in Blue Mound (Moderator: Walt Hougas)

With the warmer temps later today it might be possible to smooth out some of the trail damage depending on the temperature and snow condition by either riding snowshoeing.

Peter and I are trying to get out and snowshoe Holy Schist in before the freeze up.

If we can get the loop smoothed out where it has foot traffic and compacted where it still has powder we will have a week plus of below freezing temps for some good riding

Gary is at Blue Mound now, I'll let him respond after he is off the trail and see what the current conditions are and if we can do anything to improve them before the freeze up.

Deb and I snowshoed Home stretch and Holy Schist. It now has a wider track and it is packed.

I think it might be possible with snowshoes to take some of the hiker damage out of the trail tomorrow (Tuesday) late afternoon/ early evening before the freeze hits. Hard to tell how well will work, but if someone could get out on the trail it will help make it smoother and faster for the weekend.

Please do not ride until it freezes up.

Walt and I did some flagging of a possible reroute near the bailout before Holy Schist. On our way back we attempted to kick some fresh snow into the boot holes. As Walt stated to me, it was not something you'd want to do for a living. Not sure how much it helped, but I don't think it hurt.

Todd and I were out Friday night. We took the double track out to Basalty Bail and then over to Holy Schist. Unfortunately we didn't get very far and we lost the trail. We back tracked out and followed the ski trail down to the end of Holy Schist. We followed  Jay and Deb's trail in to were they stopped. It was dark and we only had headlights so finding the trail was out of the question. We back tracked out again and took Home Stretch back to the parking lot.
Last ones out of the parking lot, we headed down to Hooterville for beer and fish fry.
My guess is, nobody has made it all the way thru Holy Schist yet. With all the snow it is going to take someone smarter than Todd or I to find the trail.

Went out to BM this afternoon, this is my opinion of current conditions.
The Beginner section thru Chert dip are pretty decent. The snow is grainy and hasn't set up real good yet. I should mention that there were several places where I don't think I was really on the trail. Serpentine Climb and Basalty Bail weren't packed in as good so it tougher going and it bit more walking involved. Did not go over to Holy Schist since as I mentioned earlier in the post that I don't think it has been stomped all the way around.
At the end of Basalty Bail I turned around and rode the trail backwards to the parking lot. With BB and Serpentine  more downhill I was able to keep moving better. On Chert Dip and the Beginner I was able to keep moving all the time. Yeah, I got stopped a few times when my tire got off the trail, mainly on a tight turn. Thought it rode so much better that way that I went out and did it again. From parking lot back to parking lot, it took me about 35 minutes for the last lap.

My family put four pairs of snowshoes all the way around Holy Schist. It was groomed after the last big snow, but it has been a bag of dicks to ride as evidenced by the 2-3 dozen crash sites we saw. So many perfect imprints of two wheels, bars, butt, and head of riders that lost control or traction and tipped over into the deep snow. The stomping today will help firm up the shoulders of the trail and I tried to chip away and scrape over the worst rut. If someone can groom the fresh snow from tonight it should offer a much firmer base.

Where is the groomer kept/how is it accessed for Blue Mounds?

Thanks Creeper, the concern now is the warm temps will soften the snow up and the hikers will post hole the crap out things.  At some point it becomes a losing battle, although I'm not sure we're quite there yet.  We may get another week or two of spotty good conditions. If you're interested in grooming please coordinate with us at bluemoundstewards@madcitydirt.com.