We received 3" of new snow at Wintergreen from yesterday's storm. With the new snow all trails were groomed and tracked. Loops A, B, C and Shortcut are all groomed wide enough for skate skiing. There is a little ice poking through on C Loop by the beaver ponds where the trail gets a little narrow, and one thin spot on B Loop shortly after the second intersection with A. Otherwise things are looking fantastic. Base on the trails are 2-4" and base in the woods is 7-8." Monday, January 15 is a Fee Free Day at USFS Day Use facilities, such as ski trails, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Photos:

(Brady Howe, US Forest Service)

Groomed and tracked B, D and Shortcut. B has some thin spots, on the section between the intersections with Shortcut there is a fair amount of leaves mixed into the snow, mainly in the skate ski lane. The turkeys were trying to get the last acorns of autumn and must have found quite a few on the trail. There is one rock that is poking out on D loop, on one of the shorter downhills towards the end. The rock is just barely poking through, and it's near the top of the hill in the middle of the trail. I'm holding off on grooming A, C and Kiddie until we have more snow as the groomer doesn't like the wetland crossings when the snow is thin. Base on the trails is 1-3", with 6" in the woods.

Photos:

(Brady Howe, US Forest Service)

Roller packed B, D and Shortcut. I had the corduroy mat down and it helped level off the trail some, should be good for snowshoes and fat bikes, and your rock skate skis. There's a few rocks poking through the trail on C and D, but B is good. The snow was too thin to set track but we are getting a nice base built up. A, C and Kiddie were packed with a snowmobile. The wetland crossing on C loop had thin ice and I broke through walking across, should hopefully freeze up solid in the next few days.

(Brady Howe, US Forest Service)

Machine packed all trails today. Snow packed down really thin with some leafs and grass poking through even though we got a good early season dump. The swamp on C Loop is not frozen yet, snowmobile almost got stuck in the mud. I plan on going back out tomorrow to roll B, D, and Shortcut. I will roll A loop as well if the swamp on that loop freezes up overnight.

(Brady Howe, US Forest Service)