Beautiful Weather for the Weekend

High pressure is building in from the west over the weekend for very mild and nice ski weather. Saturday morning will start out cold on the ski trails, somewhere in the teens. But as the sun comes up, the temperatures will quickly modify. By the 11AM start time of the Winterstart race, temperatures will climb above freezing. Snow temperature will lag though. With a low sun angle and some thin high cloud shielding the snow, snow temperatures will remain in the 20s. So a blue kick wax, perhaps a red wax in your small kick zone (a few inches on either side of your toe), should work well. Any old cold to somewhat cold glide wax should work, well with cold snow pockets expected in the trees and Arroyo bottom. Humidity will be low, which means inexpensive carbon waxes will work best (reason number 587 I love our trails!). It will be somewhere around the mid 30s in time for the skate race. Winds will be light from the northwest that should not create any drifting problems through the weekend.

 

Sunday, another beautiful day for Skis Not Skirts and adult lessons. I am going to get some tips from Al, and at $15/person/lesson it is The lesson bargain. Al is a great and knowledgable skier with coaching experience, and he is a very nice guy to boot. Temperatures will be milder than Saturday, perhaps climbing to near 40 for the lessons. A soft kick wax should still work, red-ish maybe, if we are doing classic lessons.

 

Another Pacific open trough passes on Monday favoring the northern Colorado mountains. The current forecast gives the Grand Mesa another 1-5 inches of snow by Tuesday morning. Then dry for the remainder of the week.  As always the latest observations and forecasts are right here http://home.mesastate.edu/~jerry/gmnc/weather/weather.htm   

Learn to Ski with GMNC!

Al Fournier, ski instructor, groomer, GMNC board member and nice guy!

GMNC now offers adult ski lessons!

Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned skier looking to improve your technique, Al Fournier can help. Al has 35 years of Nordic skiing experience and is the former ski coach at Colby College.

Al offers private and group lessons in both classic and skate techniques. To sign up, call Al at 874-3868.

Group lessons begin this Sunday (11am at Skyway).

Click here for a full schedule of group lessons.

This Week at GMNC

Lots of great happenings on the Mesa this week, including races, adult lessons, and Skis, Not Skirts.

Saturday, Dec 6: Winterstart ski races at Skyway

Be part of Colorado's first race of the season!  

11am, 5km classic-only race

12:30pm 5km freestyle race

Registration is race day only at the Skyway trailhead.  Ski one or ski them both for the same price, $10 for GMNC members, $15 for others. Grand Mesa racing is focussed on citizen racing. No matter how fast or how slow you are, there is almost always someone else of similar ability to have some friendly competition with. Reward yourself afterwards and refuel with some hot soup and cocoa. For more info contact Tom Ela 434-9753  nachtambule@aol.com

Sunday, Dec 7: group cross-country ski lessons

meet at 11am, Skyway trailhead 

cost is $15 for GMNC members, $20 for non-members, both classic and skating lessons available. For more info, call instructor Al Fournier 872-3868

Full schedule available online

http://home.mesastate.edu/~jerry/gmnc/social/GMNClessonsInfo.htm

Sunday, Dec 7: Skis, Not Skirts, women's skating group

Skis,  Not Skirts is a women's ski group dedicated to getting fit,  improving skate ski technique and having fun. Come celebrate the beginning of the season this Sunday with some pointers on the first outing of the season, followed by a group ski and apres ski social.

meet at 11am at Skyway trailhead

More info online: http://skisnotskirts.blogspot.com/

As always, find snow conditions, wax report and daily updates on the Grand Mesa Nordic News, http://grandmesanordicnews.blogspot.com/

See you on the trails!

Christie

Skyway / County Line Grooming report

   
03Dec08

 

3 inches new snow on approximately a 1 foot base. This afternoon Jon groomed Scales Lake road, Dog Trail, Dog Loop, and Arroyo to Lyons to Scales loop. A tree is down at the bottom of Dog Loop. Plans are to remove it tomorrow. Some obstacles sticking through on Arroyo as it climbs to meet Lyons trail. Some grooming tomorrow and trails will be groomed Friday afternoon in preparation for the race Saturday morning and weekend skiing.

 

Jerry Evans

First Forecast for the First Ski Race

GMNCers,

 

A wee little cold front passed Tuesday night and produced just a bit of new snow on the trails. As often happens after a cold front, its colder today, Wednesday! A little snow may fall on Thursday, but less than an inch, so what we have is what we will have Saturday for the Winterstart races. Friday afternoon temperatures will rise dramatically on our trails. Saturday will start out cold, inthe teens, but rise into the low-mid 30s by 11AM. So snow temperatures should be in the 20s somewhere. First thought is a red or soft blue kick wax should work, but I will update this outlook on Friday. Kenton says to bring your rock skis, as the groomers may Lion's Loop to Arroyo for the race. 

As always the latest is right here http://home.mesastate.edu/~jerry/gmnc/weather/weather.htm   

GMNC in the GJ Daily Sentinel

The Sentinel's outdoor reporter, Dave Buchanan, has a nice article about Nordic skiing our trail on the front page of the Outside section of today's paper. The story features snowy photos of Barb Lacy and long-time GMNC member Joyce Tanihara.

The photos don't seem to be on the website, but you can read the article here.

GMNC Racing Real and Virtual

December is here, which for the GMNC means racing! If you're intimidated by real racing, try Virtual Racing. Here are the details for both:

Real racing begins Saturday Dec. 6 at Skyway on Grand Mesa. This is both our first race and Colorado's first race of the season. There is a 5K classic-style-only race at 11 AM followed by a 5K freestyle race at 12:30. Registration is race day only in the parking lot prior to racetime. Ski one or ski them both for the same price, $10 for GMNC members, $15 for others. Grand Mesa racing is focussed on citizen racing. We try to make sure all ages and abilities feel comfortable joining in and testing themselves against the course and the clock. No matter how fast or how slow you are, there is almost always someone else of similar ability to have some friendly competition with. Reward yourself afterwards and refuel with some hot soup and cocoa.

Virtual Racing starts today, Dec. 1! Virtual Racing is actually an on-line log where you can keep track of the kilometers you ski for three months, December, January and February, and at the same time view all of your fellow virtual racers' accumulation of K's. It's open to all skiers whether you ski on Grand Mesa or elsewhere. This is great motivation to ski a little more and achieve greater fitness. Pick a target and shoot for it. It's easy: go to the GMNC home page at www.gmnc.info and click the "Real Skiing, Virtual Racing" link. Create an account by choosing a real or virtual name and add a password. Each time you ski, log-in and edit your log by adding your newest mileage. Give me a call if you need help with it.

Here's to enjoying a long and invigorating season!

Tom Ela
434-9753
nachtambule@aol.com