BlogBloghttp://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2012-02-27T04:04:48ZSquarespace2/26/2012, In The Newshttp://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2012/2/26/2262012-in-the-news.htmlHomestake Lodge2012-02-27T03:48:00Z2012-02-27T03:48:00ZHomestake Lodge has managed to get alot of press coverage this season, some of it in national skier magazines, some in Monatana papers, a few TV spots and even an airline flight magazine. Ski Trax and Cross Country Skier each ran multiple page articles on the Lodge. They did a great job catching the spirit of what Mandy and I are doing up here. Alaska Airlines in flight magazine ran an article on skiing in Montana and we managed to get a few nice paragraphs. The Great Falls Tribune, Montana Standard and Helena Independent Record all ran feature length stories on Homestake Lodge.

 

Its been great fun for Mandy and I to spend the day with the journalists and photographers. We like to spend as much time as possible with these groups, do a little skiing and share our vision and hopes about the Lodge.

 

At the end of this week we have another group of journalists coming by to get acquainted with Homestake Lodge. If it sounds like we have a professional PR staff working for us in a way we do. The Montana State Tourism office with which we have developed a nice relationship has done an outstanding job of promoting the unique offerings of Homestake Lodge. They are pros and have been instrumental in positioning Homestake Lodge so that it captures the imagination of journalists and the magazines for which they write.

 

If you want to read some of the articles go the button on the lower right of any of the pages and click on "in the media".

]]>2/11/12 snow!http://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2012/2/11/21112-snow.htmlHomestake Lodge2012-02-11T14:52:44Z2012-02-11T14:52:44Z

King Winter has poked his nose in at Homestake Lodge. 5" of new snow yesterday and today. We are very happy to receive it. This weekend will have some great skiing.

]]>2/2/2012, Powderhound Picshttp://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2012/2/3/222012-powderhound-pics.htmlHomestake Lodge2012-02-03T05:05:20Z2012-02-03T05:05:20Z 

 

]]>2/1/2012http://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2012/2/1/212012.htmlHomestake Lodge2012-02-01T14:44:33Z2012-02-01T14:44:33ZWe had a very successful Powderhound Winter triathlon this year. We hosted the USAT National Championship which served as a qualifier for the World Championships in Finland in March.

We had a great turnout and racers loved the courses. The weather was in the 40's and sunny. Not so nice for snow conditions but pretty nice conditions for racing. Rebecca Dussault from Gunnison, CO won the overall women's race. Mike Wolfe from Helena, MT won the men's race. The race was a 5k run followed by a 10k mountain bike, finishing with a 5k skate ski.

We have had a very busy winter season so far. Chris has taken on the business side of things full time, and I have taken on the baby side of things full time. Despite strange winter conditions, our trails are holding up just fine and the lodge has been busy, busy, busy. The ski trails and lodge experience is beginning to turn into just what we had hoped it would. 

Check out our recent articles in Ski Trax and Alaska Airlines magazines. 

We will try to post some pictures from our junior ski program and the Powderhound Winter Triathlon.

]]>Pictures of trailshttp://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2012/1/12/pictures-of-trails.htmlHomestake Lodge2012-01-12T17:31:42Z2012-01-12T17:31:42Z 

Here are a couple of pics of what the skiing is like at Homestake Lodge. The first is on Busy Beavers and the second pic is on Sirsum Deorsum. They aren't the best shots due to the early AM light, but they give you a pretty good idea of what the skiing is like.

]]>Lars Skiing, 01/10/12http://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2012/1/10/lars-skiing-011012.htmlHomestake Lodge2012-01-10T22:11:20Z2012-01-10T22:11:20Z

Lars went skiing for the second time a few days ago and loved it. He walked on his skis about 100 meters and loved zipping downhill between his Papa's legs. His skis are Madshus Sno-Pups and are 85cm's long. He handled the length just fine. The first time out was a couple of days earlier and he wasn't quite so gung-ho. On that outing he went about 15 meters and had enough. Mama suggested for the second outing that I wear my skis so he could see how it was done and that made all the difference.

]]>12/21/2011, Homestake Lodge Holiday Planshttp://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2011/12/20/12212011-homestake-lodge-holiday-plans.htmlHomestake Lodge2011-12-21T03:50:12Z2011-12-21T03:50:12ZOur weather has continued dry and cold with our snow base lightly covered by several snow skiffs this past week. More snow would be a help and perhaps its in the forecast for this week. We'll update the trail conditions on the home page when the conditions change. Beginning 12/22 and through the holidays we will be serving Lunch with Senate Bean Soup, homemade rolls, and our sandwich buffet.  Our soup offering will be changing as the holiday week unfolds, so stay tuned for updates on that.

Mandy, Lars, Owen and I look forward to seeing you at Homestake Lodge over the holidays.

 

-Chris

]]>A New Skierhttp://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2011/12/16/a-new-skier.htmlHomestake Lodge2011-12-17T04:43:31Z2011-12-17T04:43:31Z

 

Owen Anders Axelson joined us on Thursday morning at 09:04 AM. He's a happy, healthy fellow that has put smiles on all our faces. Mandy did a great job delivering him.

36 hours later we are back at Homestake Lodge. Things are a little bit of a blur right now from all the excitement and lack of sleep. But, we will be open on Saturday and trying to get our feet on the ground. Since we've been away for two and a half days its hard for me to give you an accurate assesment of the skiing. While we were away a light skiff of snow fell, but not much. On the positive side the weather has been cold and the trails should be in good shape.

I'll go out Saturday AM and possibly do some Ginzu grooming if conditions allow. If that happens we'll update the report on the conditions page.

]]>Snow Conditions 12/10http://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2011/12/10/snow-conditions-1210.htmlHomestake Lodge2011-12-10T05:54:35Z2011-12-10T05:54:35ZOur trails are in generally good condition with a rolled surface. The forecast is for dry conditions for the next week which has led us to the following grooming conclusions. We are going to hold off from any further grooming to protect our current snow base. When the snow surface is groomed it leads to a slow but general thinning of the snow pack. Right now the trail coverage is in good shape with a packed powder surface, but grooming the trails, even with just the Ginzu,  also risks hitting dirt causing a hot spot to develop. An outcome we don't want. It seems the best course is to hold off and wait until there is a more promising forecast and then grooming will resume.

The skiing is good and for now we'll just wait to get out and make it even better.

]]>Snow Conditions 12/1/2011http://www.homestakelodge.com/blog/2011/12/1/snow-conditions-1212011.htmlHomestake Lodge2011-12-01T18:39:58Z2011-12-01T18:39:58ZThis week we had two warm days and I'm happy to report our snow base held up well.  Yesterday's big snowstorm left us with 1/2" of new snow combined with snow earlier in the week and the total came to an inch of new snow in the last few days. The trails are rolled and in good shape. We are waiting on setting classic tracks because we want to make sure not to nick the ground and bring up dirt. The current conditions are best for skating, but with the new snow rolled in on top of the base the classic skiing should be fine for both waxable and no wax skis.

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