Trail clean up done!

Thanks to all who were able to help rake the road through Pilot Knob today.  There were many, many sticks blown down.  After 3 hours of raking I'm guessing none of us will want to look at a rake for a long time!

The road was groomed for skating and tracked for classic.  The classic tracks are a poor in spots, but not bad considering everything.

Raking Pilot Knob road

Pilot Knob Road after grooming

Trail clean up

Trail clean up on Friday the 30th at 11:00 am.  Meet at the west gate to Pilot Knob State Park

The road through the park is littered with sticks from the 50 mph winds we had last Sunday.  If you like to ski that trail and are available please consider helping out.  You might want to bring a rake.

Thanks

Jeff Hovinga

6410-590-2739

Post wind and rain storm conditions

Did a lap through the park with the Ginzu last night.  The snow survived the rainy day just fine and will eventually be good with some renovation with the Ginzu.  But unfortunately because of the 50 mph winds there was a terrible amount of sticks down including a large tree blocking most of the road.  I would not recommend sking at the knob.

The golf course still has a track for classic skiing but does go down to the grass in spots.  The golf course is still "skiable" but is just in poor shape.

Plus, the steering arm on the snowmobile is broken,  I'll have to order and install a new part before any more grooming.

Great morning to be skiing Pilot Knob today

It was a great morning to be out skiing in Pilot Knob State Park.  There were people from Des Moines, Waterloo, Iowa City and Mason City all enjoying the park!

Christmas Eve grooming

Pilot Knob road has been groomed for both skating and classic skiing early this morning.

The golf course has been groomed for classic skiing only.  Because of time limitations (I need to ski and go Christmas shopping today!) I did not groom the golf course for skating.

Merry Christmas!!

Golf Course

Pilot Knob State Park

The road through Pilot Knob State Park has been groomed for both skating and classic skiing.  It looks like the tracks get a little shallow once in awhile so a little fresh snow Friday will help that out.  The skating deck looks great.  Hope you get a chance to ski before the Christmas day meltdown!

Pilot Knob road

Packed about 6" of snow Friday night before the wind picked up.  Saturday was too windy.  Sunday was too cold.

Tried grooming the golf course with the ginzu tonight but the wind was causing a lot of drifting.  The best results should be at the Lodge.

The Lodge of Forest City

Rolling the golf course

Started to pack snow with the roller on the golf course tonight.  We probably had about 4" and it is still falling.  More packing will be done in the morning.

Pre-season prep work

Doing some pre-season preparation last week, the ski season is hopefully coming soon.  The roller required some welding after breaking off the U-bolt hitch at the end of last year.  Thanks to Chris Bienert for being willing to weld a new and larger U-bolt on for us!

Last skiing of the season.

A couple of us were out skiing the last of the snow on Pilot Knob lake today.

Pilot Knob Road

Pilot Knob road has been groomed for skating this morning.  It looks to be in fair to good condition for skating.  Good enough for some final skiing of the season.

Ski Race

We ended up with super weather and trails full of snow for our race this weekend.  We had 16 skiers ski through the park starting with a lap on the lake, going up the sledding hill to do four laps on the road, then coming down the sledding hill to finish with another lap on the lake. Total race distance was 27 km.  This was a freestyle race where most used the skate style of skiing but I believe we had four using the classic style.  

Thanks to North Iowa Nordic(http://northiowanordic.com/) for donating buffs to the racers.  Thanks to Brian Voss and Rod White for standing out there for hours helping direct skiers.  Thanks to Eric Rust for helping groom this 10" dumping of snow just a few days before.  Thanks to all of the people who brought food to share.  And thanks to all of the racers for giving this race a shot!

For more pictures see our facebook page under "pilot knob ski race".

Jeff

Pilot Knob

The road and lake have just been groomed for both classic and skate style skiing.  There will be a race taking place throughout the park from 8:30 to about 11 AM.  Race headquarters is at the warming shed next to the sledding hill.  Should be a great weekend for skiing!

Pilot Knob

The snow really set up well last night at Pilot Knob State Park.  Temperatures look great for tomorrow's race.  Should be a great weekend for skiing!

PK lake

The lake at Pilot Knob has been groomed for both classic and skating.  The road has been rolled again this morning and gone over with the leveling drag tonight.  The snow will probably take a couple days to set up nicely.

End of the blizzard

Rolling Pilot Knob State Park road after the blizzard.

Rolling in a blizzard.

Race

Pilot Knob Ski Race  February 6th 8:30am

27 km & 9 km freestyle race distances
$15.00 registration
Awards for top 3 overall male & female
All racers receive a buff from North Iowa Nordic
Lunch provided for racers & volunteers
Meet at the warming shed in Pilot Knob State Park

http://forestcityski.blogspot.com/p/pilot-knob-ski-race.html

Facebook "Pilot Knob Ski Race"

contact:
Jeff Hovinga
641-590-2739
jhovinga@wctatel.net

Good snow Saturday

We still have good amounts of snow Saturday morning.  And there's that blizzard arriving Tuesday!

Pilot Knob road

PIlot Knob

Pilot Knob road has been groomed for both skate and classic skiing this morning.  Pilot Knob lake has been groomed for skate only(still a little thin for classic tracks thanks to the late freeze).

Temperatures were in the low 20's while grooming and the trails looks great!  Should be fun skiing this morning but will get a little too soft this afternoon.

Golf course

The golf course has been groomed for classic skiing only.  The Lodge and MAJOPA areas have been groomed for skate skiing only.  Due to time constraints I could not groom for both styles throughout the entire trail.  It looks like the grooming went quite well and I look forward to trying it out.

If you would like to help groom please contact me!

Golf Course

Pilot Knob

The skating deck on the road through Pilot Knob has been rejuvenated this morning while the classic tracks were still decent.  Also the loop on Pilot Knob lake has been groomed for skating but no classic tracks were set.

Great morning for skiing

The road through Pilot Knob groomed up very nicely this morning.  And it was great to have so many other folks to enjoy it with!

Pilot Knob road

The road through Pilot Knob State Park has been groomed this morning for both classic and skate style skiing.  Thanks to a good base and the snow we received Friday morning it looks to be in very good shape.

Pilot Knob

The road at Pilot Knob has been groomed this morning.

Golf course

The golf course has been groomed tonight.  The snow was a bit chunky from the meltdown last week and refreeze so I'm guessing skiing conditions will only be fair to good.

It was 6 below zero while grooming.  What happened to El Nino?

Pilot Knob

The skating deck on the road at Pilot Knob was regroomed this morning and is in excellent shape.  The classic tracks do have some spots where the snow drifted in but overall is in good shape.  

Pilot Knob road

Pilot Knob

Pilot Knob has just been groomed for both classic and skate skiing and it looks really good.  Because it was still snowing and blowing I'll probably hit it again Saturday morning.  Will wait to groom golf course once the weather settles down a little.