Author: SWNSC

Finally! (seems like a recurring theme…)

We are FINALLY skiing! We got a healthy dump of some very good-quality snow that has done a good job of covering the trails. It’s still thin in the usual “big rock” locations, but if you’re careful and know where they lurk, you can miss them. Be especially careful on the section of trail between “TJ’s” and “Dave’s Dogleg” (between point G and H on the map), and the screamer downhill toward the bottom of the meadow, just above point M on the map.

Hopefully, we won’t have to wait so long before we get another good dump, but with some reasonable January temperatures, it should be pretty nice.

Heading out to pack the trails yesterday morning (January 2, 2023)

Rocky Mountain Nordic U14 Youth Ski Festival @ Durango Nordic Center

  • Sat, Mar 5, 202212:00 AM  Sun, Mar 6, 202211:59 PM

CO-HOSTED BY DURANGO NORDIC SKI CLUB AND SOUTHWEST NORDIC SKI CLUB

LIVE-DOCUMENT-2022-Mike-Elliott-U14-Youth-Ski-FestivalDownload

Saturday, March 5, 2022: RMN Freestyle Distance Race

Saturday will be the RMN-scored distance race in freestyle technique. Standard RMN race distances per age group will apply:

  • U14 & U12 race distance: 3km
  • U10 & U08 race distance: 1.5km

Sunday, March 6, 2022: Relay

On Sunday, racers will team up with their assigned teammates to compete in a relay. Teams will be chosen at random within their respective age groups. Any willing and able coaches are encouraged to participate — we will throw the coach names in a hat and mix them with the teams. Coaches may race more than once, with any of the various age groups. Please specify the age group(s) with which the coach would like to race. Skiers will race on a specially designed course, courtesy of the Durango Nordic groomers. Expect something silly, funky, and challenging. Costumes are highly recommended and almost mandatory, especially for the coaches! This will be a fun day of making friends and having fun on skis. Distances will vary and final details to be determined. Start times and teams will be announced on Saturday, March 5th.

Registration

Registration will open on February 15 via Webscorer. Each team/racer will register for each day individually through the site registration page:

2022 U14 Festival Series Registration Link

Waiver

All participants must sign the Durango Nordic Center programs and races waiver.

Lodging

Homewood Suites by Hilton Durango
15 Girard St.
Durango, CO 81303
(970) 259-2996
Booking Link: https://group.homewood-suites.com/afjcrk
Group Name: U14 Rocky Mtn Fest

You may also call the front desk to make a reservation and reference the group name above.

Course Map

Course maps will be posted the week before the event.

Trail Passes

Athletes and families who arrive on Friday will need a trail pass, purchased online or at the Durango Nordic Center.

Coke Race

The Saturday event is also Durango’s long-standing Coke race. Family members are welcome to race as well ($10/adult; $5/youth). Registration will be online here by Feb. 15.

A Reprieve!

The trails picked up between 6″ to 8″ the other night, and we got right on it to keep things in shape and preserved. Whew! Just in time! Should be a nice weekend, if not a little warm. Hopefully, we’ll see another similar storm next week. Stay tuned.

Trails groomed for skate and classic. Watch for obstacles. Most of the course is in OK to good shape, then there are those bad spots…

Saturday and Sunday adult and kid clinics. Check the FB page for more info.

Hangin’ in there…

Not a whole lot to report, as we just seem to be in a long run of “no weather at all” type of weather. It’s nice out for gettin’ out, but we desperately need snow; not just for skiing, but for this long-running drought. It’s pretty bad. Anyway, groomers have been working on things and keeping the snow we have skiable. The front hill has taken a beating, but check out our new snow transport system:

Snow transport system using “Kermit”
Logan with his new creation

Trails will be groomed as long as we have decent enough snow. It is looking like early February will be more active in terms of weather, so we remain ever the optimists…

A Season Update… Finally!

Well, it’s about time. We’ve been lacking in posting much about our trails and season, but there’s a REALLY good reason for that. For one, it was a LOT of work this year t get things going with far fewer volunteers than years past, then we had that disaster of a wind storm that destroyed the trails in various areas and caused lots of damage to things. We’re still reeling from that and are short in grooming staff, etc. It’s a tight situation. But… we do have enough snow to ski and groom, and things were saved around New Year, so we’re skiing, and that’s a good thing. We celebrated with our memorial “Chuck Calef Classic” club race & tour. What a wonderful day and celebration of our friend and hero, Chuck.

As it stands now, we’re in a bit of a heatwave and dry spell, so conditions are tough to keep in perfect shape. We don’t have a lot of active groomers, but are making do with what we have. Keep an open mind and use your “not best skis” skis 😉

Cold, blue conditions on January 2, 2022 for the Chuck Calef Classic!
Chuck Calef at the then “New Year’s Resolution Race” at New Year, 2012 (just after Las Conchas fire)

Pajarito Mountain Youth Bikefest Results and Story

What a great day, and GREAT job to all the racers!

See the write-up in the LA Daily Post:
https://ladailypost.com/first-pajarito-youth-bike-fest-mountain-bike-race-a-success/

Results:

time
MILD course overall:
Oliver Garcia44:43:00
MEDIUM course overall females:
1. Mila Moseley41:11:00
2. Amelia Hill50:05:00
3. Liv Niklasson56:10:00
MEDIUM course overall males:
1. Luke Gibson52:54:00
2. Calvin Morris56:39:00
3. Wendell Starr59:57:00
HOT course overall:
1. Isaac Olson56:05:00
2. Jack Hawkins57:24:00
3. Nikolai Nelson59:39:00
HOT course age-group awards:
U16
1. Joab Morris1:05:29
2. Axel Niklasson1:09:06
U14
1. Luke Morris1:06:49
2. Adis Bock1:12:32
3. Zachary Gutierrez1:17:03
U12
1. Ian McLean1:07:11
2. Diego Leonard1:13:58
3. Zach Gibson1:14:04
age group 9-11
1. Levi Gibson1:01:50
2. Quanah Moseley1:02:20
3. Cullen McLean1:06:11

Best Conditions of the Season… on March 25???

Woohoo for all of this new snow. It has really snowed a lot up on the xc ski trails and Pajarito Mountain these past few days, and it’s currently still snowing (Friday). We had a new grooming volunteer go finish the job that Logan started with rolling the big storm Tuesday/Wednesday, and he reported that it was snowing pretty hard the whole time he was out there, and it’s snowing again this morning. It should be pretty awesome out there right about now, and even over the weekend. Go up and ski again if you can!

Pajarito webcam shot around 10am, March 25, 2021

Slip Sliding Away

The March Meltdown is about to commence. We groomed that quick-hitting, wind blown 2″ from yesterday’s squall, and will hit it again tonight for the weekend, but after this, the dreaded SW H5 high-pressure dome is set to cook our snowpack for 2 or 3 days until there’s a possibility of a storm next week to stop the damage. By then, I’m sure we’ll have a number of bare patches to ford around the trails…enough to stop grooming we think. There may still be some good skiing out in the upper meadow, so we’ll have to assess that. We’ll likely keep the bottom, Camp May Rd practice area groomed a bit longer for some afternoon laps. It was certainly nice this week. It’s kind of a bummer, since we had such good conditions up until now with a less-than-optimal snow pack.

SWNSC Kids continue to practice until there ain’t a patch of snow left!

Rollercoaster of a Season

Trails are again, in great shape, after yet another season-saving period of wintry weather and snow. It was looking bleak again after our great mid-January period, but as has been the case this year, we got saved just in time. Things are great (front hill not included) the entire way around once again. Get it while it’s good. Who knows what the rest of this season has in store, but the forecasts don’t look too bad. If we make it into March for any length of time, we’ll consider it a win.

Canada Bonita Meadow looking spectacular on President’s Day weekend