All things considered, the Classic Trail from the North End south was great. Double tracks much but not all the way and very few spots where you had to lift a ski out. In fact, fewer thin spots than on the skate lane. Inner track a little glazed in spots but easy waxing. You can definitely use good skis in my view.

Photos:

(Ian Duncan)

At noon today, the classic trail north of OO had been groomed with 2 sets of very nice looking tracks. The skate trail not regroomed, yet. Skate conditions were a little softer than the great conditions of yesterday, but still good and it's still beautiful out there.

(Tom Detzner)

We started at Birkie Trail Head in Cable this morning and are working south on the Birkie Classic trail, grooming and clearing trees to OO Trail Head. We are setting classic tracks where we can. The tracks get pretty close to the ground so we would recommend rock skis if in the tracks. We will return north on the Birkie Skate trail. It is a bit slow going for the first pass as we need to clear down trees on Birkie Classic- thanks for your patience! Enjoy the new snow -- Happy New Year!

Photos:

(Kurt Proctor, American Birkebeiner)

Skated the OO loops and the skate trail from OO to High Point. On the groomed skate Birkie trail there was full snow coverage with just a few bumps here and there to keep you on your toes. The hills are still really big. The OO loops were pretty good but had easily avoidable brown spots (dirt? leaves?) here and there. I didn't see any grooming on the classic trail. Lots of snow on the trees makes it really beautiful out there, and skiing on natural snow is a silky, quiet pleasure. The new Johnson building at OO is also lovely. Try the hot chocolate, it's delicious and a work of art!

(Mike Keyes)

Skated North End to High Point. Very hard packed base, bumpy in some places. Could be a bit squirrelly, but overall still in really good shape, especially considering high traffic this weekend: never had any trouble grabbing an edge. No track most of the way there, and classic trail still not groomed. Hoping for some good accumulation the next few days. Still looking magical out on trail.

Photos:

(Mitchell Campbell)

South of Hwy OO there was nice classic tracks and good grooming for skate for about 2km. The loop trails were in good shape for skate but no tracks. We also skied 3km north of Oo and there was good skate conditions but no tracks.
Lost/Found: From what I can tell someone grabbed my Fischer skate skis from the Samuel Johnson lodge because there was similar brand skis but a little shorter left on the rack and mine were gone. Left a note and called the Birkie office so hopefully they turn up.

Photos:

(Mark Bushinski)

As planned, we groomed the Birkie Skate trail from the Birkie Trailhead to OO and Birkie Ridge. No classic track set yet. The trail is beautiful right now! Enjoy!

(Kurt Proctor, American Birkebeiner)

Skied OO Loops tonight. Good skiing! PB has headed north from OO on skate trail. That should be really good skiing tomorrow.

Photos:

(Jeffery Tumbleson)

As the temps have fallen, we were able to groom the lit loops at OO and it turned out pretty well. There is not quite enough snow yet to set a classic track except up at BTH on the manufactured snow loop. Currently we are grooming the skate trail from "OO" to the Birkie Trailhead (again, no classic track set) so expect some fun skiing on the freshly groomed Birkie Trail tomorrow morning. As the snow continues to dry out this week, we will keep grooming more and more of the Birkie Trail.
Please note, there are races Saturday (Double Pole Derby) at the Birkie Trailhead from 10am to 2pm. If you aren't racing and are looking for a good place to park and start your ski tomorrow, Hwy OO might be the place (and check out the new S.C. Johnson Family Outdoor Center!) We will not groom Birkie Ridge yet.

(Kurt Proctor, American Birkebeiner)

Start area trails are nicely groomed for this weekends races. Firm and fast. That's the good news. The bad news is that the Birkie trail proper appears to be too wet to groom at this point. There's plenty of snow right now. Particularly on the most northerly portions of the trail.

(Andy Schwartz)