The word on the trail is that winter is finally here! Yesterday, folks were out successfully making gentle turns on their skis in the backcountry and exploring off the road with motorized machines. It’s shallow, hollow, and soft, so be careful!
Roads
Geyser Pass Road has not been plowed since the last storm, but is passable with 4WD and good tires. It doesn’t get too deep and rutted up until after the Trans La Sal Trailhead. We were able to make it up in a Subaru no problem yesterday, and more traffic will only pack it down more.
Longer days and warm sunshine tends to gather up the wildlife on the bottom of the loop road between the 1st turnoff to 191 and the Pack Creek turnoff. Watch out for turkey’s and deer while at the surface of the sun on your way down the hill!
Grooming
LUNA member Kirstin were able to roll after the 5″ of fresh snow that fell Wednesday night, and and Brett groomed the trails yesterday. Thanks y’all! If you were able to ski earlier in the day on Friday you would have found very soft groomed conditions. By the end of the afternoon, about 10 snowmobiles and a snow cat had traveled the road, so don’t expect it to be too smooth this morning. Before you get too upset though, realize that all of that motorized traffic helped compact the all of the new snow, so that when we are able to groom again, the surface will be that much harder.
These little rippers were loving the corduroy on Friday! The next grooming is undetermined, but watch our website here for updates.
Snow
The La Sal mountains have inched up to 53% and the Abajos have made it 33% percent of average SWE(Snow Water Equivalent). Not stellar, but a vast improvement over values about half that last month.
Weather
Expect highs in the 30s today and a stiff 10-15 mph breeze. Tonight the pre-frontal winds pickup and increase until Sunday afternoon when another storm is forecast to affect us through Tuesday. Lots of wind and blowing snow will bmake backcountry conditions even more dangerous than they already are. Always visit our LOCAL AVALANCHE ADVISORY before heading off the groomed trails. Even Moab is supposed to get some much needed moisture from this storm. Another storm is lined up for Friday, and long term models show a series of storm continuing to pass by next week.
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