New snow

After some heavy rain this weekend we received about 2 inches of snow yesterday. There are still some puddles on top of the ice and below this new snow that need to freeze. I'm hoping that after tonight's cold temps that I'll be able to groom in the morning for some nice New Year's day skiing!

Pilot Knob Lake.

Warm spell

Ski conditions are poor around Forest City right now.  I've been skate skiing the lake this week.  The 50 degrees on Christmas day was pretty hard on it though so it's getting more difficult to find decent skiing.  I plan on skiing out there in the morning before the rain though.  If we get the two inches of rain that is predicted that should pretty much shut us down for a while.

PK lake

I took the groomer over Pilot Knob lake this morning to improve the skate skiing.  It was getting a lot of ruts from skiers so it needed to be smoothed out. There are still areas with hardly any snow coverage but most of the one mile loop is fairly good.

Pk Lake

Pilot Knob lake has been OK for skate skiing this week.  It has had fairly good snow coverage with a few icy spots that you just need to pole your way through. With colder temperatures this weekend the ice should soon be thick enough to run the snowmobile and groomer on it.   But we really need some new snow for good conditions.

Pilot Knob Lake 12.14.19

Early skiing

The snow that we received just before Thanksgiving survived the warm rainy weekend. I enjoyed skate skiing the golf course tonight and the conditions were pretty good considering it is ungroomed.

Pilot Knob Lake

The loop around the lake has been groomed tonight.  Both classic style and skate style skiing should be excellent.

Pilot Knob Lake

The skate deck and classic tracks on the lake have been regroomed tonight.

Golf Course!!

It's been over 2 years since the golf course had enough snow to groom and the forecast didn't call for melting temperatures.  Well today it has been rolled plus a classic track was made.  There was well over a foot of snow most of the way so it will take a few groomings to pack it down more.  So expect conditions to be soft today.  Don't bother to try and skate ski there, too soft.  But it should be ok for classic skiing.

I was reminded about how pretty the ski trail is on the golf course!

Pilot Knob Lake

The lake has been groomed for both skate and classic style skiing this morning.  We received about an inch of fluff.  I packed it down then mixed it in with the older more compact snow.  The lake should be in excellent condition for skating today.

Pilot Knob Lake

I rolled and leveled a lot of new snow on the lake this morning, then came back with the Ginzu late this afternoon.  I was impressed with how well it set up throughout the day.  It should set up great again for both skate style and classic style skiing.

Pilot Knob Lake

The snow was soft this morning, but because of a little bit of freezing drizzle mixed in to the the inch from last night, glide was very good!  Last chance to get out and enjoy the lake today before we get another dumping tonight.  The road is not groomed today.

PIlot Knob Lake

I rolled Pilot Knob Lake this morning and made a track for classic skiing.  The compactor leaves a skiable deck for skate style but most likely it will be too soft for good skate skiing.  However the lake should be decent for classic style skiing today.

Pilot Knob Lake

rolling rolling rolliing

Been busy rolling the last couple of days.  Tuesday night I rolled the snow from Sunday and  Wednesday morning the snow from Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  It's still snowing and it will be a challenge to keep up with it. 

Fresh snow

We're getting a nice fresh snow.  I took the Ginzu over the lake and road this morning with about 3" of new snow.  But it was still snowing heavily.  I did set new tracks but these might fill in soon if it keeps snowing.  It is so nice to not have big winds to deal with!!

Sunny day to ski

It ended up being a beautiful day to ski today thanks to the sun making an appearance.  More snow is on the way.

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 Pilot Knob Lake

Bottom of sledding hill

Pilot Knob road

Back to normal

After ordering a replacement switch and installing it, the ginzu is back to normal operation.  Both the lake and the road in Pilot Knob State Park have been groomed this morning for classic and skate style skiing.  The snow is a little chunky thanks to being "wind hardened" this week.

Special thanks to Robert Polking for rolling the road this Thursday when I just couldn't get out.  Rolling is necessary to prep for final grooming.  Thank You!

Pilot Knob Lake

Pilot Knob Lake has been groomed this morning for both classic and skate skiing.  It will probably be a bit soft today but it sure looks good. 

I've narrowed the actuator problem down to an electrical issue on the sled's side.  After a little hot wiring the knives on the groomer could be lifted enough for some limited grooming this morning.

The road is not groomed as of yet.

Good snowfall

I was able to pack our new snowfall of about 4 to 5" early Tuesday morning before the winds picked up.  My plans to groom this morning were spoiled with a stuck linear actuator on the Ginzu groomer.  So nothing was accomplished. I'll try to find the time to repair the actuator yet this week and get in some groomings by the weekend. 

Great skate skiing

Conditions were great for skating on the lake today!  More snow is on the way Sunday.

Pilot Knob Lake

I took the Ginzu over the lake tonight after packing on Thursday night.  Because of so little snow I was only able to groom a thin skate deck, not enough for setting classic tracks.  Skating conditions should be very good this weekend.  Striders are welcome to ski on the skate deck.

There isn't enough snow on the road to do anything there, but more snow is in the forecast.

Trails in poor shape from meltdown

Last weekend's weather was very rough on our snow.  But thanks to a dusting and some freezing mist the lake was skiable.  It wasn't great skiing but the view was!  Hopefully we'll get some snow Thursday that can be groomed.

No grooming this weekend

It's too warm to groom this weekend.  It will resume next week when temperatures drop again.  The road tends to get torn up by some of the snowmobilers that don't stay on the correct side of the road.  If that gets bad enough to ruin skiing then the lake should still be in good shape.  The snowmobiles are not allowed there.

Pilot Knob

It was fun skiing at the Knob today and seeing several others out too.  The snow was cold and slow but it was still great to be outdoors again!

Pilot Knob

I rolled the trails throughout Pilot Knob Wednesday evening.  Tonight I used the Ginzu to groom the lake and road for both classic and skate style skiing.  Friday should be a good day for skiing.

Pilot Knob Lake 1-31-19

Using roller & leveling drag to pack snow 1-30-19

Fresh snow

Forest City received quite a bit of snow last night.  I used the roller this morning on the lake and road just to do an initial packing, before the wind picks up today and blows it all away.  Once the wind calms and maybe once we get through a nasty cold spell I'll get out and start the grooming process.  Once again it will probably take a few groomings to get this light weight snow packed down enough for good skiing.

Last night was a great night for skiing because of how well the trail was packed.

The knob

The skate deck and classic tracks on the lake at Pilot Knob have been regroomed this morning.  The skate deck only on the road in the park has been regroomed.  It's getting too shallow to reset the classic track but actually it didn't look bad.  It should be a good day for skiing today.  Please help pick up some of the sticks that have blown down from Thursday's wind!  Thanks!

Great conditions for skiing!

The trail on the lake in Pilot Knob was in super condition Wednesday.  Glad to see others out enjoying it too!

Pilot Knob Lake

Refresh trails

Today we received a little bit of rain and a good dusting of snow.  The lake and road have been regroomed tonight.  The road is a bit rough with the classic tracks down to the grass at times and I had some issues with sticks while grooming the skate portion.  But the road is still skiable.  The lake should be excellent for both classic and skate skiing.

Fresh tracks and corduroy on Pilot Knob Lake

Cold weekend. Fresh snow.

Thanks for the picture from Connie French this weekend.  It was pretty cold and slow snow but a few brave people made it out!

Pilot Knob Lake

Groomed this morning

The skate decks for both the lake and road have been refreshed this morning.  Nice to see some usage on the trails from a cold day yesterday.  The classic tracks on the road do go down to the grass in several places so not ideal.  However the classic tracks on the lake look very good.  Once again the lake is the place to ski today for both classic style skiing and skate style skiing!

Pilot Knob

The lake and road have been rolled twice yesterday and groomed with the Ginzu this morning.  It will still be soft, but it will get better with more grooming and time.  The lake looks like the best place to ski today.

First snow storm of 2019

We received quite a bit of light fluffy snow today (haven't actually measured it yet)!  I rolled both the road and lake at Pilot Knob and will plan on doing it again later tonight.  Hopefully it will be packed enough to groom up nicely tomorrow morning.

Prepping trails

Spent the evening moving limbs and picking up sticks that I don't really want to run through the groomer.  Looks like snow is coming.  I'll try to pack it down before it blows away.  The snowmobile is back from the shop and hopefully will run better.  Maybe we'll have some decent skiing this weekend!

New Year's Day Ski

We only have a couple of dustings of snow out on the lake in Pilot Knob, but it is skiable.  I was able to do some double poling around the perimeter and some skating in a small area on the west end.  Conditions are poor but it was still good to be out skiing this morning!

The snowmobile is in the shop with some overheating issues.  Hopefully I'll get that back soon along with some more snow.  Happy New Year!