Skiing in Fairbanks

The ski season has started in earnest in Fairbanks, Alaska. Total snowfall
for the season is 3"-4" which is sufficient for skiing on the Birch Hill
trails (elevation 210m-330m). The first snowfall that stuck fell about six
days ago, and was just over an inch. Our groomers rolled that.
Temperatures since then have stayed in the normal range for this year,
mostly below freezing, maybe rising just above 0C in the afternoon for a
couple of hours. Got another snowfall middle of last week, probably just
less than an inch. Rolled that. Got another 1"-1.5" last night.

That snow put us over the magic 3" threshold, so there was a pretty good
crowd out skiing today. Upper parking lot was about 3/4 full. About
8Km-10Km of trails are groomed. Cover is thin, with some grass sticking up
through it. However, the soil at Birch Hill is virtually rock and
pebble-free, so it's enough. I classic skied on hairies, although violet
worked okay (-1C to -5C this afternoon). Many people were skating, but I
find that when skating in these conditions, the edge of the ski tends to
find the ground more so than when I classic ski.

Snow continued to fall lightly throughout the day and is still falling
lightly now (almost midnight, local time). A little more grooming tomorrow
should make for some good early season skiing. Temperature right now
is -4C. If we could get a little -10C overnight, the snow would firm up
well and conditions would improve even more.

As long as temperatures stay near normal, we should be good to go. However,
if temperatures climb above freezing and stay there for any length of time
we could lose much of what we have.

Another 8"-9" of snowfall and we'll be able to have some tracks. We
normally need 12"-13" of total snowfall at Birch Hill before we can lay
tracks.

USST is coming to town on the 28th of this month for training, with Canadian
Team following a day later (they are going to the WC Sprint races in
Dusseldorf and then returning to North America). SuperTour Series opens in
Fairbanks with skate sprint on November 5, followed by skiathlon the next
day (5Km+5Km for women, 7.5Km+7.5Km for men). Race info and online
registration available at:
www.sportalaska.com/noramskiraces/2005-2006/

You can check out the snow conditions (and maybe even see some skiers) on
our webcam at:
www.nscfairbanks.org/gallery/webcam.html

You can check realtime weather conditions at Birch Hill at
www.nscfairbanks.org/weather/currentdata.html

Come on up for some good early-season skiing - with oxygen in plentiful
supply.

John Estle