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Trails & Grooming News

Grooming ends for the season!

The 18th of May was the last day of corduroy for the Mat-Su Ski Club’s grooming season. It stopped freezing at night this week and the snow is too soft to groom at Independence now.

Thanks to all the groomers, trail-rakers, tree-clearers, and others who made the trails so much fun for so many this winter.

Tentative Grooming Plans May 13-17

Independence Mine: Trails will be groomed Friday and Saturday nights and probably again next Tuesday night.
Archangel Rd:  No more grooming, but still skiable.
GPRA: Snow gone! Don’t stomp soggy trails!
Moose Range: Snow gone!

Member Appreciation Day May 15th

Bring your appetite for adventure, hotdogs and information! Join us on May 15th at 1:00 pm at GPRA for a guided hike along the planned Pioneer Loop expansion.  This approximately 5-7K tour will be led by Board members and will depart the parking lot at 1pm.  We will return around 3:00pm and will stop by the stadium area to share the vision for improvement. For the hike, plan on mucky terrain, walking off trail and a friendly neighborhood mosquito or two.  After the hike we hope you will stay for some grilled hotdogs, a cool beverage and tasty treats.   If you are one of our many Donors, please join us for this event! We can’t do it without you! We appreciate you and want to meet you. Please stop by for your donor gifts.

Tentative Grooming Plans May 6-10

Independence Mine:  Mat-Su Ski Club will attempt to groom Friday, May 6th but not optimistic.  Watch for grooming reports.
Archangel Rd:  Mat-Su Ski Club groomed the non-motorized trail this past Tuesday night and plans on grooming again Friday night and possibly Saturday night along with next Tuesday Night.
GPRA: No Grooming.  Done for the season.
Moose Range: No Grooming.  Done for the season.

Tentative Grooming Plans May 1 to 6

Hatcher Pass: road open. Crust skiing is on. Archangel Road: will groom Friday night if possible.  Independence: our PB is down for repairs, we are looking at the possibility of grooming Independence without it. GPRA: grooming over for season, lots of bare spots and water, basically its over. Moose Range: pretty much over.

Tentative Grooming Plans for April 23 to 29

GPRA: Tentative grooming early AM on  Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. If it gets cold enough overnight.

Archangel Rd: No grooming until DOT opens road past Skeetawk. MSSC will groom when the road opens. Snow depth maybe 5 feet.

Independence: will evaluate when road opens.

Moose range: trails still snow covered, grooming is over, overnight freezing diminishing.

Tentative Grooming Plans for April 16 to 22

GPRA: Tentative grooming schedule: Early AM Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Archangel Rd: DOT plans to clear avalanche debris off the Hatcher Pass Rd next week. The road will be closed just past Skeetawk until the work is done. We will assess and groom Archangel after the road opens. Five feet of snow still.

Independence Mine: No grooming, road still closed. Over six feet of snow still.

Moose Range: Last groomed Wednesday 13 April. The grooming season for the Moose Range may be over, still hard trails in the morning, bare spots and water appearing.

Tentative Grooming Plans for April 9 to 15.

Archangel Rd: No grooming April 9th or 10th due to snowmobile races. Hatcher Pass Road closed at Gold Mint lot. Tentative plans to groom Monday April 11th and Friday April 15th.
GRPA:  We will groom on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and on some weekdays, weather allowing. 18 inches of packed snow on the trails.
Independence Mine: No grooming possible. The road is closed. The road may not be opened up till late May or June. 90 inches of snow.
Moose Range: 12-16 inches of packed snow on the trails.  Trails are getting soft or rock hard, depending.  Grooming is becoming difficult.
Be aware – access to Archangel Road requires skiing 1 somewhat steep mile uphill on the un-groomed Hatcher Pass Road or skiing 1/2 mile on a steeper snowmachine trail. Either way it is a 400 vertical foot climb from the parking to the groomed trail. For comparison, the downhill ski area at Skeetawk has a 300 vertical foot lift.

Tentative Grooming and Trail Info for the week of March 31st

Independence Mine:
27 degrees.  89 inches of settled snow at the visitor center weather station.  Not groomed.  Road closed.  Palmer DOT office said clearing the road is a low priority project.  The road may not be opened up till late May or June.
Archangel Rd:
29 degrees.  Estimate 72 inches of packed snow on the groomed trail.  The Hatcher Pass Rd is still closed above the Gold Mint parking lot.  Mat-Su Ski Club is accessing the road from the snowmachine corridor and grooming the non-motorized section periodically.  It was last groomed Friday night 25 March.  It will be groomed the evenings of  Friday, 1 April and then again on Sunday night 3 April.
GPRA:
37 degrees.  18 inches of packed powder on the groomed trails.  Mat-Su Ski Club regularly “scarifies”, the skate lanes on most trails.  Last grooming was early AM 31 March.  Most grooming now occurs in the early AM to take advantage of colder temperatures.  On Friday,1 April The Mat-Su ski club will scarify the Mat-Su, Pioneer, and Eska loops.  We will also attempt to groom on both Saturday and Sunday 2-3 April.
Moose Range:
38 degrees.  16 inches of packed snow on the groomed trails.  Volunteer groomers have been scarifying the trails on a regular basis.  Hard packed snow, some overflow on the swamp.  Lots of moose prints and nuggets.  May be better for fat tire biking than skiing.

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Mat-Su Ski Club Calendar

June 6, 2023
  • MSSC Board Meeting
    June 6, 2023
    GPRA

    Open to the public.  Please email info@matsuski.org for details and time.

July 11, 2023
  • MSSC Board Meeting
    July 11, 2023
    GPRA

    Open to the public.  Please email info@matsuski.org for details and time.

August 1, 2023
  • MSSC Board Meeting
    August 1, 2023
    GPRA

    Open to the public.  Please email info@matsuski.org for details and time.