Beautiful afternoon ski for me out to the fire tower. Skied up from P12 along 40 and 24 and then out and back on Ridge road. I understand from somewhere on the web (not here) that Ridge road beyond 24 was only groomed today after the weekends storm. Things were a little rough in terms of grooming but perhaps not a surprise as a first pass. Little piles of snow chunks off the back of the groomer crowded the classic track and there were some short stretches with shallow or obliterated tracks. The skating lane looked pretty good but there were occasional ridges and bumps that would force you to work a bit harder to find a smoother line. All were mildly annoying but not enough so to spoil a great ski, rather just enough to keep you on your toes! There was one nasty icy patch halfway up the hill to the Wolf trail. Enough room to get around it on the side though. You'd see it as you climbed past on the way out and there is some yellow flagging on the tree branches to remind you of it (in case you forgot)on the way back.

Most interesting to note on Ridge was, from trail 24 out, there was only one classic track (outbound) while the other side was groomed flat. Just as I assumed that would be the case all the way I got to the "2km to McKinstry" sign... and there was the other set of classic tracks on the opposite side! And so it continued the rest of the way out to the tower. Thought about this on my ski back and deduced a theory. In the long, lonely drive out and back to the tower the groomer got confused and lifted rather than lowered the classic grooming sled at the top of that hill (at the 2km to go sign) and then drove at least until trail 24(perhaps some distance beyond?) grooming the side flat. Perhaps an easy mistake and not a terribly detrimental one. Monday traffic to the tower was light. I met only 4 other skiers (all classic) and we were all very polite yeilding the lane as required. From the looks of it probably only 4 or 5 skaters made it out that way - shame, as they had 20% more skate lane to use! So not exactly a high traffic area. Another pass later in the week should fix things up nicely. Again a few minor glitches but still a beautiful ski on a beautiful day.