It’s snowing at the Divide, and Emily was able to groom the Palouse Divide Road to Lane’s Lookout this morning! Hopefully, tomorrow’s team can get most of the rest… Nice to see fresh snow!
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Bald Mountain Loppet: More than half of the spots for the 18-mile Bald Mountain Loppet on February 22, 2025 have been reserved. Register now by completing the registration form at this link: https://form.jotform.com/250225717112143. Our amazing team of groomers plan on grooming the entire route (wish us luck!), which entails a 9-mile, 1,715-foot climb to the top of Bald Mountain and back. Participation in the loppet is free, but we will gladly accept donations to help us continue to ensure reliable Nordic skiing on the Palouse. The club will have hot drinks, soups, and a fire at the lookout tower for participants.
Grooming Update: We expect some snow tomorrow, just in time for the weekend! A team of groomers is going up tomorrow (Friday), and another should be up on Saturday to groom everything that Friday’s team could not take care of. So long as that snow comes and we face no mechanical problems, expect all the trails on the east side of the highway to be freshly groomed! Hurrah!
When you see those groomers, make sure to give them a wave! They are volunteers helping our community out, and sometimes getting stuck in snow drifts to do it!
Today was a beautiful. sunny day for skiing and the snow was good on the main road to Lane’s Lookout, just a few icy spots under the trees.
Snow is still good on Hume Road and on the main road out to Lane’s Lookout. Big Loop and other side trails are icy and patchy.
The snow is piling up at the Palouse Divide! Here’s the latest grooming report from Jon:
Thanks to Matt, Andy and Nick for all the saw work yesterday. We were able to clear and pack everything on the east side except Potlatch Loop and the Snowshoe Trail. Lots of trees coming down on the trails due to saturated soils and recent snow loads so expect a few obstacles. We’re doing our best to keep up. Teams are scheduled to groom and set tracks on Friday with more snow forecasted. Conditions are getting better every day.
Report from our trail manager, Jon: Pretty nice day at the Palouse Divide. Thanks to Nick from USFS for helping to clear and pack the 377 road. We’ll be clearing, packing and grooming the rest of the east side trails as the week progresses.
Foggy but beautiful today! Snow was good on the Trailhead-Big Loop-Hume Road loop. A little thin in places with denser tree coverage. Some downed and low hanging trees for the groomers to clean up. Snow is not super deep yet, but it shouldn’t melt this week and its supposed to snow Friday, so we’ll be ready for Free Ski Day!
Free Ski Day is January 11, 2025, 10am-3pm!
Club Members: We still need instructors. Teaching beginners how to feel confident on skis is a great way to spend the day!
Contact Jesse and Elise if you’re interested (palousedividenordic@gmail.com).
Hume Road (not pictured) is still in great shape with a good base and well-preserved tracks. There are just a couple minor thin spots (mostly past the intersection with Big Loop), that are easily bypassed. The challenging part is getting to Hume Road! The main Palouse Divide road has many bare sections. The dwindling base has been all churned up by a vehicle on wide tracks that went up and down the road. (According to Shirley of the lodge, the Forest Service had to drive to Bald Mountain.) Past the turnoff to Big Loop there is a long section of just bare dirt, where you have to carry your skis for quite a ways.
We were able to get the 377, Hume Rd., and Big Loop groomed Friday. Snow conditions are generally good but thin spots starting to break through.
We also groomed the 3828 road on the West side. One bare spot on the way up but snow is generally better.
Have a great weekend of spring skiing.
The snow is holding, the conditions are great, and the trails are being groomed by our crack team!
You all should have great ski conditions for this weekend. The Forest Service is not active on the West Side again this week, so groomers will get out and do as much as they can over there, as well as the regular East Side trails! Enjoy those opportunities while they last!
A grooming team is going up today and another will be up tomorrow. Enjoy!
Join us for a women’s ski on Sunday, March 3, at 11:00am. Those who want to carpool will meet in the Moscow Rosauers parking lot at 10:00am. All skill levels welcome! If possible, email palouseidividenordic@gmail.com to let us know you’re coming, especially if you need to carpool, so we know to wait for you. If that’s not possible, feel free to show up anyway!
The recent snows have made skiing possible again! There’s a few inches of new snow, though it is a little thin under the trees. Not sure yet if there is enough to groom this weekend.
A group of volunteers went and checked the Bald Mountain Loppet route today, to prepare for the planned 18-mile ski this coming Saturday. This is what they found. Sadly, we’ll have to cancel the Loppet. If we get snow enough to pull off this great adventure in 2024, I’ll let you know. And we were hoping for this to be the debut of our new snowmobile!
Long-time club member Bill Brock wrote a great story in The Lewiston Tribune about this year’s overnight trip to the Blue Mountains. https://www.lmtribune.com/outdoors/nothing-recharges-your-batteries-quite-like-skiing-into-a-backcountry-hut/article_55c0d148-6d9e-5ee2-81aa-c02cec484526.html
Several new inches of new snow in last 24 hours. Total of 10” at the Lodge now. The Divide Rd. (377) is packed to Lanes Overlook. Hume Rd and Big Loop are packed as well all in anticipation of getting groomed tomorrow. The groomers will have to make the call in the morning as to whether grooming is helpful or not. Snow is still a little thin under the trees. I could feel the ski scags touching ground once in a while. Hume Road and Big Loop have the best coverage. Little, Meadow and Potlatch loops left untouched for some nice powder skiing.
There is snow again. Hurrah!
Trails with more trees may not have full coverage and there’s not enough snow to groom yet, but we’re heading in the right direction! The Divide Road (377) was skiable, though thin under the trees, until just before Lane’s Overlook and Hume Road looked good.
Registration is now open for:
The Bald Mountain Loppet 2024
When: February 24, 2024
Start time (from trailhead): 8:30–9:30am
Distance: 18 miles, roundtrip
Estimated skiing time: 6 hours
In Scandinavia, a loppet is a long-distance, non-competitive group ski. Here on the Palouse, we are planning our own loppet – from the Palouse Divide trailhead to the Bald Mountain Lookout Tower.
This 18-mile loppet will be a fun and challenging outing for fit, experienced skiers. It is not a race but a tour to be completed at participants’ own pace. Participation is limited to 40 skiers.
Our amazing team of groomers plan on grooming the entire route (wish us luck!), which entails a 9-mile, 1,715-foot climb to the top of Bald Mountain and back. Be prepared for changing and colder weather. We estimate that skiers in good physical shape will take 6 hours to complete the entire trip.
Participation in the loppet is free, but we will gladly accept donations to help us continue to ensure reliable Nordic skiing on the Palouse. The club will have hot drinks, soups, and a fire at the lookout tower for participants.
Of course, we are keeping an eye on snow levels and will adjust planning as necessary.
Register in advance by completing the registration form at this link: https://form.jotform.com/240298078568167.
Best,
Jesse, President of the Palouse Divide Nordic Ski Club