Happy New Year! Been skiing in the past day or so? Leave us a comment about which route you used, what the trail was like, and anything that needs attention. You can also leave (or respond to) questions on the Kane Valley Trails or about local weather.
We’ll also use these posts to tell you what’s been groomed, what is scheduled to be groomed, and anything else club members and trail users should know about.
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To read or add a comment click on the small grey Comment link immediately below. Comments from past months are available in the menu to the right.
Lovely warm and sunny day for Chili Sunday. It was nice to see so many people taking advantage of the nice weather and taking time to socialize with Club members. Many thanks to Kate and John and all the others who helped organize and put on Chili Sunday. The new Board is doing a great job! Thank you.
A+ skiing today on Hill’s Homestead with a couple of inches of new fluff on the groomed trail.
Some very interesting “aliens-made” snow roll-ups in the aspens…seems the wind has started small rolls which become big ones and the meadows are full of them – quite a sight!
Saturday Update:
All trails are recently groomed, with the exception of Harmon (from the Moose lookout down to Harmon Lake), Over Easy & Sundown. Darren is going to run over them with his own sled today, and groom those tomorrow.
Another inch of fresh “pow” overnight…. skiing will be good!
Chili Sunday tomorrow…. 11-2 bring your chili to add to the pot and come and play!
Trail Update today: Darren is working hard at getting everything opened up and groomed. All trails on the north side of the road are open, groomed and tracked again today except for crossover and overeasy, which have been passed with the sled only.
On the south side, Kane & Matthews are done, trees are removed from Hills Homestead today and the plan is to groom that tomorrow along with the rest on the south. Thanks to Darren for all his efforts and to everyone for their patience! Enjoy the skiing! See you all at Chili Sunday…. this Sunday 11-2!
Trail update: Stong winds blew piles of trees down all over the trails last night. Thank you to Darren, our faithful groomer, who switched hats and logged today! He has removed many trees with the snowmobile, but there are more to come. Please use extreme caution while skiing, and be patient while he gets the trails back under control. More snow this afternoon in Kane Valley. Darren will be back out tomorrow with the groomer, and skiing should be great.
Excellent skiing today in soft powder. We’ve had 16 inches of snow in the past week and more flurries this afternoon with temp. of -3C. Winter wonderland on the trails.
Remember Chili Sunday this week on the 29th. Bring your cup and utensils, some chili for the pot and we’ll have the fire going with buns and hot drinks at P3 shelter from 11 am to 2 pm. There’ll be a thank you presentation to founding members at noon and lessons with Scott at 1pm. We’re hosting free skiing this Sunday, so bring your friends! See you there.
Grooming update: Darren did the south side trails yesterday, with a double-wide pass on hills.
He’ll do the north side tomorrow, weather permitting, that is if it’s not too warm. Happy Skiing!
-5C this morning at Kane Valley west.
The dog and I had a good run and excellent skiing on Matthews this morning – around -7C, so the 3 ” new snow stayed powdery on top of the grooming. Perfect fast, blue wax skiing and the set track held well. If you’re in town and see warm temperatures, remember it is on average 6 degrees C colder at the trails than in town. This afternoon it’s snowing at home at Kane Valley west and -4C.
Grooming on the North side of the road was ALL done today! Thank you Darren! Matthews was also gone over again, both loops, as well as from P5 thru Aspen…
Just a reminder to please pay when you ski up here! This is a non profit club. While we do pay our groomer, the rest of the work is all done by volunteers…. and the grooming is a direct result of people paying for it. Down load the membership from this website and treat yourself to a seasons pass, or just pay as you go…. $7/day,on site, what a deal!!! Enjoy the snow!
We love to ski the Kane. We live in Vancouver. We would like to do a house swap one weekend in February with someone who lives in the Merritt area. Please contact us at paisleyw@telus.net
The groomer (Darren) was out today and all trails south of Kane Valley Road were groomed today. The plan is to have the North side done this week as well. It will be posted once it is done. Enjoy the skiing! -20 t0night, bundle up!
I’m not sure if this is appropriate, but I am looking for a pair of cross country ski boots for my son. Probably size 2 or 3 with three pin binding. I can be contacted at jjwarren@telus.net
I went skiing this afternoon on Ravens Ridge and it was nice to see some snow falling.
This trail hasn’t been groomed in at least a couple of weeks and if anything, is due for pass with the groomer, now that some snow has fallen on it. Skiing should be good all this week since the forecast is for snow and colder temperatures.
Nice and fast skiing today on the north side loops – Vale, Gulch, Ravens, Asp, Tillicum, Menzies. Flurries all afternoon and about 2 inches of new snow on the grooming. Around -8 with no wind – very pleasant!
Darren (the NNSC groomer) reported to Mike that all trails have been groomed on January 9-10th. Snow is in the forecast for the week and if so, Darren is ready to groom. Thanks Darren and Mike. Temp at 4:30 pm -9 on Iron Mountain.
Velvet snow – a new inch of powder on the groomed trail today – a really nice ski on Hill’s Homestead. Chilly wind, flurries and around -8.
Skiing continues to be excellent. Vale, Menzies, Ravens to Lunchbox and Gulch. Snow is perfect, temps -9 or so.
January 11–Gentle ski today on Kane from P2 for 1/12 K. Wonderful to have set trail from Nicklin. -8C.
Moonlight ski tonight! All the trails on the north side of the Road are groomed (and i believe all the trails in the system have been done as of today, but will confirm for certain). We skied from P3 to Teiffel’s, then into the moonlight along Menzies, up Ravens, Cross-over and back down Vale. It was awesome; great snow, great ski, great people… definitely recommend it, the moon should be full enough tomorrow night to try again! Enjoy!!
We snowshoed from P3 up to Lunch Box, then took the new trail from Lunch Box, up along the powerline, ending at Teiffels landing, then from there along the new trail back to P3. It is now a very nice circular route for snowshowers. There was about 2-3 inches of new snow all along the route with no melting. The air temperature this afternoon was about minus 3-4. The packer had been up Vale to Teiffels landing but no further. With the new snow it should be excellent cross-country skiing for the next few days with the cooler weather , but bright sunshine.
Tuesday: We skied in the back country on the south end of Kane Valley (not on the trail system) today and it was excellent. We had about 20 cm (7 inches) of powder snow overnight and it is about -5 to -8 C. The skiing should be good on the Kane Valley trails too.
I skied Matthew’s around 5pm this evening and it was fast,…so, slightly icy and not particularly well groomed. The evening was lovely and it was well worth it.
Three of us snowshoed from P1 to up above Mathews today. There was about 5-6 cm of new snow and the snowshoeing was great. We finished about 3:00pm and the snow was starting to get a little sticky. I think the air temperature must have been about 4-5 degrees. People that were cross country skiing said it was good in the morning but starting to get a little sticky in the afternoon. Probably best to cross-country ski in the morning if this warm weather stays for a few days.
I skied Hill’s Homestead from P5 this afternoon – an inch of fresh snow on new grooming – it was wonderful. Temperatures were above freezing at the bottom, so snow was a tad sticky along Kane, but powdery higher up.
Our grooming contractor Darren is on the job and groomed most of the trails yesterday including: Hill’s Homestead and side trails there; Aspen; Sundowner; Ravine; all of Harmon. The only trails not recently groomed are Overeasy and Lynx.
It should be excellent skiing with late morning temperatures just below freezing in Kane Valley.
Please don’t ski on Menzies Lake. George Anderson sometimes turns the aerator on which causes the ice to be irregularly thin and uncertain in places. You always take a chance on lakes and it is generally recommended that xc skiers avoid them.