Mud Lake loop ski

On Saturday morning we skied into the gorge to see what the creek was doing, then we went around the Mud Lake loop.

On the reopened Vista trail.  Skiing was quite good today.

Looking down on Side-winder trail. 
With its southern exposure, it's getting bare.

We took these signs down since we'll reopen
the Mud Lake loop plus make improvements to it this fall.

Almost back to Churning Rapids.

Skiing on trail #4 (River Trail) along the creek.

 

Up the Pine Loop bypass. Hope you got out, too!

Business memberships now offered.

 Keweenaw Nordic is now offering business memberships for $300 per year. We have the only 100% dog  friendly trails in the Houghton, Hancock area and sell over 250 memberships annually.

For your annual membership, your business will be advertised in 4 different venues:

*At our 2 trail heads, via an attractive wood plaque on the kiosk.

 *On our blog, which trail users visit frequently throughout the season to check trail conditions  (over 2000 views annually)

 *Plus on our web page, which trail users check for general  club information. (over 2000 views annually)    If you don't have a web page, we will display your info however you like.

*In our trail map tri-fold fliers, which are used by local and visiting trail users; 300 are distributed annually. 

If you would like more information about becoming a business member, please email Sandy at
sandyaronsonpt@gmail.com
  

 

Swedetown Creek bridge inspection.

On Saturday morning a few of us went down the gorge to check on bridges and a few other things.
Special note; we may not be grooming but skiing, snowshoeing, phat biking or walking are all good.

On the Pine Loop descent.
This was quite popular so we'll be grooming it again
next year with a few improvements.

This bridge has quite a bow to it.  Read more about it later in this post

 

We found that enough snow had melted off to make any more
grooming quite difficult.

 

This is looking on top of the dam just below the "dam meadow".

Water was up from the rain we had received and falls were quite pretty.

This is The Middle Bridge. We'll be starting work to replace it very shortly.
Would you like to help??

 

We locked up the club's storage trailer.

We took the bike path back.

View of the upstream bridge.

We found this bridge to be a tad narrow for winter use and in
need of a railing.  We plan to widen it sightly,  increase its strength
and add a railing to it.

Swedetown creek gorge ski

Today a few of us skied all the trails in the gorge plus a few along it's north edge.  

It was surprisingly good!

We started from Tomasi TH.

Down Tomasi RD we went. Snow was marginal here.

BC on the north lip of the gorge.

Now on the Vista trail.

Snow along Side-winder decent had been sloughing off and tumbling down.

 

Swedetown creek is not all that high yet.

   

 

This pedestrian bridge had quite a bow in it.
We hope to widen and strength it plus add a railing
 to it sometime.   Would you help with that??

We really, really had a nice ski today.

End of grooming? You can still ski!

Our weather has certainly flipped over to the spring mode.  :-(  Skiing remains open, good and in spring like condition.   Unless the weather cools and more snow arrives, we'll not be grooming anymore this year.  

Thanks to all for your participation in events, for many hours and kinds of help, and your membership which keeps us open.

Do note that because of KNSC and the City of Hancock's ongoing efforts, Maasto Hiihto's trails which are entirely on private land, including Swedetown creek gorge, remain open to the public.   If you'd like to see that continue, you should help by purchasing a membership.

Thanks to everyone who's helped!!

Maasto groomed Sunday morning, March 8

As of 11 am, the city side (Maasto portions) have been drug and new tracks have been set. Tracks on the Churning Rapids trails will be re-set tomorrow morning.  Snow conditions are perfect, so use or buy your ski pass and enjoy the trails.

Saturday, March 7, 2015 Brief Conditions report

Maasto-Churning Rapids are in excellent condition with about an inch of light, fluffy new snow over the groomed trails.  Tracks are set and the popular trails are well used. Some open areas have wind blown snow partially covering the trail for short sections, but all trails have great skiing conditions.

Good skiing up Swedetown Creek above Tomassi road.  Enjoy!

Thursday back in black.

After the terrible wind we received yesterday,  Sam was out this morning and drug the drifts and fresh snow we got, flat again.  Photos say it all. 

Everything is again Excellent.

On the RR grade in town.

In the sand pit.

As seen in Churning Rapids.

Glide N Gorge, Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club, Maasto Hiihto, 2015

Here is a great video made by Sarah Eles while doing the GNG.  Thanks Sarah!

GNG come and gone!

The 7th annual Glide-n -Gorge was Sunday.
Folks who were not able to make it, missed a good one!
Our trail supporters donated about $1500 at this year's Glide. Proceeds will go towards replacing our aged Rhino UTV which is once again in the shop for expensive repairs. Each season our largest revenue source - memberships - falls thousands of dollars short of our operating expenses.  We could not keep the trails open without additional fundraising. Next year, be sure all your friends come to the Glide too!

Folks are rolling in and purchasing tickets from Sandy.

Looks like we'll have a crowd here today.

Out on the trail.

Dogs being grilled and served at the 1st stop.

Looks like fun!

Kids on the route.

Folks are chatting at the soup station.

Participants are now gliding back to the chalet

Live music!

Globes of ice are quite interesting.

We had so much fun.