We sludged up to the radio tower via the FLT on snowshoes again; seven of us part of the way, five of us most of the way. The snow was thin and crunchy in many places, we were hoping the team of human groomers would pack the trail for the next snowfall. Unfortunately it is raining out now even here in the hills.

There is still snow here, but nothing new in a few days and it has been warm. There is enough to ski on in the open fields but most likely not in the forest, I am not 100% sure what’s up there as I have been too busy to get out there with Thanksgiving and all that. Here is the weather report for Sunday http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?hourly=1&query=14850&yday=334&weekday=Sunday&MR=1 and a pic from this afternoon http://picasaweb.google.com/michael.ludgate/SnowPicsForCanaanInstituteOutdoorBLOGBikeSkiGroup#5274254730897685202 So … snow shoes are a safe bet. see you Sunday morning.

Mike and I headed out for our first ski of the season last night.  I was thrilled and had been looking forward to it all day.  I knew conditions were less than ideal, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me.   We headed up the hill and across the ridge to the snowmobile trail, slogging through heavy, wet, snow.  Well, to be honest, it was mostly Mike doing the slogging.  I was following behind him, so I had a pretty decent glide going on in the wake of his tracks.

Once we reached the snowmobile trail, we headed up the FLT, which we had snowshoed on Sunday.  Up until now, we’d seen very few wet spots on the trails.  As we headed back on R2, however, we came across numerous wet spots.  We hadn’t snowshoed down R2 to help pack the snow down and help the ground freeze, so we think this may be the reason why.  FLT normally has several wetspots as well, but there really weren’t any last night.  Mike also noted that breaking trail was easier where we’d snowshoed than where we hadn’t.  So the point I’m trying to make it that as tedious as snowshoeing may be, it’s worthwhile in that it does help lay down a nice base for skiing later on (as well as give you a great workout!).

By the time we completed our loop around the radio tower, the temps had dropped further, and a fairly thick 1-2″ crust was beginning to form on top of the snow.  The snow itself is around 4-8″ deep, depending on where you are and how much tree cover there is.  We didn’t see any bare spots or hit ground at any time, so it’s definitely enough to ski on.  When we reached the fields behind Mike’s house, the snow had frozen enough that we were pretty much skating across the surface, and it had become quite treacherous going down hills because it was hard to brake and control direction.  But, we got in a fairly decent 2.5 hour ski nonetheless, and we got to enjoy a quite beautiful night with clear skies filled with twinkling stars!

Last night I was on campus for music practice. After practice it was raining on campus, but on the drive home as I climbed in elevation, it turned to snow. We got another 2-4 inches of very wet warm snow which slammed down that cold fluff we had the other day. Total depth has not changed. I am trying to decide what to call for tonight, but I am leaning towards SKI … too wet to snow shoe … and miserable to walk in. Wunderground says more snow and a slight drop in temp: http://printer.wunderground.com/US/NY/Ithaca.html So … let’s give it a go. Bring your “rock ski’s” and a bright headlamp. Hmm … do i dig out the slate or the gneiss …

Hey on the snow photos: I am trying to take photos from about the same spot. If you click on the photo, it goes to a Picassa album where you can compare previous days. Note the depth on the picnic table is about the same today as a couple days ago. But it is heavy wet stuff now! :-)

From Snow Pics for Canaan Institute Outdoor BLOG - BikeSki Group

Nine of us brightly clad for hunting season ventured out mostly wearing snow shoes. There is snow here, but it is fluffy with no base and the ground is still very wet underneath. We were hoping to manually groom the trails here near my place by packing the powder and hopefully speeding ground freeze up, so next time we get some powder, we might be able to ski on it. The gang of nine included myself, Christi D., Tom R., Tom Z., Carl, Cindy, Tim, Brenda and Hank.

Several of us Ithaca area skiers (Scott, PJ, Pam, Amanda, Chris, Jack, Joan, Tom, Susi, Dan) ventured north to find a little more snow in at the Tug Hill plateau on Saturday.  For me this was an excuse to try out my new equipment; new (fast waxable) skis, and two new pair of boots.  It seemed the possibility of skiing was still minimal in Ithaca, although if you check out SH’s blog for the Greek Peek area I guess it wasn’t too bad for downhillers this time of year!  What we found at Osceola’s little “resort” was some pretty good nordic skiing.  OK, maybe a little shallow, but really no bare spots and plenty of sunshine!  The weather really couldn’t have been better; low 20’s, clear sky, not much of a crowd, and plenty enough snow. 

I’d never been to this ski center, but was pleasently surprised - for a mainly skate-ski groomed facility, they also have a wooded trail area that makes back-country  enthusiasts like me happy as well.  So I did have some problems with my new equipment, but was happy to spend some time learning about waxing skis in the very nice warm-up hut with all you need to wax your skis; iron, ski holder, tools, wax, … not to mention a pool table, radio, lounge chairs, and electric heat!  The ski store in the main house had more equipment for sale for the Nordic sport then I’ve seen at any other store that I’ve been to in the area.  Now I’m wishing I started there before purchasing my new stuff… that turned out to not work so well :-(. 

All in all I’d recommend this area to anyone; friendly owners, great ski shop, wood-stoves to warm up, good trails for several types of skiing to make most happy.  There is a nominal fee for sking - only $10 for this early in the season, but I think maybe $13.50 during regular season weekends (only $8 weekdays) - and other special rates.  Check it out!

Oh, and you’ve got to check out the Plainville Farms restaurant in Cicero (close to Syracuse, on the way back to Ithaca)!  Great massive quantities of food!!

SZ

http://www.lcida.org/xcski.html

Another couple inches last night! Wow! Still no base … but it is building. Sunday: I think we can snowshoe and pack this fluff and hope for more snow! One of us tried skiing and said it was terrible … zero base, wet underneath. We have some loaner snowshoes or you can just walk: it is very light fluffy stuff. We were out cutting boughs for wreath making and our footprints were bringing up water. Wear neon orange! It is hunting season! Let me know who’s coming out. -m

It was pretty cold for last night’s hike–but it was also pretty!  There is a fresh blanket of powdery snow about 3-5 inches deep up at Hammond Hill.  If only there was a solid 12″ base of packed snow underneath it, we could be writing about a fantastic night of skiing!  As it was, we donned our hiking boots instead of skis, and went along our merry way:  Mike, Bianca, Marilyn, Pesto, Buddha, and myself.

As Marilyn already stated, we headed up Sauna Trail, and up R2 to what we’ve recently dubbed “chocolate corner.”  As we started our return via the old FLT, I saw a black dog-shaped figure that looked remarkably similar to Hoju race past me, quickly followed by Pesto.  I thought my eyes must be playing tricks on me, though, as we had left Hoju behind.  I didn’t say anything, for fear of being thought insane, but a moment later I heard Mike say, “Hoju!  Where did you come from??”  In fact, he was not a figment of my imagination, but was actually there.  Upon calling Raylene to notify her that he was with us so she wouldn’t worry about him, she told us she’d let him out of the house about five minutes prior.  Apparently this “little” black dog has discovered the key to time and space travel.  :)

Anyway, we had a pretty uneventful hike back the FLT and back down the Sauna Trail, trying to pack down the existing snow to help create a base for skiing.  Hopefully we’ll get the snow they’re predicting for tonight & tomorrow and we’ll be writing ski reports soon!

Four humans and 2-3 dogs hiked from Canaan road for about 2 hours up to the radio tower via R2 and then down the FLT. There was full snow coverage but not enough to ski on.  If there are no warm ups, it could be the start of a nice base.  Last week we cleared a few saplings along side a big puddle on the old FLT so as to avoid future ice ups.

We got another inch of the white stuff last night. Temperature this morning is 13 degrees F!

Two of us hiked in blustery snow last night. The Temperature dipped down into the high teens last night. We have 3-5″ of very fluffy snow this morning, depending on how and where you measure it. See photo.

From Snow Pics for Canaan Institute Outdoor BLOG - BikeSki Group

The usual night hikes and a Sunday outing. Don’t forget your neon for Sunday, headlamps for night hikes.