Cloudy, a bit humid, and a steady 22 F for most of the morning, and into the afternoon. Fresh grooming at After Hours Thursday morning, except Sally's classic, but it was also in great shape. Both skating and classic were just about perfect. Fast Wax blue paste yielded wonderful glide, and good old Swix Blue gave plenty of kick. Picked up some never-used hard wax at a garage sale awhile ago. The Blue I used said $1.95 on top--I wonder how old that is! The Brule River, viewed from both River Trail and White Pine, is always so beautiful.

Photos:

(Tim Holst)

Skied 4 days in a row. A good time - very good conditions. Had a little bit of snow Monday night - conditions even better after that. A few icy spots on trails with evergreens - but all in all great conditions. Skied maple, river, classic and oak trails. Great job groomers! Now back to "no snow" Madison.

Photos:

(Barbara Zellmer)

Over the last few days we got 10+ inches of new, dry, fluffy snow here in Brule. All the trails have been groomed and track set. There is about a 4-5 inch base with 20 or more inches of snow on the ground in the woods. The trees are loaded with snow, the skies are clear and brilliant blue, and the skiing conditions are excellent!

Photos:

(Diane Gobin)

With 4 inches of new snow yesterday, the groomers were out yesterday afternoon rolling all the trails. They are out again this morning rolling and setting track. Conditions are excellent, trails have a 4 inch base and there is about 12 inches of snow in the woods.

(Diane Gobin)

Trails were groomed and track set on Wednesday. We've had some very light additional snow since then, trails are in good to very good condition. Base of about 3 inches and about 10 inches of snow in the woods.

(Diane Gobin)

Someone a couple days ago wrote on the whiteboard in the warming hut that they recommended B skis for skate--I'd assume it's improved since then, as I have some pretty nice skate skis and I had no anxieties while skiing 12k or so. Freshly groomed today--the base is thin but it's firm and coverage is good. Numerous scattered areas of dirt/debris, but never anything where I couldn't just ski around it without slowing down. My wife and daughters skied classic and they reported good conditions as well.

(Erik Riker-Coleman)

A couple inches of new snow fell on Sunday. The groomers were out today, they groomed all the trails and set track. The track is broken up a bit in places, but the trails are in good to very good condition. There is a base of about 3 inches, and we have about 10 inches of snow in the woods.

(Diane Gobin)

With another 2-3 inches of snow overnight, groomers are out on the trails today grooming trails and setting track. We have about 10 inches of snow in the woods, and a base of 2-3 inches on the ski trails. Conditions are good!

(Diane Gobin)

More snow on the ground at Brule than in Duluth, and the woods at After Hours Trails were beautiful. Skating was a bit soft (expected with new snow and temps in the low teens), but excellent coverage and grooming. Classic was very good, with a number of thin spots. Tracks were best on the trails with skating also, but Sally's classic-only trail (new name this year) was groomed and great fun. It did have more thin spots and some twigs, but really very good condition. The logging operation really only affected one or two short spots, aside from some noise down near where White Pine comes close to the river. The Brule is running bank-full, and was just gorgeous. The little side trip at Little Joe Rapids is well worth the effort for the view, although you need to negotiate a down tree. Fast wax teal paste gave great glide and plain old Swix green yielded excellent kick.

Photos:

(Tim Holst)

We received an additional 2 inches of dry fluffy snow overnight. Conditions are good - all the open trails have been groomed and tracks set. There may some loose fluffy snow on the tracks that were set yesterday afternoon. We have about 9 inches of snow on the ground in the woods, and the trees are snow-covered and beautiful!
Some trails remain closed due to logging activity. They will be opened when logging activity is complete.

(Diane Gobin)