Category: Trail Report

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.

Ski trails at Chief Joseph Pass are being groomed this morning, for the final time this season. Thanks for another great season!

Ski trails at Chief Joseph Pass were groomed yesterday. We will continue grooming through March 30.

It might be spring in the valley, but we still have great conditions for XC skiing.
Chief Joseph Pass was groomed this morning, and the parking lot is plowed.

Como was groomed this morning, except lower road. With the warm weather we are having please do not use the Como trails in the afternoon, you will leave ruts that are very hard to remove. Ski in the morning, or after dark.

This saturday at Chief Joseph Pass we will be having our second Free Lesson Day of the season. Lessons start at 10

All of the trails at Como were groomed today.

From Tony:

The stars have aligned, the weather has cooperated, there’s skiing at the Fairgrounds!

This only happens every few years and can be short lived so take advantage of in town skiing while it lasts! The last time we had enough snow there was in late Nov. 2022.

1.4 mile loop, both skate and classic tracks. starts and finishes at the Floral building entrance.

It’s a thin delicate surface, no walking or fat bikes please. Skiers should also stay off if it’s a really warm day or after any rain just to help preserve the track. If we’re really lucky we’ll get at least 2 weeks or more of skiing before it turns back into grass.

The fairgrounds folks also ask that there be NO DOGS on the ski trails for liability reasons and to help make the track last longer.

We ask that anyone who walks their dogs there regularly to do so on the north end of the property behind the grandstands and not on the groomed surface while we have skiing there.

I’m working on 2 more arena loops, they are still too soft to set tracks on but are skiable right now, that will add some more milage to the trail.

Right now, 5 laps will be around 7 miles or just about 10.5K

Ski trails at Chief Joseph pass were groomed today, and the parking lot was plowed. Parking space is still limited, so park efficiently and consider carpooling. Tomorrow should be great conditions for classic skiing, but it might be too cold and soft for great skate conditions.

Trails at Chief Joseph Pass were groomed today, but last we heard the parking lot was not plowed. We are trying to get an ETA from the DOT on plowing, but have no ETA yet. If you go up there and the lot is plowed, please let us know.

Como was groomed today. We groomed up the to middle/upper road split, down wolf track, and to the end of lower road. We did not groom upper or middle road. The snow is very deep, expect soft conditions. Parking is now at the boat ramp, please do not attempt to drive above there.

Due to heavy snowfall and dangerous avalanche conditions the Bitterroot Ridge Runners will not be grooming any of the snowmobile trails this week. That means Lost Horse, Skalkaho, and Skalkaho Rye will not be groomed.

We will be grooming at Como tonight, but the goal is just to get things packed down, so don’t expect to go skate skiing Wednesday.

Chief Joseph Pass will be groomed again Thursday. Except ungroomed conditions until then.

Ski trails and multi use trails at Chief Joseph Pass were groomed yesterday, and will be groomed again this morning starting around 9 am.