New Year's Eve 2012 - Good temps & Stable Snow

Just a quick Happy New Year Cheer! We haven't been getting any significant snowfall and there isn't a bunch in the forecast (avy or local) til Saturday. Temps are primed for it though at -7 currently and trending within a few degrees of that all week and in the alpine. Winds have been up and down so some faces may be windswept with other aspects receiving the load. Snow is becoming more and more stable and reports from guests are that the trails are really good behind us and the trees are full of snow! Flathead getting a bit rough but it will likely be groomed over the holiday again. Curt, Cooper, Sommer and I wish you all the best in 2013, lots of snow, safe riding and adrenalin pumping. Remember we have changed our name to Summit Creek Cabins but all Inn on the Border points to the same info. Health and Happiness! Cheers - V

Dec 28/12 - Out of the Cold

Hey Gang - hope your Christmas was filled with friends, family and lots of left overs in these past few days! We were in the cold snap with no real new snow but we have emerged at a -10 consistently for 24hrs and are headed into -5 territory with more snow to come at those temps on Saturday. Our trail is now well packed and the reports from the Flathead were that the first 5km (the usual into Barnes and up) is packed but in good shape - not washboardy. Limestone has seen some riding but our guests said the trees were fantastic - lots of fresh and unridden snow there. Get out and ride the hell out of 2012! Fernie Snowmobile Club is having an open to visitors day Grand Opening of their new cabin which looks beautiful! Dec 29th I believe so get out and celebrate that club's efforts - trail is groomed and free that day. Cheers - V

Dec 23/12 - Lots of Snow & Snowing

1 Foot on the trail down here and 3ft ON THE TRAIL at Ptolemy Pass/McCool Trail to Corbin. This hits around 6200ft so the alpine is getting more. Curt said he had the little 370 Arctic Cat of Sommer's pinned trying to manage the snow in the trail left by Cooper on the 800. He is pumped! We are blowing snow AGAIN in the yard. Avy report says there is a weak inversion in the alpine. It is -10 here and is snowing steadily here and up top. Likely more than the 20cm expected to fall last night up there since we have so much on the trail between 4500 and 6200ft. Temps are improving and are supposed to be in the -5 range over the next few days. Wind has let off down here and from reports...up top it is expected to be light also. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Dec 22/12 - Cold Snap

Hi - just a quick note. We got another 8cm overnight and Curt was blowing snow again in the yard today. The temp dropped to -17 here and -21 when we were in Pincher today. Wind picked up and is blowing snow around so there will be wind cross loaded slopes to watch for in the alpine likely. Temps are supposed to go back to the -7 to -11 range tomorrow and over the next few days. More light snow will accompany it and it was snowing up top today by the looks of it. Check your avy reports for weather forecasting - they are pretty good at the finer points. Cheers - V

Dec 20/12 - lots of fresh snow

We have 30cm of new snow on the trail and a bit more than that as you head up. Cooper put video of he and Sommer sledding out of the yard up the trail just a couple of kms on Facebook on Summit Creek Cabins - it is the best visual for how much the trails everywhere would have improved over the course of this day. Still snowing lightly tonight and more expected tomorrow. Its only -2 right now at 9:30pm. A bit breezy tonight so there will likely be some wind loading up in the alpine. Trees will be full of new snow. Cheers - V

Dec 20/12 - Snowing steady

Good Morning - it is -5 and snowing significantly. We have 8cm (3inches) of fresh snow today so far and it is snowing steady here and up top. There is a snowfall warning for our area and Fernie for 15-25cm more to fall (30cm = 1ft)in the next 12hrs. More flurries in the forecast for Friday. Roads are pretty good and at the East end of the Pass they have not had near the snow we have had so don't be discouraged driving Hwy #3. The photos are of highway #3 right before you make a lefthand turn off to our place and then the next photo shows the road down into our place and if you were wondering where the trail starts ....you can see the sign & gate right next to the log cabin. Bed to Sled to Trail. The photo of the other cabins shows our tracks and the snow that has accumulated on the picnic table in 4 days. Whatever falls down here there is way more than that up top. Looks like a White Christmas (or excellent last day of sledding before the end of the world...mayan calander joke). Cheers - V

Dec 19/12 - Report from off Pipeline

Hi - Photo is of the snowfall two nights ago, 15-20cms - I was blowing snow. It is -6 and lightly snowing. It is supposed to snow daily til Monday and the avy report for South Rockies predicts 30-35cm of snow in the next 48hrs. Have guests here who were out off the pipeline up the powerline and playing in the trees and said the pipeline wasn't very good - not a bunch of snow but the trees had 90cms (3ft) of fresh snow! They had a blast. Read your avalanche report for current and predicted weather and know that it will take a few days after a storm for consolidation so ratings usually go up - so choose your terrain accordingly and enjoy the snow! Cheers - V

Dec 17/12 - Still snowing

Good Evening gang. Here is our place as you sit at the turnout coming from the West overlooking Summit Lake with our place at the end. And the next one lets you see how the cabins are situated behind the house. We have 15cm (6 inches) of new snow down here and still snowing. I hesitated posting these photos because you can see the tall grass still poking through which might deter some but I wanted you to see that just behind us as you go up in altitude that the 6000ft range was getting a good dose of snow. Those who ride here won't be bothered with the grass showing because they know how it changes in a thousand feet. There is enough snow down here that I am going to have to plough tonight. It is -3 right now. I suspect that if the temps drop then we will see a halt to the snow til Thurs but if it stays in that -5 range then we may keep getting it or at least the alpine will. Greg Hertz called and said they were in Limestone and agreed to Derrick's observation that there was about 18 inches of fresh snow but over there it was bottomless in some areas. The backside of Limestone, commonly referred to as Avalanche Alley was rocky and had windswept bare spots. So you are going to get set up base in some places and bottomless in others - but the trees are the best playground right now for consistent snow depth. If you watch the avalanche report you can get a good sense of the trends....storm snow = higher risk until it bonds or shows that is isn't going to bond with the snow beneath it. Keep doing the snow dance! Cheers - V

Dec 17/12 - Significant snowfall

Morning. Its -5 and the snowfall predicted has arrived and is heavier and thicker than we have had in a while. Avy report predicts a foot of fresh snow up in the alpine and I am sure we will get at least that. We have at least 5cm this morning. 1/6th of the way there. Tuesday and Wednesday are supposed to drop down to -14 then it is supposed to come back up to -2 and more snow by Thursday/Friday. Was out on the trail yesterday just behind our place and it is dusty snow on a hard base at our place and then 3km up the trail and a 1000ft the snow is about 15cm deep. There are a wide variety of conditions out there so keep your expectations of low elevation riding in check. This snow will make a difference on the trails if it keeps up. I think we are on our way. Cheers - V

Dec 16/12 - Rain Gauge report

Morning, the guys rode Rain Gauge yesterday and said it was 18 inches to 2ft fresh in the trees with a solid base that gave lots of traction. Above the trees was a bit thin though and they didn't bother riding it. It snows lightly every day and yesterday in Fernie you couldn't see the ski hill a lot of the time so it was snowing more up top. We are still waiting for that big dump of snow though. Temps are still in that -5 to -10 range. Cheers - V

Dec 14/12 - Report from Heartbreak

Howdy, Derrick and his crew are here for a couple days and they were up in Heartbreak today - said no sign of anyone else being in there and it was lightly snowing. The guys said there was a foot of fresh on top and it wasn't a crusty layer beneath that - just regular base. Never hit a stump but a few sleds have that pine fresh smell from not believing hard enough they could make it THROUGH THE HOLE between two trees on some good climbs in the trees. All good though - no carnage. When I asked about the trail they said it was okay, shoulder shrug, ya know, but agreed to what I had said in previous blogs, it isn't a cruise in some fluffy snow - it is simply good enough to ride. We are -4 right now and no wind. It is supposed to continue the trend and snow lightly up there for the next couple of days. Its not dumping but it is slowly accumulating cm by cm. The avy report continues to improve but the big warning is for cornice loading. If one of those big ones come down it could trigger one of the deep weak layers in the slope below so avoid them. We are getting bookings steady so if you have a weekend you are hoping to get, give me a call to see if it is still open. We are booking during the week too so check on your date's availability. Get snow dancing gang! Cheers - V

Dec 12/12 - Light Snow on this 12/12/12 date

Hi - light snow daily with forecast for temps between -5 and -9 all week and accumulating a few centimeters at a time. Here is what it looked like driving west (home) from Coleman/Blairmore at 4pm. You should see Mountains but the veil of light snow starts a few kms east of our house. Trail is ride-able but its not a pleasure cruise down here. There will be more snow up top accumulating than what is down here as you can see from photos in the previous blogs. Avalanche reports are showing less risk as the snow from previous snowfalls starts to consolidate. We just pulled our avy packs for their pre-season check and had the refill done at Walt Healy in Calgary - thank you Trent. Have you checked your avy pack today?...Cheers - V

Dec 9/12 - Roger, Josh, James Riding Dec 6 &7/12

It has been snowing lightly but steady.....I am just going to let the photos from Roger, Josh and James who stayed with us the 6th & 7th and rode Limestone mostly just speak for itself. Said they had a great time and they know this area during any month so that says alot. Trail is getting so its dusty and not fluffy - recommend still trailering to get as close to the riding area you want rather than take time on getting there by the trail. Cheers - V

Dec 7/12 - Light Snow

Good Evening - it is -4 here and supposed to dip to -12 tonight and there are supposed to be light flurries and nice temps (-1 to -5) for the next few days. Some of it is reaching the ground but most is at the 5500ft level. These are photos from us driving back home from Coleman. They are taken from the Atlas Staging turn off on Hwy 3 by Devon Gas Plant. This is a frequent view for us. We fall just within that veil of light snow...often. Roger is here with crew and said trail is fine and they have been up in Limestone for two days ripping it up with sleds and snowbike. Finding all kinds of conditions up there. Crust with soft snow beneath, spring like set up, cross wind loaded slopes. No sign of avalanche activity or sluffing/pin-wheeling having occurred in that area but typically it doesn't slide there. They have been enjoying the trees the most. They ran into sledders out there who had been at Rolling Hills and said it was great. Expectations should be more spring like snow with the occasional find of deposits of light deep snow to just be enjoyed. We have still about the same few cms of snow in the yard with the trail at the back gate suddenly becoming a much thicker base with increasing amounts of light snow on top of it as it climbs up. Check you avalanche reports - lots happening over in the Lizard Range but it is under better supervision. More and more sleds on the road all the time! Cheers - V

Dec 5/12 - Snowing on and offI

Last night the wind must have really gusted through as it blew our weather vane off the garage. Today was a slightly gusty but consider that when you are in the alpine. The avy reports were talking about being wary of wind loading slopes. It was snowing hard at about 10am and had started around 9am as graupel (round balls of snow). I wanted to show you my foot prints and you can see that down low and at tree line the snow has a lot of moisture. The alpine would have gotten a fair amount of snow - likely around a foot as down at our altitude (4600ft) we had another 3cm yesterday and 2cm today - maybe more as it was gusting. Trails are fine and locals are out riding. Wish I could give you my own first hand report but our sleds are not ready yet. Still recovering from building and renovating the cabins. We are off to a slow start getting ourselves out there but our friends are happy to tell us all about their days out riding! We have regular guests coming tomorrow and they will be able to give us an up close honest read for my next reports. Cheers - V

Dec 2/12 - Report from Rain Gauge

Well it snowed almost all day down here and we have 3 inches of new snow as a result. Cooper did a tour 3km out back with the little Arctic Cat and said it got as deep as 1 foot of fresh snow. Brayden, Terry and George are at Corbin and were up in Rain Gauge today and it was 3-4ft of fresh in the bowl with just under a foot fresh down on the trail. There is a bit of a crust. I believe you can get some photos of that off our facebook - Curtis was mentioning they looked great. I noticed that there was a small bit of graupel on top of the wetter layer we had today. It is 2 degrees right now and supposed to be mixed precipitation (which means snow up at elevation) til Thursday. I would say you could have some stump-less riding in now. Watch your avy reports and terrain and have some fun! Cheers -V

Dec 2/12 - Snowing

It is snowing and supposed to keep snowing for the next 24hrs. It has been snowing up top through the rain that we were getting down here. Not sure how much new stuff is up there but some reports have said almost a foot of new snow with it being wet snow at tree line but the the frost line has come all the way down now so we are getting the snow down here too. Trails still held their snow through the drizzle over the past few days so that just shored up the base and this will just be adding to that. Zero Degrees - Cheers -V