The Spring Issue

March 10, 2026|Elee Deschu|Comments Off|Daily Trail Reports

Nordic Trail Report 3.10.26

The forecast is warm, the snow is getting low, and something keeps coming up in conversation: spring. This does not necessarily mean that winter trail adventures are officially over… but the end may be near so take advantage of every opportunity to get out on your cross country skis and snowshoes while you can. Special considerations may need to be made when you head out to winter trails. This photo shows the sweet conditions after grooming up Cache Creek on Monday, March 9. Read today’s news letter for practical tips to get the most out of this transitional season.

At a Glance

• Practical advice for spring

• Updated notes from the groomers

General Weather – windy

There are chances of snow and other precipitation this week, wind being a common denominator through it all. Check Mountain Weather for the latest as conditions can be expected to be ever changing.

What’s Groomed Today?

Planned Tuesday Grooming

Grand Teton National Park

Alta Track

Grand Targhee – track setter issues, grooming for skate only for now

Southern Valley

Daily grooming

Trail Creek

Turpin Meadow Ranch

The most current trail conditions and groomer notes can always be viewed online at: www.jhnordic.com/grooming/

*Crust cruising in Grand Teton National Park, Saturday 3/7/26*

More from The Hole Hiking Experience

Tour Suggestions

With temperature changes, the snow can solidify, creating a crust—perfect conditions for crust cruising. As the season warms, corn snow may form: a rough, granular surface that lets you glide on top of the snow. This happens when the top layer of snow loses its delicate snowflake structure and becomes tiny balls of ice.

Crust cruising in Grand Teton National Park is always a treat. You can park at the Taggart Lake trailhead, put on your skis and go. Downhill or backcountry skiing is great fun when the snow changes to corn, also. When recreating in the valley, be mindful of muddy trails to reduce impact, making bike paths a great spring alternative. Enjoy the start of spring.

Backcountry Tips

With thin snow and more bare ground, remember that wildlife closures remain in effect until May 1, 2026. March and April are especially challenging months for wildlife, so please give them space.
As trails begin to open, avoid recreating on muddy sections. Both footprints and bike tires can damage the trail. This is a great time to stick to bike paths and let the trails dry.

Practical Parking Tips

The town council recently voted to change the allowed parking time limit for the Home Ranch parking area on N. Cache from all day to 3 hours. We know this is a favorite car-pool parking area to meet year round needs when carpooling to GTNP and northern BTNF trailheads. An alternative option to park and ride with friends is to utilize the public parking garage on Millward and Simpson.

From the Groomers

Trail Creek

When grooming wrapped up Saturday night, most of the trails we’ve been grooming lately were in pretty good shape. Thirty six hours of warm temperatures, especially with the nighttime lows not even dropping below 40º, have had a pretty significant impact on our trails.

Starting with the good, however, trails in the upper woods like Armin’s, Moose Loop, and the National Forest Trails are still pretty nice and skiing well. What is bad is that there are numerous patches of ice popping up in the Close Field. If we’re looking for ugly, the trails that have been closed for a while like East Fields and Faceplant are about there with numerous melted out areas.

While it still works to ski from the cabin out to the better trails, perhaps a better strategy would be to access trails from the end of the Old Pass Road. Today’s grooming did make several passes around the Close Field as well as the Nordic X course. The Husky then headed out to cover most trails except for Woolsey Woods in the woods area. Homeward and Outward Bound do have some issues, but are mostly skiable, and again once you make it to the far woods, conditions are nice.

Grand Teton National Park

Park road – get it while it’s there! Regular scheduled grooming is planned for today. Friday, March 13 is the last scheduled groom for the inner park road.

Turpin Meadow Ranch

Overall the trails are in great condition but we are starting to notice some thinning spots. For the foreseeable future the ginzu will be the grooming machine of choice, resetting the skate lane when circumstances allow. The classic tracks have remained in good shape with the exception of a few of encroaching tree wells, so as always, keep your head up while skiing in order to avoid a disappearing track. FYI, on Saturday, March 14 the Willow Loop will be used as a course for a vintage snowmobile show. The lodge and restaurant will close after lunch on Sunday, March 15.

Shooting Star

This is likely to be our final Nordic Update for this season, as unseasonably warm temperatures continue to deteriorate our existing snowpack. Trails are to remain closed, and we’ll continue to monitor conditions for one more week. If weather continues as is, GCM will then shift its focus on snow removal to prepare the course for the upcoming golf season beginning Monday, March 16^th. Outlook is calling for mostly rain this week, followed by very warm temperatures around 60*F all next week. Thanks again for everyone’s understanding during this unusual winter.

Teton Pines

We are unable to groom and the lack of snow in the forecast has forced us to close for the season. We will be in the shop today – Wednesday from 9am-1pm. Although it seems early, we are only closing a week and a half before our normal scheduled closing date. We plan open in early December or as early as possible for the 26-27 season!

Go have fun on your skis, snowshoes, fat bike or feet!

Events & Info

Skinny Skis Sale

Find end of season savings on this winter’s outerwear, base layers, headwear, accessories and footwear – between 15% and 40% off, limited to in-stock sizes and colors. Save on winter styles before they’re gone!