Both the 5K and 10K trails are groomed for skate and classic skiing. All skate decks were smoothed and groomed Tuesday night: crumbled snow and corduroy over a deep, form base, but very soft and deep off the sides. The new 10K track needs to be skied in and varies from very good to fair, as frozen ruts did move the tracksetter in some spots. If the Thursday and Friday temps go high, we will go to Spring Hours on those days. This will reduce the frozen ridges and ruts which developed over the past two days. Check our phone message or this website for updated hours.

(John Graham)

The 5K trail Skate deck was regroomed this morning, saw much use throughout the day, and the warm afternoon temps helped to transform the packed fluff into a dense pack. The 5K Classic track was getting skied-in and holding-up. The 10K trail was compacted and finally groomed, side-to-side for Skating. Both trails will firm-up in tonights low temps, and we will set the 10K Classic track on Tuesday evening as forecast temps go down for the remainder of the week. It was amazing to see and feel the sparkling powder turn to thick and heavy snow as we worked the 10K today.

(John Graham)

The 5k trail was compacted yesterday, and groomed for skating and a classic track was set. The surface remains soft, but will firm-up as the snow transforms, warms-up, and is skied-in. This morning our main effort will be to recover one of our snowmobiles, which rolled off-rail on the biathlon loop yesterday evening. Once we have recovered it, we will re-groom the 5k skate lane, then proceed to begin compacting the 10k trail...Due to the deep snow, we must do that without the groomer attached, and that's why you'll see us roaring around the trail on sleds without groomers. Once it is ready, we will begin grooming and hope to have the 10k skate-reaady by the end of today. We are also watching the temperatures, and if the highs go into the high 30's for a number of days, we will move to spring (morning/evening) hours in order to preserve the trails and extend the season. Our phone message and this website will be kept up to date. Congrats to everyone who completed their birkie events last weekend! And thank you, to Jim Wood, Shaun Higgins, and John Gould, who kept the trails groomed and open through the two weekend snow storms!

(John Graham)

Found a loose but very skate worthy 5k loop this evening. Looked like a nice classical track as well. The flake has done well packing down the 20+ inches of snow this week. Groomers were out when I left around 6:00.

(Paul Haberle)

The classic track on the 10k was set yesterday morning. Very pretty, but it needs to firm-up. All skate decks - 10k, 5k, and oval - were regroomed yesterday, and again this morning, so the 9" soft-pack is being compacted and transformed and the skating is getting fast. We are open til 8 tonight, and will be open 8 a.M. - 9 P.M. Tomorrow and saturday. Good luck to all birkie, kortie, prince haakon, and barnebirkie skiers...Whatever your goal this year, we wish you success!

(John Graham)

Skied 10K loop around 6PM. Both the skate deck and classical track beautifully groomed! Skating was a bit slow with the newer snow (or wrong wax?) but should only improve as things firm up. Double-poled some flatter sections in classical track, which is smooth and nicely formed.

(Gordon Mesedahl)

Grooming was delayed til afternoon, sorry. Eight runs around the 5k to compact and smooth the fluff, then we groomed the skate deck and set a classic track. The skating is still soft but will firm-up as the snow transforms. The track is deep and well formed, but fragile. We then made three runs with two groomers over the 10k, edge-to-edge. It is a good, though soft skate surface. We will set a classic track on the 10k in the morning.

Photos:

(John Graham)

What a wonderfull snow event! We began grooming at 8:30 this morning. Our primary goal, to compact the new snow in anticipation of more to come, and to provide a skiable surface for our skiers. We did 4 x two-groomer circuits on the 5K, and put in a Classic track. The Skate deck was soft, but pretty, and new snow soon covered our work. Moving to the 10K, we did 9 total grooming runs. The classic track was completely snowed-in so we groomed over it to compact the snow in anticipation of setting a new track when the snow ends. By 4 pm it was evident that the snow was winning, and I need to get some rest for my Birkie, so we knocked-off. We will resume grooming tomorrow morning, beginning on the 5K. We will be open at 8 a.m., but the trails will be covered in new snow: expect a groomed 5K about noon. The best part of this snowfall is that it may give us the base to ski well into March!

(John Graham)

Perfection. I ski at Snowflake often and this is the best its been all year. Thank you groomers for your attention to detail (ie. timing of grooming after the thaw) and a wider skate deck that makes it easy to avoid the classic track (looked solid too). The skate deck is flat, fast, great edge and no ice (Shovel Hill on the 10k is a bit hard but not icy like after the last thaw). The 5K is slightly better than the 10K but superb skiing on both trails.

(Tom Heinitz)

The 5K and 10K trail Skate decks were re-groomed tonight. Knives were set just low enough to erase the skate tracks. The result is crumbly corduroy surface over a hard, compacted base. Both trails skied fast on Friday and should ski fast on Saturday. 100% cover and Good Skis recommended. I skied the 5K and 10K Classic tracks today and found that the track set Wednesday night had become firm, hard-walled, and fast. A few wash-outs on the tight turns, but overall a solid track, and fast. We left the Classic tracks alone tonight and won't reset them unti after the weekend snow event...whatever that turns-out to be. We're open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. A good chance for Birkie/Kortie skiers to enjoy an easy training day. Sunday and Monday may be difficult ski days if the lake-effect snow really developes. The groomers would like to thank the Skate skiers who have really avoided our Classic track, as well as the responsible dog owners who are controling their dogs on the trails. You are appreciated.

(John Graham)