Grooming and Conditions Reports 2011-2012

Salmon Ridge

Monday, February 20th, 2012

The latest storm dumped lots of snow at Razor Hone Road! No grooming was done this weekend so snow was skier tracked only (tracks were about 8" deep), and rough chopped up surface from lots of tracks of all kinds. Yet there were 17 cars at the Salmon Ridge SnoPark. Randy, the new groomer, expects to groom the trails tomorrow but still doesn't have the track setter yet - so the snow will just be packed, no tracks. Hopefully Roy and Randy will get together soon to transfer the track setter.

By: Gail

Razorhone and Cougar Loop

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

Well gang, I got tired of waiting to hear a ski report from you all, so I went up to the Razor hone snow-park, with Cathy Cameron. We got there about 1230 and were surprised to see only two vehicles parked there. It was warm but cloudy, with no rain. Razor hone had been groomed but not tracked. Of course there were many tracks of dogs and snowshoes. The snow was soft and easy enough to ski, so that we made good time to the mom's corner. Its sign was unvandalized, so we moved on. In little time, we arrived at the first Cougar Loop junction. Cathy expressed interest in going on the loop and I suggested that this junction would be better to ski down and that we go up the second junction, past Bagley Creek.

At the second junction, the roof was missing and I measured the size for a new roof. We met no-one outside the parking lot that Sunday. Perhaps everyone was at the Banked Slalom?

At the second Cougar Loop junction, the map was missing and I replaced it with the new map, showing the new show shoe trails. I will be curious if it survives. I fear that showing the trails on a good topo map, makes them attractive to the summer users, who can drive right up to them, in their vehicles.

We continued on to the end of Razor hone Rd. stopping to admire the view from the banks of the North Fork Nooksack. Razor hone was good but getting thin in a few places. Two more weeks of this warm weather in the mountains and there will be bare patches here. This is spring ski conditions, right now, in Whatcom County.

Cougar Loop's second junction is the steeper of the two, climbing immediately. It was ungroomed but the soft snow was easy to climb. Talk about aerobic skiing! There were four spots where we had to take off our skis. This would be an ugly course to go down. At the top of the climb, I noticed the "steep hill" sign was missing. I'll try to replace it the next time I come up. After a too short level road the trail began its decent to the bridge, a steep narrow and ungroomed path with a snow shoe trail down the middle of it. An excellent example of the need for grooming. We decided to side-step down it and eventually ended up down at the bridge.

As usual, the scenery was spectacular. We were most taken by one dead giant of a cedar with gaping tears revealing crevasse and holes. Dead limbs pointing up to the sky in that curious cedar curve. It was well worth my trouble to get there.

We climbed up the other side of the gorge to find the trail groomed at the end of the logging road. On the way, I had been watching for sign of snow shoe activity, as they have joined their trails to ours somewhere along Cougar Loop. The only site possible was near the end of this road. However no tape, no signs, just snow shoe tracks heading off our trail up the valley. I find it very curious. Perhaps some of our local snow shoe fans could enlighten me?

Because Blueberry Bounce was groomed, it was easily skiable. It was so much nicer than going up bear hill. Again, I advise skiers to go up Bear Hill at the second junction and come down to the first junction of the loop. If the road up to Blue Berry Bounce isn't groomed, beware trying Cougar Loop. It will be work both ways, up and down. When icy or ungroomed it can be dangerous.

I would say that if you want to ski our lower trails you had better do it ASAP as spring conditions are creating bare spots. Soon only White Salmon Rd. will be the only trail open.

By: Kurt

Razorhone

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Razorhhone Rd., Blueberry to the height of land, Cougar for a few switchbacks, and the loop near the parking area were machine groomed overnight or this morning. The trails featured excellent skiing. While there was no track set, the snow was on the soft side and fine for either skating or classic striding. Light sporadic drizzle with patches of blue sky and sunshine leaking through.

Recommended kick wax - red or universal klister

Recommended glide wax - Swix CH 8 or CH 10, or Toko Yellow

Big structure will help with glide

Good Skiing!

By: Todd

Razorhone

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Great day of skiing at Razorhone today, Tuesday the 7th, but no grooming. Conditions were good with some icy patches under the trees.

By: Dave G

Razorhone

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Salmon Ridge was not groomed. Only back country skiing or snowshoeing possible per John Sarich. No word from the groomer.

By: Gail

Razorhone

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Good news! We expect the lower Salmon Ridge trails (Razor Hone and Anderson Crk) to be groomed Monday, Feb. 6th. He's unable to groom sooner since he's waiting for a part for the groomer. (It broke while clearing a slide.) However, he's confident he'll have it up and running to groom Monday, if not, he'll have a back-up groomer to the job. So at long last, we'll have the groomed trails we've been waiting for. Grab your skis!

By: Gail

Salmon Ridge

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

We stopped at the Salmon Ridge Sno-Park about 10:30 and there was lots of snow, but no sign of grooming. We stopped again at 2:30, no change. The snow at the Sno-Park was deep, but crusty We chose instead to ski at White Salmon Rd. The snow was deep and soft, and tough skiing outside of the snowshoers trench, but it was a beautiful day. We saw two other skiers and 21 snowshoers (12 in a group with Mt Baker Club).

By: Allan

Razorhone

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Great ski through the trees at RazorHone today. Good conditions. Lots of snow shoe tracks, but I think that my tracks were the only ones left by skis.... No evidence of grooming.....

By: Dave

Razorhone

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

We were on Razorhone today. Looks like there have been 2 - 3 inches of new snow over the last few days. No grooming has been done yet.

By: Dave

Razorhone

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Currently there are 18 inches of snow on Razorhone Rd. If Roy grooms on Friday it should be great skiing. As it is, you must break trail.

By: Kurt

Salmon Ridge

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

There is lots of snow at Salmon Ridge, but it has not been groomed. Roy is unable to access the SR SnoPark due to the State Patrol requiring chains on the 542 - prior to the entrance to the SnoPark.

By: Gail

Razerhone

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

Hello, we were out on Sunday and as Gail mentioned no grooming has been done. Razerhone is covered completely from start to finish. We also did the entire Cougar Loop. It was fairly difficult in parts due to the depth of the snow. Over the entire loop there were 4 places where runoff either left a 1 foot gap in the snow cover.

By: Dave

Anderson Creek Road

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

On Sunday, we skied up the Anderson Creek Rd. We made it to about 3200 feet elevation. Not groomed of course but a good ski track with fewsh snow was present. Part of the road from 2900' to 3100' had a track from 3 backcountry skiers who came down from the ski area(!). Good, deep wet powder from 2900' to 3200' so had to break trail with snow up to knee deep. Down low snow was just above freezing but not sticky. Snowing heavily on the way out. Good snow for skiing but got soaked.

By: Jeremy

Salmon Ridge

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

From 12:30pm to 3pm it was snowing heavily from milepost 41 on up the mountain. There were 7 cars at the SnoPark, lots of them at Hannegan. Razor Hone was skier (and snowshoe) tracked only, conditions fast.

By: Gail

Salmon Ridge

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

Sunday, Jan. 22nd - Plenty of snow at Salmon Ridge. Ungroomed and skiier tracked. Hwy 542 was primarily bare and wet, with a few miles of new fallen snow. 8 cars in the parking lot.

By: Marj

Salmon Ridge

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

The blue sky Sunday morning set me in motion. 542 was clear and dry up until Glacier, and not bad until the Nooksack Falls hill at which point there was some boilerplate stuck to the road. 11:30am and 18 degrees at the Sno-Park lot. It felt like 30 with the air so still. Razor Hone Rd is ungroomed but well used. There is a great classic track, ski set, all the way to the end on the river. The snowshoers are staying next to it and both modalities were coexisting cheerfully. There is not room for skating. The road had 12-18" of wonderful cold powder snow on it and the skiers were staying in the track so it was nicely set. I counted 22 snowshoers and 26 skiers. As I traveled further up the road skiers became the main visitors. Only one of the skiers was a recognized Nooksack Nordic'ee. The rest looked comfortable on skis and could be.

Hannegan Road

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

At 9 AM we found several inches of new snow on Hannegan Road and were the first, and only skiers to set a nice ski/dog track. It snowed off and on most of the morning and heavy snow fell out of the trees. We met a total of 8 people on snow shoes headed out as we made our way back to the car, and only the 3 of us on skis. By the end of the day, there should have been easy going for either mode of travel. It was a great trip, with nice river views. Did I mention, dogs also really like to sniff around on Hannegan?

By: Jim

Salmon Ridge

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

White Salmon Road received a little new snow overnight, providing great ski and snow shoe conditions. The road is receiving heavy snow shoe use that is very compatible with classic technique skiing. Conditions were not conducive to skate skiing. Ridge Road/Lodge Trail, Pete's and Razor Connector snow shoe trails, along with White Salmon Road, provided a great morning snow shoe outing, actually just wearing boots. The snow shoe trails below White Salmon are essentially devoid of snow and icy.

By: Jim

Razorhone

Saturday, January 7th, 2012

There is still adequate snow to ski the lower ski trail, Razor Hone road! Keats and I skied there Saturday, temperature 34. While there are a couple bare spots across the road, after the first bridge, there was still good skiing to be had. Trails were well packed with about 1.5" new snow on top. Several people were out enjoying the trails. The base of west Cougar trail (formerly Blueberry Hill) is quite thin and not skiable except with "rock" skis. Also there are 2 trees down across the West Cougar trail - about 1 foot diameter. No grooming until we get more snow - so do your best snow dance!

By: Gail

Salmon Ridge

Friday, December 22nd, 2011

For Dec. 22nd: White Salmon has about a half inch of new snow on top of 2.5 to 3 feet of "NW Concete" type snow. There was lots of evidence of snowshoers enjoying the trail. We walked down the full length of WS Road, then took the Razor Crest connector back up from the knob (a short-cut) to get back to the WS Road - a very nice loop (about 3.66 miles). Though part of the connector is quite steep, our snowshoes (MSR's) made it easy to negotiate. We encountered a couple hardy skiers enjoying the views, even though the snow was very crusty. There were 6 cars there.

At the SR SnoPark, it was evident that a lot of the previous snow is melting away. According to a couple of Canadian skiers that had been up to SR about 3 days this week said the trail was groomed on Sunday, Dec. 18th (not Friday) and there had been no new snow there. They found the skiing fine on Razor Hone, except for 1 bare spot they encountered between the 2 bridges. They hadn't ventured up Cougar loop. I can confirm also that the sanicans have been installed as planned.

By: Gail

Razorhone

Friday, December 16th, 2011

The Razor Hone trails were groomed Friday Dec. 16th. Though there is good snow where there is no tree cover, beware of snow and gravel mix under the tree canopy. More snow is needed to groom to the bridge from both sides. Anderson was snow for the first mile or so then gravel again under the overhanging trees.

By: Gail

Hollyburn Mt. (Cypress Bowl)

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Eight members attended the scheduled club day trip to Hollyburn and all had a great time on a clear day with temperatures from 25F - 35F. There was about 3 - 4 ft of snow by our estimate (1.2 meters on the Cypress web site) and even though there had been no precipitation for many, many days prior, the snow was in great shape due to the cool temps over that period. The grooming was excellent on all lower trails and many upper trails but some uppers were not yet groomed at all. The lower trails were highly populated with children in XC ski schools but the upper were quite free. The driving up and back was easy and quick on the Canadian freeway through Vancouver as usual on a Sunday. There was zero wait at the Lynden boarder crossing coming back.

By: Don

Salmon Ridge

December 13th, 2011

There was no grooming on Dec 9th either. We had a work crew up at Salmon Ridge on Dec 13th and there had been no new snow. There is still nearly 1 foot of snow at Razor Hone and Anderson Crk, but it is hard packed. Since the groomer hasn't been in to tenderize it - it would be very difficult to ski. White Salmon has over 3 feet of snow, but again, hard packed.

We had a nice time snowshoeing though. The new snowshoe trails up there are well signed and marked with some black and white maps available on site. Hopefully we'll get some badly needed snow in the next few days with the rain.

By: Gail

Razorhone

December 2nd, 2011

I went to RH where there is still @one foot of frozen snow on the ground. I didn't ski them but did shut the gates at Anderson and Razorhone Rd. White Salmon has adequete snow at over two feet and frozen with two inches of new powder on top. While the snow shoers continue to use this area they generally stay in the middle of the road and there is virgin snow to ski on the sides of the road. It was a clear still day and I enjoyed the joy of once again skiing.

By: Kurt

Razor Crest and Razor Creek

December 1st, 2011

Scouted out a couple new snowshoe trails up by the Mt. Baker ski area: Razor Crest and Razor Creek. Pretty steep in places, and navigation/route finding skills required. But my partner on the trip and I managed just fine (I'm 55 and he's 60+). Need to note MSR Lightning Ascent type snowshoes needed. A must have to deal with Mt. Baker Concrete and steep pitches. Its dangerous without them. Best current deals on these shoes shown below.

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By: Scott

Salmon Ridge

November 20th, 2011

Deb, Mary and I went up to Salmon Ridge yesterday (Sunday 11/20) and found 14" of new snow. Skiing was great, except that a hugh Catapillar that is doing some kind of work in the parking lot had gone on Razor Hone for about a mile and messed up the trails. The tracks from the machine are hard to skii in as it is compacted and frozen and hard to glide on. After the first mile the conditions improved and we found fresh powder. No one else had been on the trails except some snowshoers and the last one third of the tril we tracked down to the river for lunch. Hopefully, with the warming conditions coming in this week the snow will be compacted and with a little more snow the trails will be back into condition to be groomed. I was informed by Gail that the grooming doesn't start due to the grant until Dec. 1st.

Gail is going to put together a work party to go up the week after Thanksgiving to install the port-a-potty and trail signs. Anyone available to help please contact her. In the meantime, if anyone is going up to Baker/Salmon Ridge and could lock the gate, it could prevent any further damage. I know it would be appreciated. Please call Gail and make arrangements with her to pick up the key. Happy Thanksgiving! Looking forward to seeing you on the tails.

By: Sharon Robinson Holmes