Above-normal temperatures and miserly snow totals this winter in the lower elevations have kept cross country skiing limited to just the paid venues, like White Pine and Soldier Hollow Nordic centers.
The most recent storm brought just enough snowfall, and the temperatures have dipped below freezing, allowing cross county trails in Round Valley and the Snyderville Basin to be groomed and open for free skiing.
Lora Anthony, the executive director of Mountain Trails Foundation, said the wider, soft-surface trails in Round Valley are holding snow well.
“We're not grooming it every day, though, because we're trying to preserve the snow up there,” she said.
It will take a bit more snow to put in classic tracks and open more terrain.
“It's not all open right now, but as we get snow, we will continue to open up the terrain we can all right,” she said. “Land of Oz is off limits at this point. It's still alfalfa sticking up through the snow there. It's not deep enough. So, we'll get there, though.”
Low snow years tend to make for better fat tire bike riding with as much as 15 miles of single track in Round Valley and more at Clark Ranch.
“We are grooming Sparky’s trail,” she said. “It’s about 3.5 miles of single track out there [in Clark’s Ranch]. It's a great place to go if you want a dog-free zone. There are no dogs allowed out there. It's an agricultural area. The parking lot there isn’t plowed. So, you have to park at either the Richardson Flat park-and-ride and ride across the street or you can ride from like the Rail trail in town.”
Anthony said crews have done some grooming in Bonanza Flat on weekends, but if it’s windy, she said all bets are off for decent skiing.
“When the Transit to Trails program is running, it's kind of hit and miss, and we hate to over-promise and then under deliver,” she said. “But tentatively we're [operating Transit to Trails] Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is very weather dependent, so Bonanza Flat can get blown out in a hurry, and we are grooming the Nordic up there. It is gorgeous. When it's nice boy, that is just the place to be.”
The daily trails report on KPCW can be heard every morning at 7:20 a.m. throughout the winter.
