After Ken and Tom's work, we all skied and then Dave and I went back out to get
a jump on the new snow received late in the day and wind drifts with the blades.
It worked well, but the whole system will need regrooming tomorrow morning.
Dave suffered a broken exhaust pipe, so we're down to our most ancient
snowmobile, which just got back up and running in time.  We'll see how it goes.
I would say wait a while tomorrow to give enough time to get things regroomed. 
There should be a new classic track also.  It's possible that the new far meadow
trail won't be regroomed for tomorrow's skiing.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ken spent most of the morning packing and grooming the trail system.  Mid day I
took over
long enough to get in a classic track around the entire system.   Snowing hard
up there when
I finished around 2:30....  but lots of people skiing so the track may survive.

Skiing was great, nice cold snow that packed out well.

Another  set of volunteers is prepared to start the whole thing over again
tomorrow AM if
more grooming is needed, ie, if it continues to snow up there this evening......

Trail conditions still good, well skiied in but very cold snow, both classic and
skating lanes in
decent shape.

Entire trail system groomed mid-day today for both skating and classic  skiing.

The woods loops of the Pajarito X-C Ski Trail, the multi use trail up to Canada
Bonita and the
new trail descending thru the middle of canada bonita were all groomed for
skating and
classic today, in conjunction with the classic and skating clinics held by club
instructors held
on Camp May Road at Pajarito Ski Area above Los Alamos.

The  2nd day of classic and skating clinics will be held on Camp May Road at
Pajarito
tomorrow,  Sunday, at 10:00AM.

This clinic is taught by PSIA instructors Jessica and Ken Kiesel and is a
bargain at $20.00 for
individuals,  and  $30 for families.  The clinic is free for members of
Southwest Nordic Ski
Club.

All trails continue to be excellent with a 12-20" base.  No classic
tracks have been set but will be for the weekend.  The new meadow
trail is now groomed.  Watch for hidden objects but overall is well
covered and is still soft.  Expect continued grooming through the
weekend for the clinics.  See you on the trails

Trails have been bladed and levelled quite a bit.  Blading generated some of the
softer snow underneath and ground up the trash.  The drifts in the meadows were
also worked out as much as possible to smooth and even out the trail.
Things look pretty good, but the early part of the trail is still pretty
hard-packed.  We didn't get around to running the tenderizer rollers or the
Tidds with the teeth down.  Consequently, the classical track that was set is
obliterated, but classical without the track should be nice with the softer,
newly generated snow on top.
It's probably that there won't be a classical track again until the storm
passes.  If anybody is available to groom over the weekend, please email the
group.
Enjoy...things look pretty good again.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I plan on going up this evening to work on levelling the trails with the
blade.  I will primarily focus on that task, so I may not get around to
running the Tidd and tracksetter.  Hopefully this will clean the trail
and make it ready for any snow we receive out of this next storm that is
predicted.

I may end up taking out the classical track.  If I have time, I'll try to
pull one in on the last pass before I leave.

I'll try to report on the conditions later tonight.

It was a good meeting last evening.  I think we're looking for some club
members who would be interested in heading up some of the following club
interests:

Snowshoeing -- creation of a dedicated snowshoe trail, activities, etc.
Backcountry -- we all do it, it's just not very organized within the club
Activities director -- club activities seem to take a backseat to the
work necessary for maintaining trails.  We need someone to spearhead
activities organization such as tours/races, clinics, trips,
gatherings/parties, group ski outings, etc.
Think about it.  We'll all try to keep anyone interested from becoming
too inundated with stuff.  It's meant to be for fun and any involvement
we can get will be greatly appreciated.

We said we would post some local Nordic ski weblinks:

www.swnordicski.org
www.enchantedforestxc.com (NM's #1 XC ski area)
www.chamaski.com (Chama Chili Classic event in February)
http://www.angelfireresort.com/mountain_stats.html (Angel Fire Nordic --
you'll need to call them for info)
www.vallescaldera.gov

We'll need to pass this email on to the new members too.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

3" new, +10km groomed for classic and skating.  Hope you can get out
and ski tomorrow.

Groomed in 3" of fresh snow around the ski trail and meadow trail loop
with classic tracks, +10km loop.  Thanks to John U. for the help.
Great skating and classic.  The snow stayed cold all day and should
still be great tomorrow.  Hope you can get out and ski.

PS. Remember club meeting Monday, 6:30-8:30 LA Public Library; and
clinics Saturday and Sunday mornings 10-12.

Since Clay's 11:00AM report today it has cooked a bit with the sun and there
were a fair
number of icy spots.

But the real problem was trash: I was wondering if there had been a wind storm
since I skiied
it Tuesday.  There were many sections of pine needles, twigs and bark making me
wish I was
skating on my rock skiis!

Fortuantely there's a small snow storm coming, and if we manage 2-3 inches out
of it,
everything will be great, even the classic tracks.

Gene Dougherty and Carl Hagelburg took over grooming last evening and
made a pass on the entire system with the tenderizer rollers.  It did a
lot of good on most areas of the trail for the skate lane, but the
earlier parts of the trail that see the most sun were still pretty firm
even after the run.

In general, ski conditions are fantastic with 100% coverage everywhere,
but there are some firm (some say "icy") spots early on.

The lower road got two passes, so it skis very nicely if there isn't too
much more foot traffic and dogs on it.

The classical track varies from shallow and hard, to perfect, depending
on where you are in the trail system.  It's probably best with waxable
skis, using a universal klister frozen on as a base, with a violet hard
wax on top of that.  Looks like that'll hold until we get more snow.

Please help us to maintain the trail and pick up any big debris (sticks,
pine cones, etc.) that you can.

For the weekend grooming, I know that Ken Kisiel is out of town and I
will be heading up to Enchanted Forest for some real skiing.  If there
are any groomers available, please send a message to the Groomers list
for coordination.

Thanks and enjoy!

Jessica Kiesel recently wrote this excellent summary of the Pajarito XC Ski
Trail above Los
Alamos and the involvement of Southwest Nordic Ski Club in it's maintenance and
operation:

"Happy New Year Everyone!

Just wanted to add some clarification about the Canada Bonita cross-country ski
trails. The
trails are maintained and groomed by volunteers from the Southwest Nordic Ski
Club.
There is an upper ski trail that is dedicated for classic and skate skiing only.
The lower
road, however, is open to snowshoeing and furry friends. So, from the trail head
you can
snowshoe all the way out to the the meadow and beyond. Please check out the
website at
http://www.swnordicski.org/ for updated trail conditions, trail map, events and
to become
a member of the club. We are fortunate to have such great trails so close to
home and
membership dues really help the club to keep going. Like the Tuffriders it is a
bargain to
join with annual fees of $20 for an individual and $30 for a family.

A few upcoming events:

Public Meeting
Monday, January 8th, 2007 from 6:30 to 8:30 in rooms 2 & 3 upstairs, Mesa Public
Library.

Ski Technique Clinics
Saturday and Sunday morning 1/13 & 1/14. Free to club members, additional
donations
accepted. Ken and I are the instructors and I'll send out more details next
week.

Also, the club has a limited amount of used gear for sale. Come to the public
meeting to
check it out.

Hope to see you out sliding on the snow!
Jessica

It took several of us working in shifts to get the trail packed and groomed out,
but it's done and the trail never looked better.
We packed and widened most spots and there's plenty of snow now.
Trail was groomed for both skate and classical on all parts.
Happy New Year!


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

We rolled the trail system tonight, but it was still snowing pretty hard during
the entire time and as of 9:30pm.  Things were still soft and we didn't get a
classic track set, as it would just be gone by morning anyway.
Everything got rolled at least once or twice and will most likely be best for
classical touring tomorrow.  We plan on getting out to roll again tomorrow at
some point.
It may be a couple of days before a final grooming with classic track will take
place.
It's hard to say how much new snow there is.  It looked every bit to be about
24" in most spots on the trails, and the temperature dropped significantly this
evening.
Enjoy the new snow!


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi all,
Dave W., Tom B. and I did a little "pre-storm" grooming work on the trail
system last evening.  We used the "tenderizer" to break up some of the
glazed surface, then the blades to try to even things out, as lots of
uneven spots had developed over the past several days.  The front hill
will still be a bit glazed, but maybe a little better than before.  Be
careful.

The tenderizer did a nice job in most parts of the trail, and most of the
system, including the downhill meadow trail got run twice.  I followed up
with the blades, but they ended up breaking on me on the lower road and
thus most of the trail only got a one-time over on the high side of the
trail.

Most of the classic track was run over, but it's still there in most
areas.  It might actually be better than it was, if not more shallow, due
to having some soft stuff in it over the pine needles and cones and etc.

For skating, the trail should be nice.  There's some freshly ground/mixed
snow on it and it's a little more level with the running of the blades.
I also took the time to cut out numerous aspen shoots that were a
nuisance.

Clay

Conditions good--hard cold snow with good skating conditions.

Classic tracks have held up well since Saturday's grooming, tho the xmas eve
winds storm
have put a lot of pine needles in the tracks.

The trails were regroomed last night by Clay and David---they are magnificient. 
Set for
Classic and Skating and frankly, it's hard to believe it's the 1st grooming of
the season:
skating lanes are wide, classic tracks near perfect, looks like February up
there!  Go ski!

All the woods loops have been groomed very wide for skating and conditions are
quite good.

The road and meadow portions have not been groomed out yet, but should receive a
grooming tomorrow, Friday night, at which time classic tracks will be added to
all parts of the
trail.

Check here for updates.

Hi everyone.  Hope you're enjoying the snow.  The trails received
anywhere from approximately 18" to 24" (as of last evening), depending on
where you measure it on the trail system.  More is coming down now and
this is expected to continue throughout today.

Ken, John B., and I made it up to the trails last evening and started the
arduous process of packing everything out.  It's always an adventure that
first trip out, with many unexpected situations.

Unexpected situations aside, we did manage to get almost all of the trail
network packed.  We made a turnaround at the top of the meadow and
skipped packing the downhill meadow trail until we can get a chance to do
that in daylight hours and perhaps after Tom Berg stakes it out for us.

The trail is machine packed, but not really groomed.  There are wobbles
and grooves in it still, which will smooth out nicely once we do get the
grooming implements on it.  Also, there is not a classical track set yet
-- that's the last thing that gets done when the trail is groomed.

But, the trail is packed very well and quite wide.  If you go skiing, be
careful, as there are probably still some hidden things underneath.
Remember, in a few spots on the trail, there are rocks that are over 3
feet high.  Ski easy around the turns and watch out on the lower portions
of the trail, which is where most of the big rocks are.

The grooming volunteers still need to get their act together as these
next days progress, but the trail will most likely be groomed for
Christmas Holiday skiing.

EL NIÑO GAINS STRENGTH

Dec. 7, 2006 — The latest El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion,
produced
by scientists at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, indicates El Niño
conditions are now
evident in the tropical Pacific and should intensify during the next one to
three months.
However, this episode is expected to be much weaker than the very strong
1997-1998 El
Niño event. (Click NOAA image for larger view of winter outlook for December
2006
through February 2007, including the position of the jetstream and what this
moderate El
Niño event is expected to produce. Click here for high resolution version.
Please credit
"NOAA.")

"Evolving current conditions in the equatorial Pacific are likely to cause a
substantial
increase in sea surface temperature along the west coast of South America in
late
December 2006 and January 2007," said Vernon Kousky, Ph.D., NOAA's lead El Niño
forecaster. "At about the same time, rainfall is expected to increase over the
warm waters
in the central equatorial Pacific, thus setting the stage for typical El Niño
effects over the
U.S. during January through March 2007," he added.

El Niño events influence the predominate position and strength of the jet stream
over the
Pacific Ocean, which in turn affect winter precipitation and temperature
patterns across the
country. During El Niño events, the jet stream is stronger than normal across
the southern
U.S. As a result, increased storminess and wetter-than-average conditions occur
across
the southern tier of the U.S. from central and southern California across the
Southwest to
Texas and across the Gulf Coast to Florida and the Southeast. Meanwhile,
drier-than-
average conditions are experienced in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, and in the
northern
Rockies. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of sea surface temperature
anomalies
as of Dec. 5, 2006. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit
"NOAA.")

"NOAA's investment in climate models is paying off," said Jim Laver, director of
the NOAA
Climate Prediction Center. Statistical and coupled model forecasts, including
the NOAA
National Centers for Environmental Prediction Climate Forecast System, show El
Niño
conditions peaking during the northern hemisphere winter (December 2006 through
February 2007) and then weakening during the northern hemisphere spring (March
through May 2007). "This event may be with us for a while, and we will be
closely
monitoring how the atmosphere reacts," he said.

I'm sending this to a couple of groups, as I had a few folks ask me how
conditions are, and if there are any conditions to speak of...
I made it up to Enchanted Forest in Red River yesterday and I was pleasantly
surprised at how good it is.  They still have "early season" conditions, but the
snow was in great shape.  Only a small handful of spots had anything sticking
up, all of which were easily avoidable.  Otherwise, the main long stretches and
the steep downhill connectors were all in great shape with good grooming.  I
only used my rock skis, but I didn't hit anything.  They also had good track set
for classical technique.
I was one of only about 4 people who were there yesterday.  It was kind of sad,
considering how great the weather and the skiing was.  I got in a hell of a
workout, though.
They're supposed to get some new snow this evening through tomorrow.  Also,
there's talk of a possible race series later this season if the snow comes in. 
There will be a possible 2 or 3 races with a free clinic the day before on
Saturday, then a very low-key race of 5 to 8 km on Sunday morning -- fairly
early so as not to interfere with regular business.  If there's enough interest,
it'll probably happen.
For you SWNSC members, they donated a LOT of older/old ski equipment for free
use by club members.  We now have quite a rental arsenal, but not everything
matches up perfectly (i.e. boot/binding systems, etc.).  We're also limited with
poles, but we do have a lot of different sizes and items now.  It all may come
in handy when we get snow and host a clinic.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SKI WITH THE NORTH FACE AND WARREN MILLER ATHLETES - COMING TOGETHER
TO CHANGE LIVES

5 Backcountry Locations, 50 Participants, 2 Million Vertical
Feet,Countless Lives Changed!

Skiing Magazine's Skiing For Someone is a series of benefit
events supporting Big City Mountaineers, a 501(c)(3) non-profit
recreational mentoring program for at-risk teens.  Given space
availability, you will have the choice to heliski or snowcat-ski at
one of 5 backcountry settings (Lake Tahoe, North Cascades, Ruby
Mountains, San Juans, and Valdez) with The North Face and Warren
Miller Entertainment athletes at discounted rates.  Along with
getting
the opportunity to participate in the guided backcountry event of
your
lifetime, you will receive apparel and gear valued at $1,200 as a
thank you for your participation from The North Face and Atomic.

Sign Up, Raise Funds, Get Gear, Go Ski. Do Good!
Learn how at
www.skiingforsomeone.org

Annalise Appel
Office Administrator
Big City Mountaineers
email: www.annalise@...
phone: 303-271-9200 ext. 407
fax:  303-271-9201

What snow we have has been machine packed into the trails and should
allow for skiable conditions with modest additional snow fall.

Thanks to the many volunteered hours of club members and a lack of
snow last year, for
the first time in club history we have four functioning grooming
machines: Kermit (Cushman Trackster), The Hulk (Cushman Trackster),
Rambo (1982 Snow-mo), and Thor (1984 Snow-mo).

The shed is already storing Rambo and will soon contain all our
equipment.  John Bernardin intends to finish the floor this week in
anticipation of moving the remaining equipment up the hill.

When we recieve enough snow grooming will begin for the season.
Once
the trails are skiable we will submit a press release announcing a
public meeting to promote the
club and generate new membership.

All members are encouraged to print out membership forms to
distribute
upon request.  If you do have the ability to print forms contact me
and I will get some to you.

Several club members will be heading to Durango this weekend for the
first Coke Series Race (10k Classic).  Those interested should
contact
me or Clay for further details.

Next possible snow in the forecast is Monday, Dec. 11th, are you
ready?  SWNORDIC is.........Let it snow!

Here is Clay's Report from Saturday night:

Subject: Trail Conditions

"Saturday afternoon/evening, Ken and I got Rambo fired up after some effort, but
it
actually did pretty well despite sitting around for 20 months and having some
rats' nests
in it.  We ran it on the trails, which have perhaps more snow than John Ullman
reported,
but still not really enough for consistent skiing just yet.

The other night, we ski-toured the system with our rock skis when it was still
snowing and
it varied from 5 to 7 inches, with about another inch additional during and
after we skied.
The ground still hadn't frozen enough on the early parts of the trail to keep
the snow, but
past the coat tree, it's still pretty solid.

The packing passes with Rambo did a world of good and will make things stick
around for
the next storm.  We ran the trail system twice on the upper trails, and once on
the lower
road.  There's still some aspen shoots, so if you go out, please think about
cutting some
out if you can.

Rambo still needs a tune-up, vis a vis a new fuel line and filter and some new
plugs.  It
needs to be cleaned up in general too, but all in all, it ran great.  It did
have some bad gas
that was still going through the system, which made it unexpectedly die a few
times, but
the tune-up should clear that up.

It now sits in the new garage -- which also still needs some flooring work.  Any
volunteers?  We also need to get that fencing up at the rock and sort-of shore
up the
fencing on the front hill too.

Oh yeah, it was snowing pretty good at times while we were packing and working
on
Rambo.

Ken and I are now taking ibuprofen and icing our shoulders and lower backs from
the
session.  Can't wait to get the tracksters up there."

Hi all,

I've had a few people ask me about the club and what we're about and
such.  If you know of anyone...ANYONE...who is interested, please
help point them in the club's direction.  For better or worse, it's
the only organization around and we hope to get a critical mass of
folks who can be a part of the club for various reasons -- not just
work -- although that helps too.  But, club numbers is a big help in
and of itself.  There's nothing better than to see a whole host of
people skiing on the trails on a beautiful winter weekend.  Club
numbers help make that all possible.

There are many possibilities with the club:

Snowshoe trail system
Relationship with the Valles Caldera
Hut system
Trail links
Relationship with Pajarito Ski Club
Group trips
Relationship with LA Mountaineers & Orienteers
Etc.

Please think about it and let's see if we can't get our numbers up.
Hopefully, this El Nino will kick in and we'll have some motivation!

See you on the trails...

Clay

This is an important session ... and really the last one needed to get the trail
ready for snow
and grooming.  Others have taken care of all the logging, brush and aspen shoot
removal ,
so this is all that is left.

We'll work putting up the sun fence on the front hill, not a bad job really, but
it helps if there
are a half dozen [or more] of us working on it ...  We will put in the posts,
attach bamboo
wands to them, then string up the fencing.   Wear gloves, bring a pocket knife
if you have
one, and a small pliers is handy to cinch up the zip ties that hold the fencing
to the wands.

If you possibly can, try to make this one.  If we get 6-10 of us we should be
done by
lunchtime or so.

tom

First off, Miles Standish, awesome name. Second this is Geoff at the
Enchanted Forest XC Ski Area. Just wanted to let you know if you are
dying for trail work I have a long list. Also I just updated the web
site www.enchantedforestxc.com and prices have not gone up since we
barely got to use them last season.

Geoff



Clay Moseley wrote:
> I just wanted to send out a quick thanks to Miles Standish of the
> Forest Service office in Espanola.  He read my lengthy email and is
> going up with a crew to look into the tree situation on the trails
> tomorrow.  That's the Forest Service that works!
>
> On another note, Dan Erickson, a contractor that has helped us in the
> past, has volunteered to help us build an earthen ramp for the shed.
> We'll need to build a basic frame and a structural headwall for it,
> but this helps us to solve the dilemma of structural adequacy that we
> were facing otherwise -- not to mention just the problem of getting it
> built in the first place!
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Members mailing list
> Members@...
> http://swnordicski.org/mailman/listinfo/members_swnordicski.org
>

I just wanted to send out a quick thanks to Miles Standish of the Forest
Service office in Espanola.  He read my lengthy email and is going up
with a crew to look into the tree situation on the trails tomorrow.
That's the Forest Service that works!

On another note, Dan Erickson, a contractor that has helped us in the
past, has volunteered to help us build an earthen ramp for the shed.
We'll need to build a basic frame and a structural headwall for it, but
this helps us to solve the dilemma of structural adequacy that we were
facing otherwise -- not to mention just the problem of getting it built
in the first place!





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Lots of work to do. Miles, if you read this, see below. I need to see if
you can help us with some of the trees that have partially fallen -- some
are live -- and with one very large tree that is a little bit beyond what
our available club crew can handle...

Some club weekend work party updates:
Saturday - club members Joe Baehr, Paul Graham, Dina Pesenson & Clay
Moseley
Joe and Clay did work on the equipment shed. Got the remainder of the
felt on the gables, put up some galvanized siding until we ran out of
screws, planed the doors so that they shut, hung the personnel door.
There is still some work to be done on the personnel door -- it's hung
from the outside in on gate hinges, therefore we need to build an
internal threshold with 2x6s. I'll work on that. I've got some of the
galvanized siding up, but this goes a little quicker with more than one
person...
The big bay doors will need to have some tension wires installed to keep
it from warping. We'll need to install some eyelet-screws with wire and
turnbuckles. It sags and changes shape if left open and is already
sticking a bit when we close it. The personnel door and the bay doors
need handles. We don't have the hardware for those yet.
Dina and Paul went up to the trails to find MANY quite large trees down
across the trails, starting almost right at the trailhead. They spent
many hours clearing trees in excess of 24" diameter, and still had a lot
to do. Point-G alone was a rat's nest and took them a long time. They
told me of the horror stories, and I couldn't believe it because I had
just run the entire trail system a few weeks ago (Labor Day) and it was
virtually clear.


Sunday - club members Paul Graham, Dina Pesenson, Clay Moseley
Being in disbelief of the tree carnage, I decided to take a running tour
of the trails again. What I saw was amazing. I could see why Dina and
Paul took so long to return on Saturday. The two of them cut and moved
some HUGE tree sections. I was very impressed.
I ran out to Guaje Canyon with our Ukrainian Ironwoman, Toma Kozulina,
and we saw what was left to do on the trail system -- a lot!  TJ's had a
mess of large trees fall across the trail between Pts E and F, and the
cutoff down to the lower road at O. Further up, Dave's has a rather
massive Douglas Fir down in the worst possible manner; it's diagonally in
line with the trail. It was a dead one (recently), but it's huge. Point I
(the upper intersection where Dave's meets up with the main trail) also
had a large Douglas Fir come down across both the main trail and Dave's
-- this one was live.
Toma and I found only a couple more trees down across the upper trail
sections, and a couple down across the lower cutoff from the meadow to
the lower road above Point O.
Later that afternoon, we decided to go up and tackle some more of the
mess, as it's going to be a while before we're done with it all. Paul
joined me and and an ailing Dina to go up and start cutting and attempt
to clear some of the big tree sections.
We worked mostly at clearing the mess at Point I (Dave's and main trail).
We got it cleared, but there's still one big section to move...we just
didn't have enough horsepower. Then we went down to the rat's next on
TJ's and cut for the next couple of hours. Again, not enough horsepower
(and pry bars) to roll the massive heavy sections off of the trail. There
were some other down trees on TJ's that we also cut but weren't able to
move completely off the trail.
While one person operated the chainsaw, the other two worked on cutting
the mess of aspen shoots growing like weeds on the trail.  This task is
always something that could use some attention, all over the trail
system.
So, we need to get some folks to help move the big sections off the trail
on TJ's and the main trail with pry bars and just extra hands. I need to
see if the Forest Service (Miles?) can help out with the big tree on
Dave's Dogleg, and with a bad dangerous live tree on the main trail
between the intersections of Dave's and TJ's. It is still standing, but
leaning very precariously and about to fall down in a bad way.