2021/2022 Cross country skiing

[patrick]

11/30 The upper buskin is actually pretty good. Today I skied up into the canyon and all the way to the waterfall. I've never seen such solid ice bridges in the canyon and it was a really easy ski. On the upper river however there are still some rocks and right before you get into the canyon some overflow to avoid. But the over flow ought to be frozen by tomorrow.

I did not ski the trails on the other side of the river, but the fields still do not have enough snow. The canyon is where it is at, and where I'll be tomorrow!

Also I noticed that the swampy acres lakes have snow adhered to the ice. They ought to be pretty good for skate skiing.

Patrick

[patrick]

12/1. And today the upper Buskin was even better. Dare I say EXCELLENT conditions! 2-3 inches of new dry powder. At the golf course there was a ground blizzard going and I almost turned around to go home. But once in the trees on the trail to the upper Buskin there was practically no wind. In the canyon it was calm but you could hear the wind howling 100 feet up above across the top of the ravine. I've never seen the ice bridges so solid and the 2-3 inches of new powder makes it perfect. The high winds seem to be blowing the snow down into the upper buskin so I bet it keeps accumulating.

Patrick

[mrsquishy]

I followed Patrick's tracks up the canyon to the waterfall on Thursday, 12/2. Just enough snow in most places for decent skiing. A couple short stretches were bare ice which was exciting on waxless skis. I sawed a few branches on the way up.
In one spot I deviated from the tracks to detour around bare ice and broke through with one foot, but didn't get wet. So....stay on the tracks. The farther up the canyon, the less wind.

[mrsquishy]

12.04.2022:
Accessed UB via upper trail. Overflow about 50 meters upstream from access point prevented further skiing upstream. Skied river down to lake and around part of lake, then skied the entire military road and back to river.
Met four people who had skied across Buskin Lake. They had seen a bear on the lake - not the sow and two cubs hanging out below the outlet.
We need more snow.

[patrick]

pesky overflow! But if you get around it I doubt it continues further upstream. But supposed to be warm tomorrow - hopefully we get more snow and it gets cold again! Also today I walked the dogs on Abercrombie lake. It looked like good cross country skiing - especially along the west shore.

[mrsquishy]

I skied across the lake and all the way up to the waterfall today - 3.2 miles. Excellent skiing the entire way. The overflow had frozen and had a little snow on top, so no problems. Ran into several other skiers taking advantage of the last day of canyon skiing for a while. The lake was superb for waxless skis and is probably good for skate skiing as well.

[Philip]

Thanks for the updates, and it's great to hear folks taking advantage of the conditions when they present themselves. For those not familiar with the lay of the land in the Upper Buskin, here is a map. Access is usually from the Buskin Lake outlet parking area (image right) or more commonly from the small parking area 0.7 miles past the golf course clubhouse.

[patrick]

12/8 Skiied to the waterfall yesterday - the same amount of snow as there was but the base is better armored. A few ice bridges collapsed but still pretty solid. The skiing is fast! There are icy sections where you need to double pole. Patrick

[patrick]

12/14. Buskin River canyon was EXCELLENT today. 2-3 inches of new dry powder on everything and no icy patches. Also really easy to get to waterfall. No water crossings either. I also checked out Lake Gertrude at Abercrombie and it was also excellent - and the moonrise glorious! If you want to go skiing after work it is hard to beat Abercrombie. Patrick

[mrsquishy]

Dec 15: Skied across lake and up to almost the waterfall. I turned around rather than risk the Ice Ledges of Doom to reach the last little bit to the waterfall. Excellent snow on lake and river although some folks had walked in the ski tracks near the mouth and upriver a ways.

[mrsquishy]

Dec 16: Once again, I skied across the lake, starting at the pump house, and then up to the Ice Ledges of Doom and then back. The lake skiing was excellent, going up the river snow was clumping under my waxless skis; the descent was fine. I saw two skiers come across the lake from the golf course and head up the river. The track is excellent right now.

[patrick]

12/17 It is good - even above the Ice ledges of doom! I bet even the alder tunnel and other trails would be good now.

[mrsquishy]

I'm planning to ski the military road and the alder tunnel today. I think I can access the alder tunnel by skiing up the rarely used stream bed labeled "tributary creek" at the head of the military road.

[mrsquishy]

Friday, 12/17: I was unable to make it all the way to the alder tunnel. However there is now a nice track the entire length of the military road.

[patrick]

12/19 Skied up to the blue icicles in Salonie Creek canyon. Excellent XC skiing! Road into the rifle range is a little iffy and on the river there are rocks. But once into the canyon it is all worth it. I have never skied up into the canyon in December before. And there is far less snow than usual. But excellent coverage and ice bridges excellent. unfortunately, the blue icicles aren't all that big this year.. .. YET.
Patrick

[mrsquishy]

12/22: I drove into the range and skied Salonie Creek most of the way to the blue icicles. Conditions have deteriorated since Patrick skied it, but it is still quite skiable. John Sikes put in tracks from the gate into the range, so the road is skiable. Patrick's old track had melted and refrozen and has many animal post holes, so it's pretty icy. Lucky for me, John skied a new track all the way back, so it was a great ski. The double poling coming down the river bed is fast and fun. The road has a glacier on a hill, so driving out was exciting. I don't know if it will be driveable much longer.

[patrick]

1/4/22 Yesterday I drove out to the golf course around 2:30 and there is a lot more snow out there than there is in town. Like a solid 2 inches. The golf course would be good XC skiing. There actually was enough snow that felt adventurous enough to ski the upper buskin. The trail in to the river was adequate/marginal. Very bumpy ice just under the snow, and not enough snow to cover all the tree roots. At the river the dry riverbed is rocky. But I was surprised to find snow covered ice on the river upstream of where the trail meets the river. Here the skiing was excellent! I skied upriver into the lower canyon. But in the lower canyon there is still overflow on the ice so we need to wait a few more days.

Anyway, it will not take much to make the Upper Buskin great like it was before Christmas again.

[patrick]

1/5/22 Today the Upper Buskin was actually pretty good skiing! 4-5 inches of new snow - WAY more than we got in town. And the snow is really dense and heavy but also dry. It is actually mostly graupel. But it acts as a remarkably good base. I noticed that the skis do not sink very deeply into it - like you do not hit the ground. I'd say I only sank halfway thru the snow whereas with dry powder I'd go all the way.

I skied down to the river and far up into the canyon. I stopped at Squishy's 'death ice ledge'. The ice bridges are not as solid as earlier and there are rocks. But it is pretty darn good skiing.
Patrick

[mrsquishy]

1/6/22: I skied into the Upper Buskin and headed upriver; on the way up I had a section of ice crack and settle a little bit and a little later, a slab broke underneath me. I skied off without getting a wet foot and the water was only about a foot deep anyway, but I decided to heed the warnings and turned around and skied downriver to the old military road. I was scraping rocks occasionally on the river, so I headed up to the road and skied it all the way to the CG Magazine area and back. There is now an excellent track on the road. It was then upriver and back to the trailhead. The skiing was very good overall - there was additional snow from yesterday and it made the ski quite enjoyable. It would be nice to get more snow on the river bed.

Attachments:

[patrick]

1/8/22 I just got back from the upper Buskin - excellent XC skiing! 3 inches of new graupel snow. Road not plowed past the golf course and getting a little deep!
Patrick

[Philip]

Saturday 1/8/22

I followed Patrick’s tracks starting from the small parking area 0.7 miles past the golf course clubhouse. The snow is very nice and the coverage was good going up the river and into the canyon. There are a few spots where the ice shelves are a little sporty, and I couldn’t make it to the waterfall because of the big hole just before it, but it was still a very nice ski. I tried to ski down the river a bit but I gave up after about half a mile as I was just finding too many rocks.

[mrsquishy]

1/7 Friday - I skied the UB from the upper trailhead and turned left at the Y and went downriver to the military road. It is rocky as Philip said, but once you get up on the road it's a great kick and glide all the way to the end and back, although a couple of creek crossings are rocky. I have brushed the road trail. I saw an ice fisherman walking around on the lake, so it might have been OK to ski across the lake. I ran into a rabbit hunter who had been walking in the ski tracks and we had a pleasant conversation during which I asked him to not walk in the ski tracks. He seemed agreeable after I explained that the tracks help make the skiing more enjoyable. He hadn't shot any rabbits.

[Philip]

Sunday January 9

The upper Buskin was excellent again today. We parked at the golf course because the road beyond that is not plowed and it looks kind of iffy if you don’t have chains and high clearance. We skied the road the 0.7 miles to the small trail leading to the canyon. It’s gotten a fair amount of traffic and as well defined at this point. We skied up the canyon and then retraced our tracks back to the car. There’s probably 6 to 8 inches of new snow and so the river bed below the canyon might be improving but we didn’t check it out.

[mrsquishy]

1/9: I followed your track upriver to where you turned around, then skied downriver to the military road. I skied the road to where the culvert washed out, then back upriver and through the woods to the upper trailhead and down the road to the golf course.
Deep snow on the river and I hit an occasional rock, but the old road wasn't too bad with the base that's already down.

[mrsquishy]

Monday January 10: I skied from the upper trailhead down to the river, taking the left fork at the Y and continuing downriver and hopped up on the old road. There is now enough snow that I wasn't scraping rocks. Skied to the end of the road and back up, then back to the river and up to the trailhead. Excellent conditions for waxless skis. The road was plowed one lane at 2:30 pm. I stopped at the lake outlet on the way home and talked to Dickie who was heading out to ski across the lake.

[mrsquishy]

Monday, Jan 10 Dicky's report of skiing across Buskin Lake. Summary: don't.

Prior to last snow event protracted cold produced strong and thick ice sheets where ever the ice was exposed. Buskin Lake was no exception. However Buskin has historic holes which happen in the same places most years, including gas holes and spring holes, as well as open water and thin ice due to current from inlets and outlet.

Today up to a foot of heavy snow covers the Buskin ice. Skiing from the pump house I did not expect to see gas holes. Had I been on foot it is likely I would have a wet sock.

Prior to the recent snow the gas holes on Buskin ice had thick edges. I suspect that most of the man hole sized holes under the snow have not changed much. Holes are not bound by thin ice. Holes are open due to gas bubbles in a very specific spot. Most holes are bound by very thick black ice. Skis will bridge most of the open gas holes. Skates and boots will not.

Now that heavy snow has loaded the ice sheet. Water is wicking from cracks, open gas holes and open water along edges. There is up to two or three inches of wet slush under the snow in many places.

Pix show the first hole I found after I skied through it. The shallow depression in the snow hides an open hole bridged by snow. The follow up pix shows open hole.



Suggest folks be wary of gas holes disguised by snow. Watch for slush under the snow which indicates a hole or a crack near by. Snow is a great insulator. Eventually the ice will submerge, the slush will freeze if temps remain below frost. Skiers should not want to cross the Buskin to access upper Buskin trails.

Be wary of the large historic open hole due to springs and gas near by the trail to the golf course. There is thin ice there. Be wary of thin ice where ever there is a visible slush sheet especially combined with a visible open gas hole. Remember to bounce on the ice when you approach any open hole or thin edge. If you can create waves in the water the ice is getting thin.



Wear picks. Plan to self rescue.

[patrick]

1/14/22 Skate ski crust cruising is REALLY good. The road to the pass is a frozen mess of ruts so I stopped at golf course to try XC skiing. And good on golf course - but I wanted something more and skied down to lake, across the ice and then up the River into the canyon. REALLY good. Ice is bare on east side of lake and the crust was softening up a bit by the time I quit. There is flowing overflow on the river between where the 2 trails from switchback trails meet the river - so best to take the first one into wood (cottonwood tunnel) and then back out to river on the other one. Ice bridges on river are all pretty good.

Later on I went to take a walk with dogs and kids at Buskin Beach. We found that they've closed the road and so walked to beach. It looks like perfect skate skiing. Almost like a groomed skate ski area with nicely contoured hills and loops through the campsites. I think I am going to skate ski there tomorrow morning!

[patrick]

1/15/22 Skate skiing from the outlet at Buskin Lake is EXCELLENT. I also did the Buskin River road to the beach and it was just OK. Too bumpy from all the hiking tracks. There are 2 swans on the lake. I also think the lake would be OK for classic skiing. Crusty but not icy.
Patrick

[patrick]

1/15 and don't let the gas holes freak you out! They are kept open by bubbling gas and you can walk right up to them. But obviously don't step in them! The only area I avoid is just offshore over near the golf course where there is always a BIG hole.
Patrick

Gas holes:

[mrsquishy]

Saturday 1/15: Temperature at golf course: 22 degrees. I parked at the golf course, skied down to the lake, around the shore to Upper Buskin River and partway up the canyon. Then over to the old military road, across the SE end of the lake, back around the shore and up to the parking lot. 6.3 miles. Beautiful sunny day, but the mountains block the sun from the river. Watched a dipper working its way up the river diving into the water at one hole then surfacing at the next.

Sunday 1/16
Return to the Upper Buskin, sunrise 10:19 am, 16 degrees at pump house, skied across the lake and up the river and back. 6.1 miles. Snow hard, crusty and frozen. The lake is good on the snowy parts. I checked out the road and skied over to the alder tunnel. The skiing was in that area is horrible. Frozen bumpy crust potholed by deer, virtually unskiable on waxless skis. The tracks on the river were much better.

The cold temperatures the past few days have frozen lots of overflow and some holes in lake. There are still open gas holes which are easily seen.