Heads up: The track is icy and hard packed with ruts from the weekend skiers. It is also starting to show some grass on south facing hills. The snow will soften later today, but it won’t be great skiing. I don’t know if we will risk tuning it up just yet.
Hopefully our overnight temperatures will hold up the track until we get new snow and cooler daytime temperatures.
Just back from making a couple of passes on the skate deck with the Ginzu groomer. Looks like Doug had set the classic track earlier in the day and it's still in good shape.
It'll be warm tomorrow so get out early if you can - it's also Winterfest so lots of activities going on throughout the day at Teton Lakes.
For Rexburg’s Winterfest 2024 info, check out https://www.rexburg.org/rec/page/winterfest-2024
Jeff just finished tuning up the track. Thank you, Jeff! Here’s his report:
With an excellent base and warmer temperatures, the skate deck has groomed up beautifully. Should be in great shape tomorrow. The classic tracks were still well set. Should be a wonderful weekend for skiing in mild temperatures.
Ryan just finished grooming and says everything looks good. Thank you to both Ryan and Doug for their work today!
Now for the annual reminder (which is actually more like a weekly reminder). I’m not trying to sound harsh, just trying to educate and remind people:
No bikes, no walking, no dogs, no snowshoes (you can snowshoe on ungroomed areas of the Winter Park), and please keep to the appropriate track - skate or classic.
As you can see, it takes a LOT of work and time to make the skate and classic tracks both skiable. It’s really important that skate skiers have a good skate deck and classic skiers have their own separate tracks. Please stay in your appropriate lane as much as possible so you don’t mess up the other skiers.
Regarding the Skate deck (the wide, flat, corduroy groomed lane) - Classic skiers, snowshoes, fat bikes, and people walking can leave deep tracks that trip up skate skiers. It’s painful to be skating fast and then take a spill because your ski catches on ruts or bootprints.
Regarding the Classic (Conventional) tracks - Skate skiers, snowshoes, fat bikes and people walking can quickly ruin the walls of the parallel tracks that help Classic skiers have a good ski.
Again, trails are groomed for skiing. Please don’t walk, snowshoe, or bike (seriously, no fat bikes!) and don’t bring dogs on the groomed areas. The trails are not meant to be sidewalks. Thank you!
Doug rolled the track (packing down the new snow) and set classic tracks this morning. He ran out of time, so Ryan is heading out around noon to finish grooming the skate track. Doug reports that the snow is great. Enjoy!
Just heard from Doug. As always, a huge thanks for his hard work.
Here’s his report: Just a quick update. There was an inch of new snow on the trail this morning. I touched up the skate track all over. The classic track still looked usable and I didn’t have enough snow to make new classic tracks. It looks good and there are a few skiers out this morning
Ryan was finally able to get the Groomer started - it’s been a little temperamental lately, and wouldn’t start in the cold yesterday - even with a battery assist.
He was able to groom everything….classic and skate.
Thanks Ryan! Hopefully the wind stays calm for the next few days.
Jeff’s done grooming. Thank you, Jeff!
He reports:
Just finished making several passes around the track at Teton Lakes. Did the classic tracks first. There have been many skiers out, maintaining the trail. Hopefully that will hold up. The skate deck was groomed and re-groomed as snow continued to fall. Hopefully there will be assemblance of a track after the remainder of the snow today. We may need to tune it again tonight or tomorrow morning.
It’s still very soft. Be careful of exposed patches. Hopefully no gravel showing at this point but be on the lookout.
Enjoy the snow
Snow has blown over much of the track. Jeff is heading out to clean it up (9am). It usually takes a couple of hours to go over everything. If you can wait to ski until later today, it’ll be a much better experience and it will give the track some time to settle.
This link shows traffic webcams around the area so you can preview the roads before deciding to drive. Be safe!
With help from Doug, Jeff, Ryan and Sam, the track is all set and ready for a good ski day. It’s been a huge effort to stay on top of things. Many thanks for their late night and early morning work. Ryan and Sam were out last midnight last night. They groomed it as wide and smooth as possible for skating, and set tracks for classic. Thank you!
We have a blizzard warning this afternoon through tomorrow (and a wind chill watch tomorrow through Saturday). Enjoy the skiing while you can, and stay safe!
Doug sent this report (he must have been grooming since 4 or 5am!).
I only had time to groom the perimeter trail. It worked up nicely in spite of places the wind had blown most of the snow off. The rolling and then grooming paid off, the base stuck and there was enough snow to drag back over it with the groomer to give us a great skiing surface.
Just heard from Doug. He held off on reporting so that we could give the track time to set up before it was skied on. Here’s his report:
The snow was good enough to cover most everything but very light. It needed time to set without being disturbed. The skate track is great and all the hills and south facing slopes are covered and ready for skiing. Late this afternoon a couple of skiers tried it out. It held well. The conventional track was my biggest concern. It has had all day to set and there were several skiers out this evening. The track is set up and ready. Most of the grass is covered in the bottom of the tracks. The forecast is for snow and wind tomorrow. It will require a redo tomorrow but in the AM it should be good and with new snow and our present base we should be off for the season. Sure different from last year. We have made a few changes which I hope improves. Come try it out.
FYI: Check out https://www.rexburg.org/rec/page/teton-lakes-winter-park for the City’s Winter Park info (like when they will start renting skis and ice skates).
I haven’t heard from Doug but I stopped by the course just to look. It has been groomed but looks very soft. The parking lot snowplowing is a little different this year. There’s a big pile of snow where we used to have the track, and the plowing extends deeper into what used to be the start of the ski track. Doug has managed to go around the obstacles. Many thanks to him for this work!
