Whoop whoop! SnoBowl's officially OPEN for the summer!

It's official - opening day at the (new) SnoBowl Ski & Bike Park was this Saturday, and it'll be open for lift-served mountain biking all summer! Operating hours this first year will be Saturdays, 12N - 4PM.

We tried to keep the opening small so that we could shake things out before things got too busy, and it worked out really well. We had everything from kids with their dad all the way up to some very experienced downhillers out there, and everybody found some good challenges for their skill levels. The feedback from the riders was great - fun trails, and they're ready to spread the word about what we have going up there. It was all VERY good to hear!

The riding this weekend was a lot of fun. It was a major flower show... at one point I felt like I was riding through a flower shop... the lupines smelled that good.



Lots of arrowleaf balsamroot up there, too. I love the juxtaposition of their bright yellows with the lupines.



Here's one of the places that needs some work. This switchback is on the beginner trail, and is one of two switchbacks on that route that need better than beginner bike handling skills to manage. We've got it signed to warn people to slow down - giving beginners a chance to get off and walk - but we need to rebuild this to make it safer for new riders. This won't be a small project as it's in steep terrain. We're working out how to get it done, though, and hope to have it completed before the end of summer.



Dave Todero, our trail designer, is using the Kennedy Ranch backhoe to build terrain park features at the bottom. Folks riding the intermediate trail can finish their run through the park, or can opt to ride straight back down to the lift. One of the really nice parts of this is that the park features are positioned to transition nicely into ski season - won't our snowboarders be happy to see all of these new features come winter time!



Here's the map. SnoBowl sits on a section of land (640 acres) which gives us plenty of room to work with as we develop riding. The downhill trails, obviously, will by and large be routed down the east side, where the skiing happens. Most of the cross-country trails will be built on the back side, although we'll obviously put a trailhead at the base area. The trail grade on the beginner trail averages 9%, so when the lift isn't running it's rideable as an uphill. It's a grunt, but it's rideable. Once we get the XC trails done, that trail will be full time one-way downhill. The intermediate trail averages 16% and is a lot steeper than that in places.



There's plenty more work to be done, of course. Those who are interested in helping get stuff built are invited to show up Saturdays at 9AM for trail work. Those who help build trail on Saturday morning will ride the lift for free that afternoon! Otherwise, lift tickets are a very affordable $15. A bargain at any price!

In case you missed it, the Elko Daily Free Press did a front-page story on the SnoBowl this weekend. Thanks again to them and to the rest of our local media for helping us get the word out. What a great community!

SnoBowl Opens Lift-Served Mountain Biking

Last, and certainly not least - a very, very big shout-out goes to Elko Blacksmith Shop. We'd asked for help all over town getting the bike hooks built that allow us to attach mountain bikes to the chair lift. Folks made some commitments... and then fell through. Somebody suggested at the last minute that we talk to Elko Blacksmith Shop and, even though they were completely booked up, they found a way to get us ten hooks in time for opening day. Seriously - we COULD NOT have opened without their help. We have another 23 hooks coming so that we can have one every three chairs, which is where we need to be with uphill capacity. If you have ANY opportunity to throw some business their way, please do. They will certainly be the first people we call from here on out!

For those planning a Ruby Crest Trail trip this year...

I notice that quite a few people are finding this site looking for information on the Ruby Crest Trail. Hopefully the beta here has been useful!

Be advised that we have a HUGE snowpack this year... it's hanging on late... and the high passes could be snow covered later than usual. We're supposed to have hot weather next week and may finally see some melt-off, but right now (9 June) the snowpack at the Lamoille Canyon trailhead is still deeper than I am tall.

If you're planning on doing this trip with a horse you might want to consider waiting until mid-to-late July, in order to give the snow a chance to melt off. Otherwise, you risk injuring your horse and tearing the hell out of the trail. Obviously I'm no oracle, but based on my observations from having lived here most of my life I think that's probably your best plan.

I'll keep an eye out for you and will post up as things melt out a bit more.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program...

... to share some AWESOME new developments at the Elko SnoBowl... now the SnoBowl Ski & Bike Park.



The SnoBowl hosted its first National Trails Day event June 4th, with a goal of constructing brand new lift-served mountain bike trails at the resort. For the first 20 years of its existence, SnoBowl depended on natural snowfall to generate skiing fun, and largely sat unused for the rest of the year.

Not any more.

SnoBowl mountain manager Roche Bush invited several long-time SnoBowlers to join the somewhat moribund committee that had operated the SnoBowl for the last couple of decades, and this new shot of energy is changing everything up there.

The first change, and it's a big one - SnoBowl will now open on weekends in the summer so that people with mountain bikes can enjoy lift-served riding just outside of town. This will be one of the first - if not THE first - lift-served trail systems in the state of Nevada.

It's exciting, and that excitement is contagious. More than 50 people showed up for National Trails Day, and worked hard all day to get the beginner trail on the ground.



There's still plenty of work to be done. The beginner trail is going to need more work to be sustainable... the intermediate trail still needs some benching... the advanced trails haven't been started yet. But, oh how fun it is to see what's going on up there! Best of all, while SnoBowl's biggest attraction as a ski area is its funkiness and proximity to town, the terrain is apparently extremely suitable for both downhill and cross-country mountain biking. David Todaro, a former professional downhill mountain bike racer, has been working with the SnoBowl Foundation board to develop this project, and he's beyond enthused about the potential here. He's put in trails all over the country and says we have the means of developing something really special in the hills north of town.

Cool to hear.

Because SnoBowl will be one of very few places in the state where mountain bikers can enjoy lift-accessed terrain, Todaro envisions Elko becoming a stop on the mountain biking race circuit once the trail system is established. Pretty cool plan if you ask me. Elko continues to be blessed by the contributions the mines make to the community, and especially by the incredible talent pool of people like David who move here for good mining jobs.

It's funny,.. people who don't use the SnoBowl often dis it because it isn't one of the towering Western resorts that populate this part of the country. I'm thinking those folks don't spend much time at SnoBowl. I've enjoyed powder days there that would surprise you... good people, good skiing, an excellent vibe. And now SnoBowl is getting even better, with year-round fun and even the potential for snowmaking in the works.

Don't look now, but our little town is starting to get awfully fun for non-motorized recreationists of all stripes.

++++++++++++++++

A few folks deserve a big hearty THANK YOU for making the 2011 National Trails Day event possible:

- First and foremost, the SnoBowl volunteers for putting in so much time and effort
- Greg & Gina Kronenberg, Albertsons, Maggie Morgan and Kennedy Ranch Custom-Fed Beef for sponsoring lunch
- Event Source for providing the tents, tables and chairs
- The Elko Fire Department, Nevada Division of Forestry and Bureau of Land Management for providing trail-building tools
- Elko's media for helping us get the word out about the project

Back at work on the S-L Trail

Another year, another set of kids hard at work...

The GBI crews are back in Lamoille Canyon at work on the Secret-Lamoille Trail. Let's wish them good luck and happy building. They have a long ways to go to get to Talbot Canyon, hopefully they'll make decent progress this year.

Ready for roadies!

Spring is here - on occasion - and the road biking up the Canyon is primo right now. The snow is clear from Lamoille Highway up to the "official" closure just past Pete's Corner, somewhat more than 6 miles one-way. It's melting out quickly above the closure, and as of today you can get a passenger vehicle up to Terminal Cancer (if you're a skier) or Dead Snag (if you're a climber). The road to the Scout Camp is melted out... the snow starts just past the main lodge, currently, but if you want to skin or snowshoe higher you're going to enjoy either a good bushwhack or an annoying creek crossing. There is a fair bit of wet slide activity on the climber's right wall, so if you're going to stay right of the creek be cognizant of time and temperature.

I have to say that the new, improved road is a lot of fun on a road bike. You can certainly tell where they switched from new pavement to a chip-seal job over the old pavement... that said, it's very rideable and a HUGE improvement over the crumbling piece o' crap we've "enjoyed" in recent years. If you're up there on a bike, be aware that the downhill lane has quite a bit of rock and gravel in it along the Narrows... control your speed and be ready to swerve into the left lane.

The Secret-Lamoille trail is clear but muddy. We're supposed to have rain/snow again this weekend, so it may be a few more days before it dries out and stays dry for the season. All the rest of the trails up there are still under many feet of snow.

If you're going to be heading up climbing, be aware that tick season is here in full force. Fortunately it doesn't last long, but you're likely to end up with more than a few of them if you're out there playing in the brush right now.

Winter on the Secret-Lamoille Trail

I wasn't into the big time commitment necessary for a ski tour today, and so decided to go for a quick winter hike on the under-construction Secret-Lamoille Trail. What a nice change of pace!

I was gratified to see a lot of tracks on the trail - it's clearly getting steady winter use, which just goes to validate the years of work I and others put into getting this project off the ground. It makes sense, though - not everybody wants to use a motor for winter fun, and not everybody is a backcountry skier. An accessible lower-elevation trail like this is going to see use by folks who want to get out and enjoy the winter mountains in a low-commitment kind of way.

Right now, the trail surface varies between mud, frozen mud and snow. It's quite walkable, but if you have the option go early in the morning to enhance the chance that you'll be walking on a frozen trail surface. It'll be easier walking and better for the trail. Snowshoes are no longer necessary.

The trail is very easy to find for about the first 1.5 miles, where the GBI crews left off working last summer. After that, the line is still very much there but it's a little harder to locate in spots. If you're up there and can't see where the trail goes, look behind you. The difficult-to-find places were, by and large, undefined switchbacks.

The views up there in the winter are astounding, even with a little spindrift thrown in for fun.

So where the hell have you been lately?!?!?

Skiing, that's where.

Ruby Mountain Ski Days

Ruby Mountain Ski Days started out as nothing more than a place for me to upload photos. I and several of my friends used to post trip reports over on Telemark Tips - it was a great way to share photos, ideas, updates on conditions, etc. Unfortunately, the TTips photo server went down and if we wanted to post photos they had to be linked from a non-TTips url. Thus, Ruby Mountain Ski Days.

It's kind of taken on a life of its own as Google Analytics tells me that people are visiting pretty regularly. Don't know why, there are much better places out there to find local ski photos and info on conditions, including the website for Ruby Mountain Heli-Ski. But hey, if people are interested in lurking and watching the backcountry ski adventures of a slow 50-year-old woman, well, I'm not going to argue. I put it out there after all.

I will admit, though, that the pictures are pretty good.

++++++++++++++

Trail update - they're all covered with snow - duh! Bring your skis or snowshoes. ;) The road's closed at its usual winter closure place, just past Pete's Corner. The snow on the road is very whooped out from all the snowmobile traffic right now, which is usual for this time of year. Snowshoes are NOT necessary for a hike up the road right now. The snow is OK for XC skiing, as long as you don't mind dealing with the whoops.

You can also take your touring skis up Right Fork. The jeep tracks have enough coverage for short tours, and you can always make your way across the creek and through the willows up above the Scout Camp. Be aware that the climbers right wall does slide, so if you head up that way have an eye to avalanche conditions.

The first couple of miles of the Secret-Lamoille Trail are quite suitable for snowshoeing right now, and there have been snowshoe tracks on it on several occasions. A friend of mine told me recently that it was an excellent snowshoeing day trip. I've been focusing on skiing recently and haven't broken out the snowshoes, but on high avalanche danger days (like today) it's a good winter workout alternative. Might just head up there myself today. ;)