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Jim Datsko posted the following report today on the of Nordic Ski Racer Trail Report webpage.
And this is not an April Fool’s joke!!
Wed, Apr 1: Vasa Trail (Traverse City)
I'm not sure how good the snow is at the trailhead, but by the Rock its still pretty decent. Good deep-enough snow cover on the best 8K between the 10K post and the 18K post. A couple of narrow areas but no bare trail and just a little softened ice scattered around. Only problem is glide is reduced since the snow is soft, at least by afternoon.
With the forecast of below freezing overnight temps the best 8K could remain pretty decent through this coming weekend.
- Jim Datsko
March 22, 2009 PM
There's still a lot of skiing left on the Vasa.
90% of the trail remains a white granular snow, and thanks to this morning's grooming and the milder noon hour temps you were treated to basically skiing through loose corn snow.
10% of the trail has converted to grey boilerplate ice. The entire catwalk just past the bridge is ice, as are numerous other areas scattered around the trail including some on downhills that require you to keep speed well under control until verifying whether the downhill contains treacherous ice which will cause you to lose any chance of turning or slowing.
3-5 areas of bare ground require you to take off your skis and walk 20' to 80'.
The best snow coverage with least ice proportionately is the 5K Headwaters Trail, the next best is the 25K trail, and the third best is the 11k trail. Snow depth in woods remains 1 foot to 1.5 feet except in sunniest exposures.
Best to wait until temps warm up for safest trail conditions, and best snow is the 10K centered on the rock.
GROOMER APPRECIATION PARTY & TART SPRING FLING on Tuesday, 3-24-09 from 4-6pm at Right Brain Brewery, TVC. Public welcome, especially if they will treat one of the dedicated volunteer groomers to a beer(
March 22, 2009
With up to 2 inches of new snow on the Vasa Trail yesterday morning, the groomers were able to groom the entire trail with good results. The temperatures were just below freezing overnight and the trail did not get super hard so that they were able to mix the old snow with the existing base and smooth out most of the rough spots out.
They were planning on grooming again this morning for what very well may be the final time this season. The forecast for next week calls for warm temperatures, some rain and above freezing temperatures overnight. The best skiing next week will be after the trail has softened if we have an overnight freeze. If you ski be careful especially on the downhill’s.
They planned to start grooming at 6:30AM and the portions of the trail that they groom will depend on the results. They will probably groom only the portions mentioned in Fridays trail report and the best skiing will most likely be from The Rock to the 18K post.
Plan to attend the TART Spring Fling on Tuesday March 24th from 4-6pm at Right Brain Brewery and raise a toast to the fabulous winter, our dedicated trail grooming team and look forward for many great projects slated for this spring/summer. Join us to celebrate TART, connect with trail friends and rub shoulders with TART board members & staff. The event is meant to be fun and hopefully, we’ll raise a few bucks too. A donation jar will be floating around.
March 20, 2009 6:00 PM
The Vasa Trail system had typical late-spring skiing conditions today, hard and icy in the morning and in the afternoon it warms up enough to soften up the trail so it is moderately fast with most areas fully controllable.
Due to last night's deep freeze skier reported that this morning the trail surface was too hard to accept a ski edge for skating except for the about 10k centered out by the Rock. This afternoon temperatures rose to the upper 30s loosening up the surface snow, especially where the sun was hitting the trail. The resulting corn snow was not very wet and was fairly fast.
The trail’s snow coverage still is about 95% refrozen white granular snow, and 5% converted to grey boilerplate ice with 3-4 small patches of bare ground of 20-50' each.
With freezing temperatures predicted for tonight, the groomers plan on grooming parts of the Vasa Trail tomorrow morning starting at 6:30AM. They will be using the snowmobile and Ginzu groomer.
They will not be grooming some parts of the trail. They will be starting on the 5K Headwaters Trail and will make two passes on that trail. Then they will then go out to the 11K trail and make at least one pass on that trail. Because of the steep hills on the 25Ktrail they will not be grooming from the 4K marker post to the 12K post. The hills in this section have become so glazed that the snowmobile will not make it up them with the Ginzu tines engaged with the compacted base which does nothing to improve the skiing. They will not be grooming Jack Pine Valley for the same reason. The groomer will make 2 passes from the point where the 11K trail rejoins the 25K trail back to the 12Kmarker post out by the Rock.
Skiers should use caution on all of the downhill’s as some bare spots, hard ice and tire tracks exist. The first hill from the trailhead has some bare spots so use caution in that area.
The Classic tracks are very shallow and icy but there is nothing that can be done without new snow. Temperatures are predicted to warm a bit tomorrow and some skiers may want to wait until the trail softens a bit before skiing. The best skiing will probably be between The Rock and the power lines at the 18K post. Rock skis are recommended.
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