Silver Crest Trails Association

Exciting things are happening at your local cross country ski area and we need your help! The ski squirrels have been busy this Fall preparing for winter.

Silver Crest needs your help! We NEED volunteer hours of trail work so that we can get grant funding! Please bring pruning loppers (long handled tree pruning shears) and leather gloves if you have them, water, and a lunch.

Extra gloves and loppers will be provided for those who need them. We will be snipping the small trees along the trails. This is vital work to keep up the good skiing. Spread the word, bring a friend or two!

Please RSVP to Drew Marsh at drew.marsh.mt@gmail.com or 406-781-1172

I promise this isn’t some April fools joke. Turns out Silvercrest did not get the 20 some inches Showdown reported for the week. Most of the water must have fallen as rain. Needless to say, Sarah helped, and we groomed the trails today, Saturday.

Everything except for Mt. Eureka and Gold Run has classic tracks. It will be icy until it warms up. The skating will not be great, so maybe wait for fresh snow and some freeze thaw cycles for crust cruising…

This will be the final grooming of the season. Thanks for all the support, donations, and for skiing our trails. See you next year!

3″ inches unplowed in the parking lot.

Big spring snowstorm up at Kings Hill this week! And yes, it is in the high 20F’s temp wise so it IS snowing! Check out the live cameras here: https://www.intothelittlebelts.com/webcams

In an epic 10 hour push, I groomed 10 inches of fresh snow. It was warm, and a real bear to get packed and tracked, so there are some rookie “mistakes” in the trails, but overall it looks really good, especially considering the significant difficulties in just getting it groomed at all. As of 8pm Friday night the parking lot is unplowed, but, vehicles have packed a pretty good track from the highway to the trailhead/outhouse. Maybe bring a tow rope if you dont have all wheel drive and or snow tires…. Sorry, no photos, too dark. GO SKI!

We will be packing and track setting Friday. A report came in that the parking lot was unplowed today, and had 9 inches of heavy wet snow. Grooming will continue on Fridays until Mid April.

Multiple 50f days and 30 degree nights have softened the entire snowpack, and I was unable to improve upon the existing grooming, which is still skiing good to very acceptable. It will be icy until it softens, and then you will have a brief 2-3 hour window before and around Noon before it gets too soft. If you go, be aware that as the day warms up, the crust will become breakable, and poles can poke down through the trail, and potentially break off as you ski past your pole plant. This warning mostly applies to expensive, high-end carbon fiber poles, but I suppose it could happen any pole. Lets just say I had a $300 Oops! Friday…. 

DO NOT step off any packed trail for ANY reason. You WILL instantly sink down 3 to 4 feet to the ground, and it is very much like quicksand. It really scared me (active 30yr old), and I was only two large steps from the edge of the trail.

You have been warned.