| Author | Message | ||
     Nordic Username: Nordic Registered: 09-2006 |
Just an FYI that the CRUST CRUISING was off the top this past Saturday (4/25) on the first big meadow below Chief Joe Pass (going E on 43). Solid surface with 1/2 of fresh on top made the snow clean (for bases), and super glide-able for skaters ... It was awesome. | ||
| Idaho Cliff Username: Idahocliff Registered: 12-2005 |
“Chief Joseph Cross Country Ski Trail Report: Friday 04/03/09: Mel's Email Subject was: The Last Chief Joseph Cross Country Ski Trail Report of The Season… Hi Everyone, The time has finally come to call it quits for the season, This past week we received 26 inches of fresh snow. We groomed 18 inches of that on Monday and the remaining 8 inches today and set tracks on all the trails. It gets quite warm in the afternoons so the best skiing will be earlier in the day, but it's still very good. Thanks to all of you that came to enjoy the area this past season and we look forward to seeing you again next season. Have a great summer! Mel Mooers, Grooming Team Leader” Although grooming has stopped – with our deep snowpack there should be many more weeks of skiing. Continue to check the links below to monitor the snow and weather conditions. UNGROOMED TRAIL REPORT: CLICK HERE for a map of the “Un-Groomed XC Ski Trails” in the Chief Joseph Pass area. “Zoom-In” for more detail. This map takes awhile to download, so it’s best to save it on your computer if you expect to use it again. This map and a table of the trails is available on the NEW Beaverhead NF Winter Recreation Web site. This is an excellent map, but it does have a minor error in the location of the Ander-Rich and Richardson Ridge Trail junction. CLICK HERE for a corrected location for these trails. Sometimes when trip planning it’s helpful to have intermediate (segment) mileages. CLICK HERE for my “Trail Segment Table”. Once again here are the links to the Lost Trail Pass Web Cams. Here’s the Montana link: http://rwis.mdt.mt.gov/scanweb/losttrail.shtml and here’s the Idaho Link to the same cameras. Select camera 1 (south-bound) or camera 2 (northbound) at the top of the page. Check out the latest Lost Trail Weather/Snow Report. Their last day will be this Sunday, April 5. Today, Apr. 03 at 05:00 PM MDT Saddle Mtn Snotel reported 26.4” of snow moisture (101.9% of Average) with 96.3” depth resulting in 27.4% total snowpack density. This week, since 11:00 PM last Friday, snow moisture increased 3.1”, while the % of average increased 9.8% and the snow depth increased 5.9” from 80.4”. Snowpack density decreased 1.6%. The snow depth got up to 99.7” last Sunday and then settled and increased several times since. Maximum temperatures were close to freezing all week but only above freezing on Saturday and yesterday (Thursday). However now, even when it doesn’t get above freezing, the sun will affect the snow. The Saddle Mtn Snotel 3 Hour Readings are the most current snow and temperature values for the area near the top of the chair lifts. The times are listed as Pacific STANDARD Time. In addition, CLICK HERE for the daily readings (taken at 02:00 AM mountain time) which may be less confusing for a weekly view. Of the next two reports, I’d put more stock in the 2nd (NOAA) report: Snow-Forecast.Com’s 6-Day Forecast for Lost Trail. If you click on this link be sure the “Imper” button is selected, i.e. inches rather than cm. The NOAA Lost Trail “Table Point Forecast” shows maximum temperatures of 39 on Sat. and 47 on Sun. With 1” of new snow tonight and 2” Saturday and none on Sunday. Percent cloudiness is about 63% for Saturday and 21% on Sunday. Also CLICK HERE for the backcountry weather forecast. Go to http://www.missoulaavalanche.org/ and see their recent report. Also check www.bitterrootxcskiclub.net. /s/ Cliff | ||
| Nordic Username: Nordic Registered: 09-2006 |
We stayed in the cabin Sunday night, with another 8+ inches of snow during the day and overnight, and some blowing and drifting. Three fellows were out in the 0 temp sunny morning grooming away- no track set and glorious fresh snow. Thanks for your efforts! | ||
| Nordic Username: Nordic Registered: 09-2006 |
Stayed at the Cabin Saturday. We got 4-6" during the day on Saturday, then 16-18" overnight. Big powder! Be prepared for some hard core trail breaking. | ||
| Idaho Cliff Username: Idahocliff Registered: 12-2005 |
“Chief Joseph Cross Country Ski Trail Report: Friday 03/27/09: Hello Everyone, There was 8 inches of fresh powder this past week and the total is now 66 inches. All the trails were groomed today and tracks set on the upper trails only. The sun came out and the snow became sticky, however when it was replaced by heavy cloud cover, the tracks set up and skiing became quite good. If this is not the end of our grooming efforts, it's very close. We will access the situation again next Friday and go from there. Thanks to you all for supporting our efforts. It has been a great season. Mel Mooers, Grooming Team Leader, Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club.” UNGROOMED TRAIL REPORT: CLICK HERE for a map of the “Un-Groomed XC Ski Trails” in the Chief Joseph Pass area. “Zoom-In” for more detail. This map takes awhile to download, so it’s best to save it on your computer if you expect to use it again. This map and a table of the trails is available on the NEW Beaverhead NF Winter Recreation Web site. This is an excellent map, but it does have a minor error in the location of the Ander-Rich and Richardson Ridge Trail junction. CLICK HERE for a corrected location for these trails. Sometimes when trip planning it’s helpful to have intermediate (segment) mileages. CLICK HERE for my “Trail Segment Table”. Once again here are the links to the Lost Trail Pass Web Cams. Here’s the Montana link: http://rwis.mdt.mt.gov/scanweb/losttrail.shtml and here’s the Idaho Link to the same cameras. Select camera 1 (south-bound) or camera 2 (northbound) at the top of the page. Check out the latest Lost Trail Weather/Snow Report. Check out their News+Events link for details of their March 28 “Skiesta Splashdown”. They will be open weekends only through April 5. Today, Mar. 27 at 11:00 PM MDT Saddle Mtn Snotel reported 23.3” of snow moisture (92.1% of Average) with 80.4” depth resulting in 29.0% total snowpack density. This week, since 08:00 PM last Friday, snow moisture increased 1.4”, while the % of average increased 2.0% and the snow depth increased 6.3” from 74.1”. Snowpack density decreased 0.6%. The snow depth got up to 86.4” on Thursday and then settled. Temperatures were above freezing every day except for Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Now even when it doesn’t get above freezing the sun will affect the snow. Thus I expect that the backcountry skiing on sun exposed slopes will be crusty. If so the expected new snow this weekend could result in avalanche hazards on steeper slopes. (Steeper than any of the marked trails.) The Saddle Mtn Snotel 3 Hour Readings are the most current snow and temperature values for the area near the top of the chair lifts. The times are listed as Pacific STANDARD Time. In addition, CLICK HERE for the daily readings (taken at 02:00 AM mountain time) which may be less confusing for a weekly view. Of the next two reports, I’d put more stock in the 2nd (NOAA) report: Snow-Forecast.Com’s 6-Day Forecast for Lost Trail. If you click on this link be sure the “Imper” button is selected, i.e. inches rather than cm. The NOAA Lost Trail “Table Point Forecast” shows maximum temperatures of 41 on Sat. and 30 on Sun. With 2” of new snow Saturday, 5” Saturday night and 2” on Sunday. Percent cloudiness is about 83% for both days. Also CLICK HERE for the backcountry weather forecast. Go to http://www.missoulaavalanche.org/ and see their recent report. Also check www.bitterrootxcskiclub.net. /s/ Cliff | ||
| Idaho Cliff Username: Idahocliff Registered: 12-2005 |
“Chief Joseph Cross Country Ski Trail Report: Friday 03/20/09: Hello Everybody! There was 12 inches of fresh snow earlier this week which had compacted to 5 inches by this morning leaving the total at 62 inches. We groomed all the trails but did not set tracks as it became to warm. Whether we groom again this season will depend on the weather. Stay tuned - and thanks to all of you for all you do to support the Chief Joseph Cross Country Ski area. Mel Mooers, Grooming Team Leader, Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club.” UNGROOMED TRAIL REPORT: Mel’s new snow depth for the week agrees with the Lost Trail Ski Area report. They report they will be open weekends only now – through April 5th. Expect variable conditions. Things may get more consistent as corn snow develops in upcoming weeks. Refer to my previous reports for links to current snow depths, temperatures and weather. /s/ Cliff | ||
| Idaho Cliff Username: Idahocliff Registered: 12-2005 |
“Chief Joseph Cross Country Ski Trail Report: Friday 03/06/09: Hello Everybody, There has been 3 inches of fresh snow this past week and the total is now 60 inches. All the trails were groomed today and tracks set. The temperatures have remained cold and snow conditions are still very good. How much longer we'll groom depends on daily temperatures and snow fall but we are getting close to the end of grooming for the season. Better take advantage of nicely groomed trails while we still have them. Mel Mooers, Grooming Team Leader, Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club.” UNGROOMED TRAIL REPORT: CLICK HERE for a map of the “Un-Groomed XC Ski Trails” in the Chief Joseph Pass area. “Zoom-In” for more detail. This map takes awhile to download, so it’s best to save it on your computer if you expect to use it again. This map and a table of the trails is available on the NEW Beaverhead NF Winter Recreation Web site. This is an excellent map, but it does have a minor error in the location of the Ander-Rich and Richardson Ridge Trail junction. CLICK HERE for a corrected location for these trails. Sometimes when trip planning it’s helpful to have intermediate (segment) mileages. CLICK HERE for my “Trail Segment Table”. Once again here are the links to the Lost Trail Pass Web Cams. Here’s the Montana link: http://rwis.mdt.mt.gov/scanweb/losttrail.shtml and here’s the Idaho Link to the same cameras. Select camera 1 (south-bound) or camera 2 (northbound) at the top of the page. Check out the latest Lost Trail Weather/Snow Report. Their snow report lists 3 inches of new earlier this week. They will be holding a snowmobile hill climb this weekend. Today, Mar. 13 at 08:00 PM MDT Saddle Mtn Snotel reported 20.3” of snow moisture (87.1% of Average) with 69.0” depth resulting in 29.4% total snowpack density. This week, since last Friday’s report, snow moisture increased 0.4”, while the % of average decreased 1.3% and the snow depth decreased 3.9” from 72.9”. Snowpack density increased 2.3%. Three hour depth increases since Sunday evening were do not seem to be a valid indication of this weeks snowfall. Probably due to minor depth sensor fluctuations. Temperatures were below freezing every day except for yesterday (Thursday) and Today. However with a maximum of 36.3 yesterday and at least 36.5 today, I expect that the backcountry skiing on sun exposed slopes will be crusty. The Saddle Mtn Snotel 3 Hour Readings are the most current snow and temperature values for the area near the top of the chair lifts. The times are listed as Pacific STANDARD Time. In addition, CLICK HERE for the daily readings (taken at 02:00 AM Mountain Daylight Time) which may be less confusing for a weekly view. Of the next two reports, I’d put more stock in the 2nd (NOAA) report: Snow-Forecast.Com’s 6-Day Forecast for Lost Trail. If you click on this link be sure the “Imper” button is selected, i.e. inches rather than cm. The NOAA Lost Trail “Table Point Forecast” shows maximum temperatures of 37 on Sat. and 34 on Sun. With 2” of new snow Saturday night and 5” on Sunday morning. Percent cloudiness is about 80% or more for Saturday and close to 100% for Sunday. Also CLICK HERE for the backcountry weather forecast. Go to http://www.missoulaavalanche.org/ and see their recent report. Also check www.bitterrootxcskiclub.net and check out their March Newsletter. /s/ Cliff |
