Over the Hump

Seeley has gone from being a snow desert to achieving snow oasis status in the matter of a few days. Over New Year's we got just enough snow that Bruce, my Friend in Science, was able to refute my claim that this is the worst year ever by sending the graphs and data that I predicted would be coming my way. His assertion was based on a date of January 1, going back over 25 years. However, I'm going to stand by my original claim since I made it on December 22, we weren't able to ski, life sucked, and in my world subjectivity rules. I am entitled to my feelings, few though they are.

Monday of this week it started snowing in the early afternoon and didn't let up until sometime on Tuesday. We got a total of about 16" at the trails, which unfortunately was negatively affected by the warming temperatures. Before ski team practice on Monday we had about 6" on the trail which after skiing 5k I determined was going to be counterproductive to a positive experience for the little angels we have the privilege of shepherding. I headed to the yurt, put on all the warm clothes I had, grabbed a sled and a roller and did the best I could with the 3k loop. Darren showed up a little later, fired up another sled and rolled Logging Camp and the area in front of the yurt. Between the two of us we managed to make it skiable for the midgets.

By the time the groomers got there the next morning Lynn says there was another 10" of warm, heavy snow on top of what we rolled. Not many people in Seeley were going anywhere anyway so grooming was delayed until the next day. Yesterday a crew went out and packed and rolled the 3k and 5k. By the time I got there about 2:15 it was starting to set up and was good enough to ski, if a little rough and punchy in places.

Judging from the forecast and what I see out my window it's only going to get better over the next few days. The groomers should have been able to groom what they packed yesterday and maybe pack the 10k. We've had a couple more inches of snow overnight and the weather guesser is calling for cooler temperatures and 1-3" of new snow every day through Sunday. Should be prime skiing so my advice is to get it while it's there for the taking.

Unfortunately for me I have to make an unexpected trip to Oklahoma, the land of my birth, and will get home in time for the single digit weather next week. Sucks to be me.

The photo above is Westside Bypass at the southern end of the snowmobile trail, which coincidentally lies below our house. Darren Zellman took that after dark last night. It looks pretty inviting but I am guessing they used a device called the Mogul Master which smashes everything flat and leaves it skiing like concrete. Normally I try to get on Westside with our dog whenever the pisten bully has hit it, but I'm going to pass this time and wait until they use the tiller and comb. I've skied behind that Mogul Master before and it's not my idea of a good time.

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Bah Humbug

Apparently at least one of my faithful readers was offended by the last photo I published. Lord knows we can't have that, so I am attempting to express my sincere contrition by sharing this image of cute, fuzzy kittens. Who could possibly be offended by a bouncy bundle of fluff? I'm hoping that all is forgiven and we can all once again sing Kumbayah around the campfire while bonding over our adoration of these precious little handfuls of purring love.

Now that I've dispensed with that unpleasant chore we can get down to brass tacks: we are getting hosed by the weather. I've seen some grim starts to the ski season but this has to rank with the worst. My scientist friends (of whom I have several) are going to want to see the data to back up that assertion but I'm just going to rely on my old-timer status and forego the numbers and charts. People frequently ask me when ski season starts here and my standard answer is we're always skiing by Christmas. I suppose technically you could ski on the trails right now if you were desperate and/or feeble-minded but it's not something I would recommend. It's icy and rutted with rocks and bare spots showing in places.

So, yeah. Bah humbug. Nordic skiers in western Montana are getting a lump of coal in their stockings this year.

The one bright spot I can report is that I went for a run on Westside Bypass this afternoon expecting

it to be a skating rink and wound up wishing I'd opted to skate ski it instead. The Westside snowmobile trails starts right below our house and I was aware that the groomer had been over it a couple of days ago but it still looked rougher than a cob from what I could see. However, if you can endure 1/2 mile of marginal skiing as far as the south Archibald Loop Road, conditions improve dramatically. I was running on it and kicking myself for not being on my skis. After a mile the groomer took a left on the north Archibald Road and right now there isn't a track on it, just corduroy from the groomer comb.

When I say "right now" that's exactly what I mean because that can, and will, change with a moment's notice. If you're in Missoula I wouldn't recommend that you make the drive based on this report, but if you're in Seeley it's definitely worth a shot. I know that's what I'm going to be doing in the morning.

No telling when the Pisten Bully will be back this way. Lynn and I have been trying to figure out the logic behind their schedule for years without success. But, if you check their schedule regularly you can sometimes get lucky and have first tracks on an immaculately buffed surface. Here's the link: https://www.driftriders.org/trails.html . That may not show up as a link when I publish this but you can copy and paste it into your browser.

That's the best intel I can share at the moment. The forecast for the foreseeable future looks bleak so I'm going to control what I can, which probably means more gym time and running, but for tomorrow, at least, I'll get some miles on my skate skis. And continue to pet my cat.