The entire trail system from the bulletin board up to the meadow,
including the lower road, upper meadow trail, and the upper woods trails,
were bladed thoroughly last evening. Three complete passes really
renovated and smoothed out the surface well. What remained of the
classic track was mostly wiped out and is planned to be replaced by Tom
Berg this afternoon.

I got out and skated early this morning and found conditions to be about
as good as they've been all season -- on every trail. Last night was
nice and cold up there, but these next few days are supposed to be warm,
so there will be a lot of freeze/thaw on much of the trail now that the
sun is up high during the day. It got sunny a lot earlier this morning
than the last time I was up there that early. The more we groom, the
better the conditions will remain.

The great thing about the freeze/thaw cycles is the awesome "crust"
skiing it provides in the early mornings out in the meadows. I got to
the "end" of the trail out in the upper meadow and just kept on skating
anywhere I wanted out there. It was fantastic. The sun rose behind me
and the entire surface I was on sparkled. I skied from the groomed trail
out to the very end (the rim of the caldera), then all the way back down
to where the Canada Bonita gets congested with trees, which is just above
pt. O. No groomed track, just perfect crust that had no problem
supporting my weight and even supported my tiny Toko 232 pole baskets.
The caveat to this is that one must get up there early to beat the
inevitable daytime thaw. Right now, that probably means before 9:30 or
10 am. Check it out.

With just a little bit more chipping and scraping, I managed to get the
Rambo snomo in the shed for the first time this season. Thanks to Paul
and Lisa for doing an amazing job clearing it out. There is quite a
trench to get into it right now, but it shouldn't be a problem getting in
and out now. That pick axe was the tool to get the job done!!! Thanks.