Results for the 2012 Iowa Winter Games are on the racing and results page.
http://iowaskirace.blogspot.com/
http://iowaskirace.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Iowa Winter Games 1/28/2012
Sorry folks forgot about the Iowa Winter Games...
1/28/2012, this Saturday in Dubuque, the venue is the Mines of Spain
http://www.iowagames.org/Sports/WinterGames/CrossCountrySkiing.aspx
1/28/2012, this Saturday in Dubuque, the venue is the Mines of Spain
http://www.iowagames.org/Sports/WinterGames/CrossCountrySkiing.aspx
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Decent snow from Hwy 30 and up
The snow seems to be deepest East of I80 and from Hwy30 North. Around the Cedar Rapids area I'd recommend the Matsell Bridge area and Pinicon Ridge. Further North Mason City, Cresco, and Decorah have to decent skiing. No word from Waterloo or Dubuque yet. Brett
Friday, January 20, 2012
Do your snow dance
Start your snow dance folks. Latest forecasts are predicting 3-7 inches from Hwy 20 North and 1-3 in the lower latitudes. I'm hoping they are guessing low... Brett
Friday, January 13, 2012
Snow depth around Iowa
Looks like Eastern and NE Iowa picked up 4 inches of snow and upwards.
Interactive Snow Map for 1/13/2012
Decorah has already reported in with decent snow to classic ski upon, I'd probably lean towards your rock skis of either discipline for now.
Keep your eyes peeled to the conditions page for updates. We should hear from the Cresco folks pretty soon and Dubuque as well.
Make the most of what we've got everyone! Brett
Interactive Snow Map for 1/13/2012
Decorah has already reported in with decent snow to classic ski upon, I'd probably lean towards your rock skis of either discipline for now.
Keep your eyes peeled to the conditions page for updates. We should hear from the Cresco folks pretty soon and Dubuque as well.
Make the most of what we've got everyone! Brett
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Wintervention
Sad to say I'm excited by a midweek "cold" snap and 40% chance of flurries. Let's hope the weather guy is wrong and it dumps. We need a wintervention.
To keep yourself entertained in the interim, try Warren Miller's 2011 movie, now available at the Iowa City Public Library. This addition to the collection doubles the total number of rad ski films at the library (they already owned Steep). Warren Miller's Wintervention is going to be at the top of the stairs, straight ahead, in the "new" nonfiction film shelf--Dewey Decimal 796-something. Steep will be in Dewey Decimal 796-something, nonfiction films.
To keep yourself entertained in the interim, try Warren Miller's 2011 movie, now available at the Iowa City Public Library. This addition to the collection doubles the total number of rad ski films at the library (they already owned Steep). Warren Miller's Wintervention is going to be at the top of the stairs, straight ahead, in the "new" nonfiction film shelf--Dewey Decimal 796-something. Steep will be in Dewey Decimal 796-something, nonfiction films.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Just plain odd weather
Well I'm getting some decent mileage on the bicycle... What are the rest of you doing to keep from getting the Winter blahs? Brett
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
No favors
Well temps aren't doing us ski type folk any favors. Ground temp has gone back up with the past couple of warm days. Perhaps a white holiday season is still in the cards...
Monday, December 12, 2011
Weather change over
Have we advanced into the next season yet? Seems as though the seasonal time frames have slid back a month or more. The center latitude of Iowa weather forecast is for rain. Northern Iowa might get the white fluffy stuff, cross your fingers and watch the site. Maybe a weekend trip to Mason City, Cresco, and Decorah are in your near future.
I'm working on some weekend packages with the afore mentioned areas hotels, motels, along with B & B's. Something along the lines of a Friday and Saturday night stay.
Brett
I'm working on some weekend packages with the afore mentioned areas hotels, motels, along with B & B's. Something along the lines of a Friday and Saturday night stay.
Brett
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Back Country Skiing
Back country ski bum CT Kruckeberg has been playing in some new areas, check out his post on the conditions page.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Ski Conditions & reports page has moved
We've moved the skiing conditions to a sub page of the Update. You will find the usual XC trail conditions and also down hill conditions for Iowa skiers. You may click on the Click here for Iowa Ski Conditions link above or under links to the right - Brett
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Biker down, Birkebeiner founders killed while riding bicycle
One of the founders of the American Berkebeiner, David Landgraf, was hit and killed by a motorist while riding his bicycle last Friday 8/5/11.
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201108090920/APC0101/110809044
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201108090920/APC0101/110809044
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Summer Ski Stoke #2
Well, one great ski in the Rockies in late June wasn't good enough for me. Had to try July snow. These are from the July 4, 2011, weekend at Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. If you are headed this way, pack your XC or touring kit. While the lifts are now officially closed, the Bird, Alta, and Brighton all have tons of snow left. You could realistically cruise the green groomers on a basic XC set. Or, for more fun, bring your 3-pin, AT, or system tele skis and go steep. American Fork Twin Peaks is in shape, as is Pioneer and Baldy. Of course this is all at your own risk and you need to know how to judge the changing conditions of Rockies snow in the sunshine.
I went lazy and used the lifts at the Bird for the 4th weekend. Every face in this pic was skiable and excellent. The stuff you see in the sun was good from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. The stuff in the shadows softened up and was great from about 11 to noon. After that, everything was a sno-cone.
The cliffs were pretty much out of the question. Nothing soft below them, so hitting them was a great idea if you were looking to do a cheap vertebra fuse-job.
Lines from the bookends traverse and the in the bookends themselves were very nice and barely traveled, so the snow remained in good form.
And toward noon, as your quads cried out for mercy, there were sunny, super-sloppy groomers to pass the time. Nothing green was open at the Bird, so even these had some fun in them. Blue-black was the simplest actual trail they had in service. Mostly black and double black. Only the upper mountain was open--Mineral Basin and the area served by the Little Cloud lift on the Gad side--so it kept a lot of the traffic down.
Winter is now only 5 (and 4/5ths) months away. Better get in shape.
Later
CT
I went lazy and used the lifts at the Bird for the 4th weekend. Every face in this pic was skiable and excellent. The stuff you see in the sun was good from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. The stuff in the shadows softened up and was great from about 11 to noon. After that, everything was a sno-cone.
The cliffs were pretty much out of the question. Nothing soft below them, so hitting them was a great idea if you were looking to do a cheap vertebra fuse-job.
Lines from the bookends traverse and the in the bookends themselves were very nice and barely traveled, so the snow remained in good form.
And toward noon, as your quads cried out for mercy, there were sunny, super-sloppy groomers to pass the time. Nothing green was open at the Bird, so even these had some fun in them. Blue-black was the simplest actual trail they had in service. Mostly black and double black. Only the upper mountain was open--Mineral Basin and the area served by the Little Cloud lift on the Gad side--so it kept a lot of the traffic down.
Winter is now only 5 (and 4/5ths) months away. Better get in shape.Later
CT
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Summer Ski Stoke #1
Happy summer Iowa people! I've been looking for good skiing for months in Iowa, and have been striking out. So I headed to Beartooth Pass, on the Wyoming/Montana border, for the Red Lodge Summer Ski Race Camp. Plenty of snow to be had there. Much more than in Iowa City. These pics are from June 27, 2011.
Observe the excellent cornice, dropping into semi-steeps. If you like air, this is a great place to be in late June. The runs here were between 30 and 50 degrees, I'd say black to double-black to oh-hell-no-oh-hell-why-not.
For scale, see the little skier dead center in the photo along the midslope traverse. This was also an excellent cornice drop. Summer ski conditions generally make for very stable snow, even cornices. Did not seen anyone whacking their pole. Wet slides are really your only danger, but it never got that hot when I was there.
From the top, you can see the rollover of about 40 degrees and the poma tower. They had 2 pomas run by a remote generator. The ski office was a Winnebago. My kind of establishment.
Down low the terrain mellowed slightly, if you don't mind high-speed boulder dodging. One of the entrances to the bowl was the thin ribbon of snow you see at the top left of the photo. About 20 feet wide, corn snow, with rocks sticking up. Above, the ribbon connected to a snowfield near a hairpin turn where my car was parked, so this was the morning and post-lunch entrance to the facility. The ribbon dumped down into some very corny untouched snow. See the fresh, wide schusses in the snowfield above the poma tower. Them's mine. All mine! Uuu Ah Ha Ha Ha!
Winter starts in 6 months. Better get in shape.
Later,
CT
Observe the excellent cornice, dropping into semi-steeps. If you like air, this is a great place to be in late June. The runs here were between 30 and 50 degrees, I'd say black to double-black to oh-hell-no-oh-hell-why-not.
For scale, see the little skier dead center in the photo along the midslope traverse. This was also an excellent cornice drop. Summer ski conditions generally make for very stable snow, even cornices. Did not seen anyone whacking their pole. Wet slides are really your only danger, but it never got that hot when I was there.
From the top, you can see the rollover of about 40 degrees and the poma tower. They had 2 pomas run by a remote generator. The ski office was a Winnebago. My kind of establishment.
Down low the terrain mellowed slightly, if you don't mind high-speed boulder dodging. One of the entrances to the bowl was the thin ribbon of snow you see at the top left of the photo. About 20 feet wide, corn snow, with rocks sticking up. Above, the ribbon connected to a snowfield near a hairpin turn where my car was parked, so this was the morning and post-lunch entrance to the facility. The ribbon dumped down into some very corny untouched snow. See the fresh, wide schusses in the snowfield above the poma tower. Them's mine. All mine! Uuu Ah Ha Ha Ha!
Winter starts in 6 months. Better get in shape.Later,
CT
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