Trails regroomed after the big high school meet Friday. Perfect skating and striding at Snowflake on Saturday. Low light but I hope the rock-solid classic track shows up on the picture.

Photos:

(Tim Holst)

Conditions: Good! All trails were groomed and classic track set on Tuesday. The classic track set-up overnight and today it was well-formed and fast, even with 1/2" fresh snow.
Snowflake is hosting the Duluth East high school invitational on Friday, Jan 22nd. The 10k trail will be closed at 6 pm on Thursday, Jan 21st, for course prep. The 5k will remain open and lighted until 9 pm. All trails will be closed on Friday, Jan 22 until 4:30 pm. The trails will be re-groomed on Friday night and Snowflake will be open for business as usual at 7 am on Saturday.

(John Graham)

Conditions: 10km trail - Highly variable. Fresh snow from last night.
The trails were being groomed at 3pm, while I was skiing. The classic track was being set first, so when the skate deck was groomed, the classic track was flattened at random points along the trail. The conditions went from skied out but firm, to very soft in the skate lane and track sidewalls. I hope the groomers will have a chance to do a post-closing groom before the temperatures warm up later this week.

(Louise Levy)

Broke out the "A" skis! Great skiing in the gentle snow today at snowflake. I skied both skate and classic, both short and long loops. What a beautiful day in the woods. About 15 F, Swix blue gave great kick, Fast Wax blue paste gave surprisingly good glide for both skate and classic. Sufficient other skiers to keep the classic track pretty clear of fresh snow, and the skate lane not yet too deep with new snow. When this snow is over, a good groom and we will be set!

(Tim Holst)

Conditions: Very good to excellent skate and good to very good classic.
Skated all trails this morning and was in super condition (albeit slow with the colder temps). A winter wonderland out there! The skate deck is most even and solid with about 2" of skiied-in new snow (no new grooming since the last two days of snow). The 5K is more used and faster, as usual, and 10K a bit slower and softer. With more grooming and the cold temps the trails should set up wonderfully and will only get better. Thanks Snowflake crew for the best skiing in the Twin Ports.

(Tom Heinitz)

Temps just below freezing, great glide and firm kick. I skied both skate and classic and the conditions were best of the year I thought. Nice wide skate lane, good classic track. Hope we get a fresh snow, but this was great.

(Tim Holst)

Conditions: Wow, Great! Groomed overnight, fresh skate lane and classic tracks.
I got to Snowflake early today for a long ski. Everything had been groomed overnight, conditions were fantastic. There are still occasional spots to avoid, but overall great skiing. I skated, the classic track looked 95% good with a few spots of dirt coming through and misaligned skate lane grooming that covered the track up. Get out there! Thanks, Snowflake!

(Matthew Ryan)

Conditions: Good trails, skate and classic are clean and debris free.
The 5k trail will be closed on Sunday morning until noon for a biathlon event. The 10k will remain open all day. All trails will be groomed on Saturday evening.

(Sean Bedard-Parker)

Conditions: About 1/8 inch of new powder on top of well-packed base.
Good skiing at Snowflake, although the humid new snow was really slow in the tracks. The track is very good on all except a 2 km stretch on the long loop where it was not reset during the last grooming. All in all, very nice classic conditions. Skating was much easier with the greasy morning snow. Despite lots of use, conditions are holding up very well, and should be great throughout the weekend.

(Bruce Bauer)

Conditions: Good to excellent.
Both the 5k and 10k were groomed overnight, and classic tracks reset. Despite heavy usage today, including the Mora H.S. Nordic team and visitors from Texas, Nevada, Nebraska and many from the Twin Cities, the trails and track ended the day in good shape, ready for another great day of skiing tomorrow.
Snowflake will be open until 1:00 a.m. tomorrow, New Years Eve, for those who would like to ski into the new year. Lights on the 5k will be lit until 1:15 a.m. For skiers looking toward this weekend, a reminder that we are open and the 5k lit until 9:00 p.m. On Fridays and 10:00 p.m. On Saturdays. The kidsski program begins this Sunday afternoon, so the chalet will be crowded between 1:00 and 3:30, but they have little impact on the trail skiing. Think snow!

(John Graham)