oriented than the men.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (April 6)
Season Hangs On, Cross-Country Lessons, Apex Boot Highlights, Bob Beattie, Fun & Games, Mystery Train.
Where it snowed in 2017-18 and how much. Snow accumulation data from the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center. NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery via the University of Chicago Research Computing Center
Click Here To See Where Snow Fell Day By Day From Oct 5th to March 26th.
A glance at the map shows where the season’s snow accumulated and where it didn’t. Clearly, the Far West, Upper Rockies, (and Canadian Rockies not shown), parts of the Wasatch, and the Northeast received more than enough snow this season. Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Arizona resorts not so much.
The incredible graphic produced by the NOAA Goes-16 satellite of daily snowfall accumulation reveals most of heavy snow came sometime in March. So now we have spring skiing breaking out and ski resorts extending their seasons to make up for the phlegmatic January and February.
We have friends who have skied in the rain at Stowe this weekend and others who are planning to keep it up until Memorial Day and beyond out in Mammoth Mountain. This might be dubbed the “shifted season” where winter was re-set a month into the year. In any case, the challenge for resorts is to keep customers coming when most folks are taking boat covers off, spending Spring Break in the sun, or otherwise moving on from snow sports. Owning a ski resort is not for the faint of heart.
Mammoth Mountain extended the season after 16 FEET of snow in March. Credit: Unofficial Networks
This Week
This week’s Mystery Glimpse may be tough, showing a train somewhere out in the mountains. See if you can guess what’s going on. On the other hand, we’ve been surprised by the depth of knowledge and history that comes out of our reader base. Last week’s handsome, California-stylin’ ski instructor’s identity is revealed along with a video clip of this charming gentleman.
We also have some advice on taking Cross-Country lessons from correspondent Jonathan Wiesel, insights into the growingly popular and “disruptive” Apex boot by Marc Liebman, a new game to play this spring with skiing friends by Harriet Wallis, and industry news and comments by co-publisher Jon in Short Swings. And there’s an interesting piece about the patron saint of skiers, mountaineers, and climbers. Do you know who that might be? Hint: Big dog.
This week’s was also marked by the passing of Bob Beattie, a popular, creative, entrepreneurial competitor, and television commentator. You can link to his obituary here.
The SeniorsSkiing.com Spring Survey Is Coming Soon
Please be on the look out for our Spring Survey. You will receive it as an email, and we promise it will take very few moments to complete. The purpose of these surveys is to understand your needs and to get to know who you are. We have had extraordinarily high response rates in the past which makes us think our readers are engaged and interested in supporting the our mission of boosting the profile of the senior snow sport enthusiast to the outdoor recreation community. So, BOLO.
Ski Songs Available
The response from our readers to Ray Conrad’s album of ski songs from the 60s has been remarkable. It’s easy to download from CDBaby. If in doubt, ask your grandchild. You can go here to listen to some song snippets. Wonder why no one writes ski songs these days? Or do they? Know any “modern” ski songs?
Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Tell your friends to tell their friends. Remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.
sa;das
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