Good Morning lovely folks!
We did get some snow last night; about 2.5″ here in Essex. We are sitting at about 26* this morning with beautiful partly-cloudy skies.
No grooming early today but there is a chance of the snowmobile getting out for a bit later this morning; stay posted!
UPDATE:
SNOWMOBILE GROOMED:
9am Update: Skies continue to be mostly clear. Super beautiful in Essex right now. It’s 17 degrees.
Groomed: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Essex Road, Towering Pines, Pileated, Highline Down, Essex Creek Down, Kendi’s Crossing, Spring Hill Down, Dickey Loop Upper AND River Trail
Good Morning!!! It is 6:15am and 16 degrees in Essex. The skies are partly cloudy and we are forecast a mostly sunny day! Sunshine…..again! It has been a glorious stretch of sunny days. Get that vitamin D while you can! Our high today is 38 degrees.
Grooming is in progress. The trails have been in superb condition. Firm and fast in the mornings with a touch of softness as the day warms up.
After a ski in the sunshine, come enjoy happy hour and the Super Bowl at the Flagstop Bar. The Philadelphia Eagles will face the Kansas Chiefs. This is the first time in Super Bowl history that there are siblings on the opposing teams. Who is their mom going to root for? According to Sports Illustrated, Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest food consumption day in the United States. Thanksgiving is the first.
930am Update –
GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill, Essex Road to Kendi’s, Highline, Pileated, Essex Creek, Upper and Lower Dickey Loop, River Trail, River Loop
8am Update- We have a large group at the inn and our rental fleet is low at the moment. If you are driving to Essex and plan to rent, give a call so we can determine if we have your sizes available.
GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill, Essex Road to Kendi’s, Highline, Pileated, Essex Creek….more to come
6:15am – The groomer is happily chugging along spitting out fresh corduroy for all y’all. It is currently 24 degrees. We have a settled base of 37 inches. No new snow in the last 24 hours. We are forecast a high of 37 degrees with mostly sunny skies. It’s gonna be another beautiful day in Essex. The trails are in excellent condition. Starlight and Spring Hill are done and the Complex is next.
According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, the word winter is an old Germanic word meaning “time of water”, referring to the snow and rain that falls in the middle and high latitudes.
6:15am – Good Morning. Hope your day is starting off fantastically. The PistenBully is being worked on today. You may have noticed that everything except Dickey Loops and Dickey Road was groomed yesterday so the trails are in excellent shape. They will be firm and perfect for skating this morning and should soften up nicely by afternoon as our temps rise. We have high hopes the machine will be ready for tomorrow’s grooming efforts.
It is currently 15 degrees and mostly clear. We are forecast for a high of 39 degrees and mostly sunny. It is going to be another beautiful day in Essex. Come enjoy the sunshine!
10:30am – GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill, Pileated, Towering Pines, Highline, Essex Creek, Junction Circle, Essex Road, River Trail, River Loop
9:00am – GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill, Pileated, Towering Pines, Highline, Essex Creek, Junction Circle, Essex Road from Starlight to Kendi’s
Up Next: River Trail, River Loop, the rest of Essex Road
6:30am – Good Morning! It is currently 24 degrees and the groomer is having a good old time out there. Our skies are partly cloudy. We are forecast a high of 35 degrees and mostly sunny! It is going to be a beautiful day in Essex! Fresh corduroy and sunshine! We will update as the groomer reports to us.
Why do seagulls fly over the sea?
Because if they flew over the bay, they would be bagels.
Happy Wednesday!
The good news is we got several inches of snow last night! The bad news: our groomer-fairy-godmother (who appeared like magic on a day off) has reported that the snow fell too wet and warm to groom very well. We did get just a few trails groomed: lower Essex Road, Starlight, and Upper Essex Rd just to Boy Scout Camp Crossover. Expect warm and soft conditions!
Happy Tuesday!
It’s 34* as of 7:30am in Essex this morning with overcast skies.
No grooming today; we are recovering from a busy weekend and looking forward to another fantastic one ahead! We’ve got snow, sun, and cool-ish overnight temps in the forecast so we are feeling hopeful for some beautiful corduroy in our future!
You can always head up our way for some quality exercise and to see what kind of critters you might spot; the elusive Vulpes Vulpes (red fox) can often be spotted by those with a little luck and a quick eye.
Enjoy your day!
10:15 Update:
GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill, All of Essex Rd, Kendi’s Crossing, Pileated, Towering Pines, Highline, Essex Creek, Lower Dickey Loop, River Trail, River Loop
8:15 Update:
GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill, Essex Rd to Kendi’s, Kendi’s Crossing, Pileated, Towering Pines, Highline, Essex Creek, Lower Dickey Loop
6:15am – I finally got to hoot at the Snow Moon this morning! It is mostly clear at this early hour and the moon is shining bright. The temperature is currently 24 degrees. The groomer is reporting excellent results thus far and plans to groomgroomgroom. We are forcast for a high of 39 degrees and 60% chance of precipitation. We did reach our highs yesterday (42 is what I saw) and magically the trails remained in fabulously fun skiing condition.
GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill
UP NEXT: The Complex (the loops along Essex Creek) followed by the River
Did you know that river otters are active in the winter? They don’t hibernate. Spring to Fall, they are a generally nocturnal creatures but in the winter they become active during the day. They tend to be in very small groups or solitary during the winter due to it being harder to get food. They stay warm because of their guard hairs. The guard hairs are hollow and have scales (similar to snake scales) and these guard hairs keep the densely packed, finer underfur dry. Maybe you will peep an otter in Essex Creek?
7:30am GROOMED: Starlight, Cabin and Caboose Lanes, Spring Hill Down, Upper Dickey Loop, Dickey Road from end of Dickey Loop to Essex Road, Essex Road from Starlight to Dickey
The Groomer is reporting inconsistent results due to the conditions and temperatures. We have decided to leave the rest of the trails alone for today.
No chance of seeing the Snow Moon this morning. It is 6am and currently, there is graupel falling from the sky. Graupel is also known as soft hail, hominy snow, snow pellets or informally as falling Dipping Dots. Hail is hard ice pellets while graupel is ice pellets that are squishy or soft to the touch.
It is currently 34 degrees. We are forecast a high of 38 degrees and 60% chance of precipitation. Grooming is in progress. The groomer is trying to decide if the temps/conditions will allow him to continue. It’s a fine line between making it better and making a mess. The trails were in prime condition yesterday and a little bit of graupel isn’t going to ruin their smooth awesomeness but we do love to create beautiful corduroy. Go play with some graupel while you wait to find out more info…….I did!
10am Update: Temps are back on the rise. We are at 15 degrees.
GROOMED: All of Essex Road, Spring Hill, Lower Dickey Loop, Starlight, Caboose and Cabin Lanes, Pileated, Towering Pines, Highline, Essex Creek
8am Update: It’s 11 degrees, temps have decreased since the wee hours! Conditions are excellent. The corduroy is prime!
GROOMED: Starlight, Caboose and Cabin Lanes, Essex Road to Kendi’s, Pileated, Towering Pines, Highline, Essex Creek
One more update when grooming is complete.
Good Morning! It is 6am and Punxsutawney Phil says we get 6 more weeks of winter! YipYip.
It is currently 16 degrees. We are forecast a high of 41 degrees and mostly sunny. Oh glorious sun! We have not been reaching the predicted highs and hopefully that will be the case today! If winter is sticking around, we want the snow to stick around with it.
Grooming is underway. We are hoping to get about 20 km freshly groomed today. Will update as to what trails are completed when I get the info.
FUN FACT: The Snow Moon will arrive this weekend. It is at it’s fullest on Sunday, around 4:30pm. According to NASA, the moon will appear full for 3 days, from early Saturday morning to early Tuesday morning. It is dubbed the Snow Moon due to the heavy snows that fall during this cycle. It is also known as the Storm Moon or the Hunger Moon (due to challenging hunting because of the snow/storms).