XC Skiing - Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center

Despite temperatures hovering near 40 at home, and bare spots everywhere, there's still lots of good local skiing around. What's changed is our definition of "local". We live in a valley location, but are fortunate to be surrounded by areas of higher elevation a reasonable distance from home, in many different directions. Going to one of these areas, 1200-1500' higher than home, we've been finding some pretty good snow still hanging on.



We skied today at Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center, high on the Rensselaer Plateau, leass than an hour to our east. A commercial XC area in that area had reported 4-7 inches of new snow over the past several days, so we decided to give Dyken Pond a try, on a mild sunny day. We weren't exactly prepared for what we found.



There was indeed about 4" of new dry powder, atop a firm 8-10" base, and the trees were all covered with the new snowfall. I had brought my "rock skis", concerned about the possibility of thin cover, but that was not a problem at all. Rocks and roots were well-covered. Temperatures only got to about 30, so the snow never got sloppy. We were setting first tracks in the shallow powder on much of the terrain we covered today.



The trails at Dyken Pond were not laid out with skiing in mind. They're essentially hiking trails, and are sometimes narrow, twisting, and rough. But with the new snow atop the firm base, the skiing was excellent, if at times challenging. Several short downhill pitches, including zig-zags between trees and rocks, required quick footwork to avoid straddling a tree. It was backcountry skiing at its best.

We're expecting sleet and rain over the weekend, even at higher elevations, so next week may find us at a groomed XC ski center, for lack of other choices.