2012 Nordic Flurry a Success!

Kudos to the Two Brians of Lake Metroparks for pulling off the unlikely- hosting the Nordic Flurry races under such borderline conditions. Masterful grooming turned 4" of snow into a raceable surface with nary a rock showing (although the Parcourse loop was filleted out). A sizable pack of Wilderness Widcats and Wildkittens made all divisions competitive, and the Blue wax conditions were a delight. Coach Tom Cook and the Hilltoppers crew represented extremely well,  as usual. Let's hope this is the beginning of a real winter. -M. Foley

Winter's Swan Song?

Skiing at Chapin was pretty darn good today! They groomed and groomed yesterday to make it so, so get out there before it's done...

Congrats to Tom and all the coaches (and Hilltoppers) for a great season!

Skiing last weekend - PA

We had another great day at Wilderness on Sunday, as Mike said in his post their base is still good. We went out and skied to their hotdog roast - had a couple of beers also ;-). A little soft as it was warm but plenty of snow

On the photo you can see the Hilltopper jackets as the kids get some food.

The Lodge's facebook page is much more current than the website and has new photos from yesterday.

Weather forecast is for snow for zip code 16442 (the Lodge) again - we are going Sat/Sunday

Chapin Parkway, (306 side) still skiable

According to Mike Schaeffer who skied there today. Wilderness Lodge is also going to be skiable, since they had a 2' base. But check the website before making the drive. My brother Gene had a "snow day" at Ole's (Warren VT) and could not open because employees could not get there. He had about 3' in his driveway and was "stuck fer sure..."

Winter Biathlon

Congrats to "The Brians" of Lake Metroparks for running a really fun Winter Biathlon on Saturday. Thanks to all the volunteers and crew. A good time was had by all. And, it wasn't 18° Below Zero at the start!

Also congrats to Hilltopper Chad Kozan and Craig "Cover Boy" Hannibal for their pictures in the Plain Dealer today as part of Zach Lewis' article about the Winter Biathlon.

Wilderness Lodge - Feb 21

We were at the Wilderness Lodge trails over the weekend. Sat evening did the Peak trail. Yesterday skied a bunch of miles coming in from the Peek N Peak side and then all around the PA side

Today, skied in from Peek N Peak and had to break trail all the way up to A Frame and back - thanks Jim for taking point on all the new snow. The area had 10 to 12 inches of dry powder last night and it was great to play in. Kids struggled with skate skis but the parents were able to classic in the new snow. Took 90 min to get to the road after climbing ! Hill. Coming back was soooo much faster.

Wilderness has a great base - got to be 24 inches in most places and with teh new snow it would be great all week.

Cheers - Phill W

Holden - Saturday

Went out for the first time to Holden and skied the trails. Would have cost $6 to get in but our membership to the Botanical Gardens on University Circle www.cbgarden.org got us in. The trails are groomed for classical, a little narrow for skate.

We started on the Blue loop and then took off in to the wood on the Red Trail, a little narrow going through the woods but there was a track we could use. Back up to the Blue Loop and around Corning Lake. Across the road and the tracks were wind blown and covered so we went on the Orange Loop and into Bole Woods, not packed but well travelled so the 1/2 mile trip around the woods was fun, deep deep snow. Back to the Nature Center after searching for a hat lost on the trail - no luck - for a cup of coffee and to warm up.

Looking for somewhere different to ski - try Holden - we thought it was worth it. Phill and Cindy