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There was no skiable snow in the late winter of 2001. The temperatures hinted no possibility of snow anytime soon until the last weeks of the year. Bloomington had a white powdering of snow on the morning of December 25th, but otherwise no promise of snow soon.
Sunday January 6, 2002: Snow was predicted to begin on the afternoon of Saturday January 5th, but it did not come by midnight and the air temperature made it seem unlikely that we would get even the 1" of snow predicted. The snow came. By sunrise the depth of the snow was 1" and a few hours later it reached approximately 2-1/2" to 3". This skier was doubtful that the snow would be skiable due to the warm 33º F. temperature. Duty to this web site got me to go to the IU Golf Course. Tracks showed that five or six other XC skiers had come and gone before my 1 P.M. arrival. I skied a large cycle covering about 1/2 of the golf course. I had no trouble with snow sticking and the tracks left by others looked as though no one was having major problems of sticking. This snow was much better than one had a right to expect on a 33º first snow of the season. the ski season has begun... finally! As always let me remind, we are lucky to have two Golf Courses that permit our use of their facilities. Please avoid the greens!
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Monday January 7:
I checked out Karst park on this morning. Skiing at 9:30 am, the
temperature was well below freezing and the snow was deep enough for skiing
almost everywhere at the park. There were several cross country tracks
put down by other bloomington cross country skiers. There was some
grass showing in sundays tracks, but the established tracks were faster
than making new tracks in most cases. I did find very large gravel
on the most northern path at the back of the nature trail, so avoid that.
All of the other trails were gentle on one's skis.
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Tuesday/Wednesday January 8 & 9: The temperature at 7:30 am was 19º on Tuesday morning. This skier hoped to get out early again on this day to enjoy the frozen snow but instead did a short ski outing at Cascades Golf Course at 12:15 PM. The snow was beginning to melt in the brightest sunlight and I had my first problem of snow sticking on the skis. There was lots of evidence of cross country skiing as well as sledding over the weekend. Wednesday morning there was still a good covering of snow that was frozen with the night temperatures, but by 12:30 PM brown spots were growing. By Thursday temperatures were in the 50º F. and there was no skiable snow anywhere near Bloomington.
Saturday January 19th: We have had plenty of cold enough temperatures, but not enough moisture. Friday night/ Saturday morning we were on the edge of a winter tract with moisture coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. There was hope that we might get up to 3", but only got 2" or possibly less, still as a responsibility to this web site, I went to the IU Golf Course at 11 Am. There was a fair amount of grass showing through the snow, but skiing was surprisingly fun. Two other persons had been out earlier and while I was skiing, I saw a couple X-C skiing with their dog along for a run. No trouble with sticking and this dry snow was gliding pretty good considering the mix of grass in the glide. You could ski anyplace on the golf course, but it was best in the paths where the cross country runners frequent. The grass everywhere was easy on the base of ones skis.
Sunday January 20th: Persons reading this on the 20th and looking around would say, "now I know this guy is lying about these days that he has skied". No way would I have tried again today, except again for this web report. On the positive the sun never came out on this day so the temperature stayed low. There was a fair amount of snow lost on Saturday. I went to Karst park. I didn't get out until 11 AM. There was enough snow to ski to the nature trail from the parking lot. The nature trails were very fun. The snow was gliding fine, but today was a day to be glad that the new scratches on my old skis will not be noticed among the history of less than perfect ski days of years past. I did ski one of the soccer fields for a few minutes, but the glide was not as good as the walkways in the nature trail. I found that the other walkways with gravel were not useable, but the grass everywhere that was white had a reasonable glide. Only in one small area of about 6 feet did I have to cross and area of no glide. There was a group of about 15 soccer players playing as I skied past their game. We both looked like we were out on the wrong day for our sports. If you are a bloomington skier, try out the Karst Park Nature trail some day, but as I mentioned earlier avoid the furthest from the back trail in the nature area, because the park has put big gravel there this year. Perhaps we can ask them not to do this in the future. I avoided that trail today and will do so until we have at least 4 inches of snow. As the sun was setting on this day, I had hope that Monday morning might leave enough snow for another try on the way to work monday.
Tuesday February 26th was the next snowfall in Bloomington. This winter had enough cold days but when it was cold, there was no moisture. There were so many warm days that everyone was saying there was no winter this year. Sunday the 24th of February had been 60º F. But this Tuesday morning began an constant snow fall throughout the day, sometimes hard. There was enough snow to ski by 5pm on tuesday, but the ground under this 2 or so inches of snow was still unfrozen. by 11pm skiing on the light powdery snow looked so invitingly wonderful in the bright moonlight, but unable to find anyone to join me, I did not go out. A temperature 19º and a light flurry of snow was continuing to fall at 11:30 pm. two weeks of late night winter Olympic viewing had left me ready for some longer nights sleep. (see Wednesday- this day was not skiable and not counted in the total above.)
Wednesday February 27th, Conditions looked great five inches of very light fluffy snow 16ºF. and temperatures predicted to stay low until the weekend. Still, when I got out to Karst park at 11 AM and the IU Golf Course at 7pm, the ground under the snow had not frozen. These two ski outings were the least fun I have ever had with skis on my feet. These days looked wonderful, but were not skiable. The loft of the snow had fallen to about one inch not from the surface air temperature, but from the warm earth. It was now expected that the first skiable day of this snow fall would be Thursday morning. We could use some more snow, but we are glad for this.
Thursday February 28th, Finally the ground was frozen. If one had skate skis, and didn't mind putting the base at risk for scratches, today wouldhave been a good day to practice some skate technique. I didn't have mine waxed, so I will go out on my old in track skis. Maybe I will see you at the IU Golf Course or Karst Park.
