Skating is still just great! Yes, most of the rock ridges are bare, and one walks down some south-facing hills, but I'd say at least 80% of the trails are fine. Skiing this morning was a pleasant surprise because the temp. was way above thaw, but skate deck was firm. And our Bogwalk project is underway - 1/2 mile of 8' wooden walkway across the swamp to allow off season access for fall maintenance and for hikers, etc.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Skated over 20K on fast, super fast trails today. It's that wonderful spring skiing here and we've got at least a foot of base remaining. But it is also portage time - and that's great fun: There are a few places on the Red Trail where it's necessary to walk over the brown ground, but the rest of the system is fine. Blue is especially nice!

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Started to ski at 10:30 when it was 27 degrees. The trail was fast for the first 18 KM. By noon the trail was getting soft in the sun and slow. When I finished at 12:30 it was 37 and sunny. Enjoy the trail.

(David Kettula)

Although we pulled our grooming equipment this morning, the skiing is fabulous! The trails are rock hard with just enough loose snow to provide a good edge for skating. Tracks the same - sometimes rocket fast. The sun softens up the skate lane by 1 pm or so - skiing is better for you and better for the trail in the morning. Fat tires have left barely a trace when used in the morning. The base is deep and hard and only one small bare spot on a south-facing hill on the Red Trail (always the first to go.).

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Rain on Thursday... Snow overnight, temps in the high 20's today made for a fine skate. We groomed everything on Monday and the skate deck is still just fine, hard and not rutted. The tracks were snow-filled but looked OK. It was not speedy today with an inch of fine new snow. Probably wont groom again until the skate lane deteriorates or gets rutted.

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Rolled the Blue Return and Bad Blue Hill Trails this morning in sunny, zero F weather. Then took Ginzu back out to do Green and Ornage skate lanes and cover roller. Trails look great! And the Big Bad Blue, the Terrible Two, is very skiable - no tracks on this one.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Wowzer....more snow. We tried to haul the Ginzus around but could not make it. Returned to get a drag and the roller and then things went very nicely. It was warm (my feet got hot!) and sunny after a couple of hours - a perfect day on the trail. We rolled all segments twice. Looking at the tracks made by a lone skater, the base was setting up well. It would be peachy if it stopped snowing enough to get everything groomed and tracked and solid. Try again tomorrow.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

We have received over 14" of snow in the past 2 weeks. After packing with sleds on Thursday, using the drag and roller on Friday, skiing the Park Black Bay trails on Saturday, the Ginzu boys spent about 6 hours today in relatively mild weather (minus 8 to start then mostly above zero) on the Tilson Trails and we're finally able to groom and set tracks on all trails. All set, looks great!

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Snow, more snow. We received close to a foot of dry snow on Sunday and Monday. In cold and windy conditions on Tuesday, with a small drag running ahead we were just barely able to pull the roller. But we managed to make two circuits on all trails. One skater had followed our first lap so that we were able to judge how the snow had packed - we were surprised to see a fairly hard surface. More snow is predicted for today and Thursday so tracking may have to wait.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Classic ski at -11F. The trail was freshly groomed the day before. It was slow because of the temperature. There is more than 15" of snow on the ground. Nice to be outside even on a cold day.

Photos:

(David Kettula)