On Wednesday night, 2-3" of fresh snow on the skate lane was groomed. Track will be set on Thursday or Friday. The grooming tech reported that the snow was 'perfect' which improved the already great conditions!

(Mike Dahlby)

Skaters paradise after the work that was done which Kevin reported this morning. Thanks for the great timing and planning to make the best out of the ski trail. It was fast and very fun. I thought there was enough fluff to maintain control on all flats, uphills, and downhills. My skis were not sliding out from under me at all. Just one icy section for about a half K between 8-9k on the south loop which was too soaked on Friday. I used A skis and didn't mind but still put down B's in this report for a bit of debris and potential snow plowing on the steeper downhills. One more skate note: because the trail wasn't skied much during Thursday and Fridays warm temps, there were no ruts today. Nice and flat. Talked to a couple ladies who were striding, unfortunately the track is way too icy is what they reported. But they were going back out again for the deck to stride some more so must have had good control too.

(Brady Zwiefelhofer)

Ski trail was very icy this morning. We did not expect it to freeze up that fast from the warm temps we had yesterday. We touched up the skate lane late this morning to make it more skiable. There were some major ruts left from some Fatbikers yesterday on the south loop. We groomed most of them out but that section of trail also got very icy from the sun yesterday. You will want to take it easy on the downhill just before the shelter. It looks like water may have been on top of the trail at some point. We plan to groom the trails again tonight and try to reset the tracks.
Fat bike trail: What can I say, pretty disappointed that whoever rode the trail yesterday pretty much wrecked it. The report is the short loop/Trappers and Burnt Wagon are completely rutted and maybe not even very rideable. I guess they did not make it out to north loop so that may be ok. It's really too bad because we had it groomed up like a sidewalk yesterday morning before the heat. I'm not really sure what we can do with it at this point but will take a look tomorrow.

(Kevin Roytek)

Got done work early so headed out into this steamy heat wave for a loop around the north/south loops. As to be expected a lot of moisture in the snow. I was very impressed with the grooming. It was done very well and the timing was right. There were a handful of heat wave skiers ahead of me so the trail should look almost freshly groomed for Sat AM; the cold overnight temps will swing the trail even more to almost ideal I would anticipate. We really all could use it skied over to make it even better so get out there this weekend! Classic track is set on the entire trailand seemed rather firm the couple times I hopped in it. My poles did sink in (that was a ton of snow this week) so a basket change might be a consideration. I used my best skis and will use them again this weekend. However, I do recommend B's for anyone who doesn't want risk a scratch on their A skis. There was a bit of debris on the trail.
One bummer note:between 7k-9k, fatbikers rode on the skate deck putting in large ruts. I have suspicions that these folks were out of town and might have been a bit lost on the single track, but nonetheless a PSA to obviously avoid the ski trail whether on bike, foot, snowshoeing, or anything other than skis is appreciated. First time I've ever seen fat bike tracks or rugs on the ski deck up there.

(Brady Zwiefelhofer)

Ski tracks were set last night. Many, many hours were spent this week to get the trail in shape. It looks fantastic and from what I could tell was nice a firm. Sorry, no pictures this morning of the ski trail, my phone ran out of battery.
We just finished grooming the entire fat bike system again this morning before the warm up. The best riding will be Trappers/Short Loop and Burnt Wagon as they had the most grooming passes completed. The North Loop seemed to be setting up well but there where drifts and it could be a bit soft in those areas. If it freezes tonight, all of the trails should be great. I did manage to get a few pics before my phone quit. Enjoy!

Photos:

(Kevin Roytek)

Ski trails have been rolled and dragged. Tracks will be set tonight. Report is that the trail is firming up very well. Groomers talked to someone who skied 40k there today.
All of the fat bike trails have been groomed today. We plan to groom all of the trails one more time early tomorrow morning so it is ready for the weekend.

Photos:

(Kevin Roytek)

South, North, and Tram Lake Loops all packed and rolled yesterday. All other trails packed with snowmobile only. Took 10 hours to do that!
Grooming plans: By the end of today all trails should be groomed with Ginzu and track set. Might take into tomorrow. Probably nice skiing today, just might need to yield to the groomer(s). Expensive operations - please help support the Friends of Hickory Ridge Trail through a membership or leaving a few bucks in the donation vault.

(Mike Dahlby)

I skated south and north loop, tram lake, dog island and highland/lowland. The skate lane was in good shape, the classic track had a few dirt and leaves turned up. See pictures from north loop and dog island.

Photos:

(Dale Shipman)

Entire system now includes a skate lane and tracks! Groomer (non-skier) rates the track and skate lane as 8 and 7, respectively, on a 10 pt scale. There may be a few isolated dirt clumps or rocks in the track on the west side of the north loop, but other than that no ski risks are reported. There are plans to freshen up the grooming on Friday night. Anyone who heads out is encouraged to leave a report for fellow skiers if they would be so kind.

(Mike Dahlby)

All trails rolled today. Track was set on South Loop. Crew will work on setting track on the rest of the system tomorrow. Skating should get close to fantastic. There is little chance of damage to skis. I skied all trails yesterday and never touched debris, but I did need to avoid a handful of dirt clumps. There are no sections to avoid anymore.

(Mike Dahlby)