Category: Trail Report

Ski trails at Chief Joseph Pass are being groomed this morning. It should be a great day for cross country skiing!

Ski Trails at Chief Joseph Pass were groomed Thursday, and the multi use trails were groomed Friday.

This weekend is Darby Dog Days. There will be dogs and there humans racing on the multi use trails Saturday and Sunday. The trails are still open, and skiing is a great way to watch the races, but we request that you do NOT bring dogs out skiing during the race, as they can be distracting or dangerous for the racers.

Trails will be groomed as needed this weekend, and with cold nights and days around freezing it should be great conditions for classic or skate skiing all weekend and into next week.

Grooming is in progress at Chief Joseph Pass this morning. The ski trails will be groomed today, multi use trails will be groomed tomorrow in preparation for the dog sled races this weekend.

Today’s grooming, and every Thursday this season, is sponsored by Triple Creek Ranch.

Chief Joseph Pass received 5 inches of new snow overnight, grooming is in progress.

For the first time since the storm all ski trails were groomed today. Tomorrow should be great conditions for skate or classic skiing, or snowshoeing.
We have decided to not groom one section of the multi use trails this year, overlook will only be groomed out to sunshine, and coyote will not be groomed. Those trails need a significant amount of clearing with a pole saw that we plan on doing next summer.

Both snowcats are currently down, so grooming this weekend will be limited, but we will try and snowmobile groom some trails Saturday morning.

The grooming crew from Lost Trail has been out the last several days, and most of the XC ski trails are cleared and groomed, and will be groomed this morning. The only trails not yet groomed are the lower trails, Banshee, Joseph Creek, and Middle Fork. Our volunteer crew will be clearing those tuesday, and then they will be groomed along with the other trail.

Some trails were groomed today at Chief Joseph Pass. Which ones doesn’t really matter because it is snowing heavily. The real story is that we have had the biggest wind storm in years, and there were hundreds of downed trees. 150+ trees were cleared today, and CDT, Broadway and Timber are all skiable. Moose, gold medal, sunny meadow loop, and the lower trails have not yet been cleared.

Skiing Thursday and Friday not recommended.

Most of the trails at Chief Joseph Pass were groomed Tuesday. Since then it has snowed 4 inches of wet heavy snow. Tuesdays grooming setup like concrete, but anything not groomed is totally unsupportable, and because of the new snow it has hard to tell the difference until you sink. Temperatures are forecasted to stay above freezing until late Friday night.

Tony will be grooming Friday in preparation for the race. The goal is to set tracks on the whole course, but weather may not cooperate.

For Saturdays race expect either wet or icy conditions. Klister or skin skis would be a good call. 

The Rust Buster Classic Race is on. We don’t have enough snow quite yet, but the trails should be in good shape by next weekend.

The Grooming Crew started work at Chief Joseph Pass yesterday. Skiing for the next few days is not recommended, there are lots of exposed rocks and sticks, and a very uneven surface. If you skied up there earlier in the week, expect the conditions to be worse now. That may sound odd, but the point of the first grooming is not to make a good surface for skiing, it’s to setup a base. There is over a foot of snow in the forecast for the next few days, and once that gets groomed we should have some great trail conditions, just in time for the Rust Buster Classic Race on December 13.