{"id":42958,"date":"2021-12-31T21:35:41","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/good-snowpack-opens-up-trails-for-cross-country-skiing-and-fat-biking\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:10:36","slug":"good-snowpack-opens-up-trails-for-cross-country-skiing-and-fat-biking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/good-snowpack-opens-up-trails-for-cross-country-skiing-and-fat-biking\/","title":{"rendered":"Good snowpack opens up trails for cross-country skiing and fat biking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Friends
Friends of Chicken Creek<br><br>The Chicken Creek Nordic ski area is holding a fundraiser on Oct. 21 at the Mancos Brewing Co., 484 E. Frontage Road, to raise money for updated grooming equipment. There will be two live bands and a silent auction. Cover is $5 at the door.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Good winter snowpack has created nice cross-country skiing and allows for groomed trails to take shape for cross-country skiing and fat biking.<\/p>\n

At the Chicken Creek area north of Mancos, the skiing conditions \u201care fabulous,\u201d said Peter Brind\u2019Amour, a volunteer with the nonprofit Chicken Creek Nordic.<\/a><\/p>\n

The trails were groomed previously, but so much snow has fallen they need another pass, he said.<\/p>\n

Grooming will take place Saturday beginning about 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to get it in good shape for skate skiing and classic skiing by Sunday,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said.<\/p>\n

The Chicken Creek Nordic groomed trails are for skiers only. Biking or walking on the trails are not allowed because they create ruts and holes.<\/p>\n

In Dolores, the Southwest Colorado Cycling Association<\/a> grooms trails for fat biking in the Boggy Draw area.<\/p>\n

Volunteer groomer Jimbo Farley said grooming will begin this weekend on the 4.7-mile Olympic Loop<\/a>, with more trails to follow.<\/p>\n

\"Grooming
Grooming operations will begin this weekend for fat bike trails in the Boggy Draw area north of Dolores. (Journal file)<\/span>Sam Green\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Users are asked to \u201crespect the groom\u201d by using it only after it has set up and is firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are making a rut, post hole, or divot come back later when it is more firm,\u201d Farley said.<\/p>\n

Volunteers spend hours packing down and grooming the trails for fat biking. If used when too soft, the trail is damaged.<\/p>\n

The Telluride Nordic Association<\/a> has groomed cross-country ski trails at Lizard Head Pass, Priest Lake and Trout Lake for skate and classic skiing.<\/p>\n

The Mesa Verde National Park trails<\/a> are groomed for skate skiing, classic skiing and snowshoeing as snow and ranger schedules permit.<\/p>\n

All trails in the Morefield area were roller-packed Dec. 29. The packed base is about 4 to 6 inches throughout the area with 15-inch unpacked snow in the surrounding area. Conditions should be good on all the trails.<\/p>\n

Morefield trail users are encouraged to sign the trail register for each visit. These trailhead counts help the park to justify the staff time and costs associated with the program.<\/p>\n

The Cliff Palace loop road is a construction zone at the moment and is not available this winter for ski or snowshoe access.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicken Creek trails are groomed for skiers; Dolores Boggy Draw trails are groomed for fat biking <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[44,28,83,29,3965,1164],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter","tag-nordic-skiing-group","tag-snow"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85518,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42958\/revisions\/85518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42958"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}