Skiing in Fairbanks

The ski season has begun at Birch Hill in Fairbanks, Alaska (trail elevation
210m-330m). Having surpassed the magic threshold of 3"-4" of total snowfall
(not snowpack, but total snowfall), as of today we are skiing on groomed
trails under what I would call fair early season conditions. There was a
good-sized crowd on the trails today, with the upper parking lot about 3/4
full for much of the mid-day and afternoon.

The first snow that fell came last Sunday night (9th) and amounted to about
1"-1.5". Our groomers rolled that to help keep it in place. Temperatures
since then have remained in the normal range of mostly below freezing, with
maybe just a few hours near or slightly above 0C in the middle of the
afternoon. Another light snowfall of less than an inch in midweek was also
packed down, and added to our thin cover. Another 1"-1.5" fell last night,
rolled again, and we were pretty much in business today.

About 8Km-10Km of trails (out of about 30Km) have been rolled one or more
passes. I classic skied today on hairies although violet worked okay as
well (-1C to -5C). More people were skating than classic skiing, but I find
that in snow this thin a skate ski on edge seems to find the ground more
easily than does a classic ski running flat. I'll be back on the hairies
tomorrow.

Either way, rocks weren't a significant problem, as we are lucky in that
Birch Hill's soils are, for the most part, virtually rock and pebble-free.

If we continue to have seasonal temperatures (long-term averages for October
15 = +1C for a high, -6C for a low) over the next 10-14 days, we'll be in
good shape. If we get a warm spell, we could lose much of what we now have.

If our luck holds, another 8"-9" of snowfall will be enough for us to set
some tracks (threshold for tracks is total snowfall of 12"-13"). It snowed
lightly all day today, and is still snowing very lightly at nearly midnight,
local time.

The Birch Hill Cross Country Ski Center (10,000 square foot building
overlooking the ski stadium, with good waxing facilities) will open Monday,
and lights should start coming on within the next couple of days (10.5Km
lighted loop).

US Ski Team is arriving on October 28 for training camp. Canadians arrive
one day later. Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks' annual Fall Ski Fest is on
October 30. SuperTour Series, featuring the top US and Canadian National
Team skiers opens in Fairbanks on November 5 with a skate sprint, followed
the next day by a skiathlon (5Km+5Km for women, 7.5Km+7.5km for men). The
teams plan to stay in Fairbanks through the 9th or 10th before travelling to
Anchorage for more SuperTour races, or back to Canada. For race info and
on-line registration, go to:
www.sportalaska.com/noramskiraces/2005-2006/

For a live view of the Birch Hill ski stadium (and maybe a skier or two) go
to:
www.nscfairbanks.org/gallery/webcam.html

For realtime weather at Birch Hill, go to:
www.nscfairbanks.org/weather/currentdata.html

Ski season is here. Come on up and join us - plenty of oxygen to go around!

John Estle

dang it, you lucky dogs.

Rollerskiing season here for another month.

I'm usually on snow in mid/late November here in the snow capital of the
lower peninsula of Michigan. Can't wait.
Couple years ago (wait, it was like 10) we got a huge dump on Nov. 13th and
skied right through March into April.
Hope it happens again this year.

JK