STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Galena Lodge will open for the 2017-18 winter season on Saturday, Nov. 18.

And its trails will be sporting a bumper crop of snow, thanks to the monster storm that came through Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The northernmost of the North Valley Trails had received 14 inches of new snow by 10 a.m. Thursday. That was icing on an already nice foundation that Blaine County Recreation District snow cats had packed more than a week earlier.

Galena had received 17 inches of snow on the year prior to the latest storm and it had settled to about eight inches by Wednesday.

An amazing two feet of snow towered over the groomed path at Prairie Creek, which sported nice soft corduroy. And crews began grooming as far south as the Sawtooth National Recreation Area on Friday.

“The skiing has been good and it should be even better now,” said Erin Zell, co-manager of the lodge.

Even before it opened, the trails around the lodge were busy. There was hardly a parking space to be found at the lodge last weekend as cross country ski teams from Dartmouth, Rutgers and other colleges in the snow-starved east got some early season practice in.

The lodge will start serving Don Bars and other pastries up Saturday morning with lunches starting at 11.