It’s just like washing the car if you want rain. Send the grooming report writer south of the 25th parallel and it snows! Just to be clear, the grooming report writing gig is servitude, so my time south is not vacation. It’s just like an academic sabbatical without the funding; publishing is obligatory. Report Writing Guild membership requires reportage on things other than ski grooming from time to time so, I am paying the heavy price just so you can get some early season time on the boards. Samples of my obligatory blather on a Definitely Not a Grooming Report follow the actual grooming report.
Cary sent the following picture and reported a one inch base at Forestville, three inches at 14k and a two inch base at 17k. Cold temperatures provided a nice glide Saturday. Mo plans to try Granite Point so we will report his findings when available. At this time classic rock skis are recommended.
Anyway, my Definitely Not a Grooming Report assignment included addressing the particularly challenging convection conditions in Noneya (not its actual name). A large plane between two mountain ranges creates a strong convection in October, November and early December. Any northwesterly flow will fill the void creating a wonderful cross shore sea breeze from late morning through mid afternoon. Sage weather prognosticators are highly regarded as one must carefully plan out the day’s activities. If you plan to wing foil when the wind turns out better suited for kite foiling your day is not optimized. Rhythm of the day is often a trail run or bike ride in the mountains until the convection picks up. If there is no northerly flow whatsoever the convection is a bust and you should have planned a longer bike or run or maybe fishing or a drive to one of the surf spots. It is all so stressful. In any case, by about 3:00 PM the sun has passed behind the mountains and it is time to arrange the hot spring visit. Now, I know you are thinking; what kind of planning is needed to enjoy a hot spring? This particular spot is more accurately called a thermal phenomenon. Being desert, there isn’t an actual spring so you want to hit the tide just right. A flood tide is best. You bring your shovel and dig a pit of proper dimensions for your party. When the tide comes up you can enjoy the most wonderful salt water hot bath until the tide gets too high and floods over the pit’s top. A pit of proper depth can yield a good hour and a half soak. One can also enjoy a falling tide but the whole pit digging thing is not possible so you use what you find as the water recedes. You wrap up your outdoor activities about five-ish and get ready to visit one of the wonderful dinning options or cook some of the dorado or snapper from your fishing trip.
Anyway, I am south of the 25th parallel for another week, so I’m sure you can expect more snow in my absence. I trust Cary, Lori and both of you will fill me in on the real grooming report data while I slave away on my CPE credits. It is really hard work and not for everyone, but I need to keep my guild membership current.
See you out there,
Sondo