Skiing in Bloomington Indiana winter of 1998-99

John at Indiana University Golf Course -Photo by Mamrou Ito.

The winter of 1998-99 Bloomington had no cross country ski-able days until December 31, 1998 Thursday December 31, 1998 The fall of 1998 was very warm and dry. We wore shorts and short sleeves through most of November. The final week of the year temperatures dropped to daytime highs in the lower twenties or upper teens. Snow fell the night of December 30th. The morning of the 31st, we were treated to five degrees and three powdery inches of snow. Cross-Country skiing seems to be getting more popular in Bloomington, because by 11 A.M. when we arrived at the IU golf course, tracks would suggest that 50 skiers had beat us to our quest to be first out. Those skiers probably found conditions ideal, because despite clear direct sun on the snow, by 11:30 we will still gliding with ease with our scratched old waxless in-track skis that had seen no silicone since last season. Air temperature reached only 15 degrees for the day. We did find some snow sticking on our skis if we stood too long on slopes most directly facing the sun. Friday and Saturday are predicted to bring us snow that will stay for the week to come. A wonderful end to an off year. We predict good snow and good skiing for 1999. Friday January 1, 1999 By early afternoon, after a long sleep from a New Year Night's folly, we looked out our window to enjoy snow undiminished in splendor and depth, knowing that others in our skiing community have enjoyed hours of golf courses skiing, laying down the tracks that we will all enjoy for the week to come. No sun on this day promised, we are going to get more snow! Our thermometer read 15 F. By 5 P.M. Heavy snow began adding inches of snow base. Visits with friends rendered our feet glideless, but returning home at 10 PM past the IU Golf Course showed that no one was enjoying the wonderful nighttime skiing available. Despite overcast and still snowing conditions, a nearly full moon surely made this a wonderful night ski experience for some Bloomington XC-ski hounds.

Saturday January 2, 1999

"A snow emergancy", "One of the major snowstorms of the decade for Indiana", is the word from Indianapolis Television. Being on the Southern edge of a major storm in the freezing rain/ ice, reporters were dispatched to Bloomington. Unfortunately by 4:30 A.M. unusual temperature conditions over 1000 feet up was causing the snow to turn to rain and hit the snow on the ground as ice. Rain skiing would have been possible and quite enjoyable for one in breathable rain-gear. By mid-afternoon temperature began dropping again and the night skier would have been able to ski on top of seven inches of snow covered in a thick coat of ice from the sky and melting snow. A small amount of snow Saturday night would lead to perfect skate-ski conditions. This skier enjoys the freedom that skiing in any direction freed from tracks that comes from melted then re frozen snow.

Sunday January 3, 1999

Seven inches of snow covered in ice, but the hoped for top layer of snow had not developed by morning. Dark skies and a light snowfall still made this still a possibility by 8 A.M. The overcast skies and cold temperatures kept the ice hard. Snow flurries all day made the hope of a skiable surface seem likely, but strong winds and very smooth ice left a surface impossible to ski without steel edges. This skier has used in track skis with a 18" steel under each foot and wishes that he had them now. So much snow, but we need a rain changing to snow, followed by a cold spell.

Monday January 4, Tuesday January 5, 1999

This skier had company from out of town and could not ski to figure out the conditions which had not changed much since Sunday. We must count these three days as non-ski days dispite winter conditions that closed schools everywhere near. Weird.

Wednesday January 6, 1999

Exactly the conditions this skier hoped for; a short period of warmth with rain, quickly changing to snow, allowed the snow to stick to the formerly very slick ice. Cold Canada air followed with 1 1/2 inches of snow, resulting in a very nice gliding snow, easy to set new tracks and conducive to skate skiing. The only drawback was a hard ice under the thin layer of snow that required a forceful setting of ones poles. Wednesday night brought 1 1/2 more inches of new snow.

Thursday January 7, 1999

Great Skiing opportunities all day, but what a change. About two inches of new fluffy snow in the morning, but by 11:30 PM a freezing rain despite an air temperature of 23º F. The wet snow looks like warm snow that sticks to ones skis when air temperature is melting snow, but skiing in freezing rain has been some of this skiers favorite outings. The glide was excellent and the prior days problem of setting ones pole was corrected by a gentle softening of the buried ice layer. This skier has enjoyed the past two days with laps around the Karst Farm park on the West side of Bloomington. Establishing tracks for the days and hopefully weeks to follow has been my goal. Walkers had used yesterdays tracks. While skiing I was wondering if the Bloomington parks would install signs asking hikers to avoid cross country tracks and whether such signs would help or hurt this problem. We have enough snow now, one can ski any where one has found skiable in the past. More snow was predicted for this evening.

Friday January 8, 1999

A little more snow and lots more fun.

Saturday January 9, 1999

No more snow, but the conditions remain great everywhere. A little crusty on the top, but good skiing in track or creating new tracks. Skate skiing is possible, but the crunchy top layer makes the skis a little too directional.

Sunday January 10, 1999

The top layer of ice softened even more, making the skiing better yet. The snow is excellent for skiing every where in the area. Anyone not skiing now, is not trying.

Monday January 11, 1999

More good skiing today, but the temperature is starting up. Those who hate snow are hoping for a meltdown. This skier worked in a lap around Bryan park at 5:30 PM. Neighborhood skiers have set tracks and I added some new routes. The location is a little small with too many feet tracks for my liking, but good glide and nice rolling hills. The snow was soft enough that no ice problems remain. The three layers of ice and snow, made the snow covered paved but unplowed parking lot on the South end of the park as skiable as the rest of the grounds. Air termperature was warmer than past days and a X-C skier on foot commented, "Oh, it is still ski-able?"...Yes very.

Tuesday January 12, 1999

Morning temperature of 40º, but the snow remained very ski-able. The loft of untouched snow dimished faster over the nights warm up, leaving the prior days ski tracks taller than the surrounding snow. At times I used the space between the tracks to serve as a track to guide my skis. Sking out of track was as easy as in track. Weather predictions are for a drop in temperature and more snow on Wednesday, but the forcasters prediction says we will not have snow by the end of the week.

Wednesday January 13, 1999

The snow had largely melted by sunrise, but most of the ground was still covered in white snow and ice this morning. A steady rain was falling all day, quickly melting the snow, but still quite ski-able if one likes the cold rain. Indianapolis experienced freezing rains that closed all the states central interstate highways from time to time with car crashes. The freezing rain was predicted for Bloomington by 11 A.M., but did not actually arrive until 4 P.M. This skier tested the remaining snow in a light freezing rain at 5 P.M. Finding snow at Karst Farm Park seemed would be a problem . Areas used in the days past had some areas with no snow. It was noticed that the two side-by-side soccer fields to the right of the drive entrance had 100% unblemished snow cover remaining. Melting and freezing rain left approximately 3 to 4 inches of ice / snow mixture. The surface was great gliding, probably the fastest I have ever skied. Poles set easily, but the technique required was somewhere between classic Nordic, skating and double pole in-track style. Side slipping was troublesome, but manageable, as I first modified classic skied and then put on my short skate skis. A more skilled skate skier could have had a great time!

Thursday January 14, 1999

This skier got out twice on this day. In the morning I skied the area of Karst Farm Park that had been reported as "areas with no snow" on the Thirteenth. Overnight a light dusting of snow fell on the thin ice cover from Wednesday, even "bare grass" was skiable with an ice/snow freeze stuck to the individual blades. The prior weeks worth of set tracks were of little to no help, but the glide was excellent. Setting of ones poles was good, but holding ones direction was fair to very bad, because of the lack of snow. Snow held up well on the nature walk area, except for the footsteps that were all over our set tracks. If you go to Karst Farm Park be sure to ski the Nature Walk Area which feels like a true Cross country ski trail. For some reason the ability to climb hills on this daywas easier than would have been expected, considering the glide one achieved on the down hills. This was especially true during my evening ski with a friend on Cascades Golf Course. Dare-devils, the both of us, we had a great time all over the course getting to the top of the tallest rises and finding the steepest descents. A couple hours was all it took to have a great outing. Too few people had been skiing Cascades this year. Check it out, but stay off the greens and watch out for the ropes that are in several areas of Cascades Golf Course.

Friday January 15, 1999

Earlier it had been feared that the temperature would have risen to 50º as predicted, but instead, my thermometer read 10º F. at 8 A.M., and 28º by 1:30 P.M. Conditions remained unchanged from Thursday. I got out at 3:30 P.M. The air temperature was 32º F. I skied with no hat or jacket. A very light soft powder remained on the surface and only the bare spots were a little less ski-able. The weather predictions are for the end of this snow, and the warm-up that they said should have been here Thursday. My skier side, hopes they are wrong again. This how a bicycle shop owner stays sane and in shape in the winter. I wonder how much per ski outing a person would have spent if they had invested $150 on a complete outfit for Christmas 1998. Not much by my estimation and that is just the beginning. My skis are at least ten years old.

Saturday January 16, 1999

The temperature rose to above freezing all day today. Ground temperature stayed cold enough that no change in ski conditions occurred over night. The snow was ski-able all day and night, but brown spots (I suppose some are actually green.) are growing.

Sunday January 17, 1999

I went to Karst park at 10 A.M. not knowing if I would find snow or not. Some fields as I approached from the West were very spotty with less snow than ground and others were almost completely snow / ice covered. The snow coverage at Karst was about 80%, but large areas of the prior set tracks were now grass on the field at the South West corner of the park. I decided to give the skate skis a quick try and discovered today to be the best skate-ski day so far. The little technique that I had from 1997 is almost gone, so I spent an hour working on my style. Several loops on the rolling hills on the SW. field, and then I decided to use the soccer fields to the right of the entrance to the park, because of their flatness and more perfect snow cover. The air was warm. I used no gloves, hat or jacket. I almost went down to my t-shirt, but a turn up into the wind made me decide that a little sweat was a good thing. Remember: if it's white, you can ski it. This day most skiers probably thought it was all over till the next snowfall. Snow leaving can be much thinner than snow arriving, because the ground temperature is colder than the air temperature. Once again, I had a great ski day on a day most would have thought not ski-able. Skate skiing in Bloomington is best when snow is on the wane, You get a great workout and can fly with speed in any direction on a thin layer of stiff snow. Heavy rain moved in Sunday evening. Ending this run of ski days. Time to ride bikes indoors and out till the next snow.

January, February, March

Most of February was very warm. Perhaps warmer than February 1997. We had no snow for the month since my last entry. Temperatures only got down toward seasonal the very last of February and early March.

Tuesday March 9, 1999

Unbelievable! That is what I was thinking as I was gliding across green snow this morning. The prediction had been for four to six inches of snow for Bloomington for the morning, but by Nine P.M. on Monday night we were receiving a heavy freezing rain / sleet mix that turned to a heavy snow for an hour or so and then changed to a moderate to light rain through the night and morning. The temperature remained around freezing. Schools were on two hour delayed opening. By daybreak of 7:30 A.M. the snow was of questionable ski worthiness. Still the duty to report on this page got this skier to suit up and take my skis to Karst Farm Park. As I drove in the drive, I almost continued on to work seeing so much grass showing through the 1 1/2" of snow. My experience with skiing in rain told me it was worth a try. I couldn't believe it, and I doubt that those who chose not to try this snow will believe what I am about to describe. The glide was good. Snow sticking to ones skies was non-existent. Returning on the same tracks I went out on resulted in still no sticktion or contact with ground. Interestingly the best place to ski was the paved walking trails along the dividing line between the Monroe County Fairgrounds and Karst Park. The ice mixture under the snow allowed for a very natural feel to setting of ones pole and the snow surface was smooth with a good glide. The only sign that glide was not great was that descending slopes did not allow for good two feet gliding and double poling. I used my oldest ski's at first, because I expected to ski through to the ground, but despite skiing all over the park, I only contacted ground in the form of one large piece of gravel between the paved walking trail and the nature walk area. Everywhere the glide was OK to good. On return to my truck, I decided to try the skate ski's. I would not have tried these if the ground were a threat to my ski's base. The glide was OK in the grass and good on the walking trails. I would rate this perhaps the best day yet for Bloomington skate skiing this year. I wonder if anyone else in town even tried this day that looked so unlikely. As I write this at 2:30 P.M. the temperature is 33 degrees and the snow slushy, still I bet the skiing is not bad. Lesson to take from all this, is if the ground is white and it is raining, go for it.

Wednesday March 10, 1999

I skied Karst Park at 10:30 A.M. on my way to work. There was more grass showing and again I questioned if it was even worth trying. This time the two footed glide down slopes was fast right away. The taller grass was a little slow, so I had to stay to the whiter areas which indicated shorter grass. (I have no sense that grass hurts one's skies.) The paved walk ways were still a good area to ski but I was careful not to set my poles hard, because the ice mixture was softer than it had been on Tuesday. All of the mowed soccer fields worked well and I had no problem with dragging on soil anywhere, but today I did have to keep my eyes open to avoid occasional bare small spots and large grassy areas. Even the green areas were skiable, but with more drag. I very successfully skate skied a little before hurrying in to work late.

At 2:30 PM I drove to the IU golf course to see if others in Bloomington had discovered the ski worthiness of this snow. The answer was no. I clicked into my waxless in track skis and took off across the driving range. The snow / ice was fast with no depth to slow you down, so I skate skied on my in track skis. I returned to my truck and put on my skate skies. On this day the skate skis worked great at both IU and earlier at Karst Park. I fell once and my pants got muddy. The golf course was in great shape for skiing, too bad everyone missed it. Today the temperature had been under 32 in the morning, but was above freezing in the early afternoon. I experienced no sticking. The lesson of snow on the wane being quite skiable, seems to hold true. I have heard that Eskimo's have over 200 words describing snow. The more I ski the more I can understand why.