Pincushion was a blast, as always, despite strong winds that drifted snow onto the trails. This, plus the cooling temperature, made for extremely slow skating (was out there from 11am-1pm and I'm pretty sure it got slower with time, though I was tiring a bit toward the end). I found myself V1-ing on flats and normally challenging downhills marked with caution signs on North Advanced/Hilfiker/Canyon Curves/Pincushion Mtn. loops were super slow. The classic track was intermittently present, as blowing snow has filled in the tracks in many places. With the continuing temperature drop the trails should firm up nicely!

Photos:

(Alan Chapman)

Base 20+ inches. 6-7 inches of new snow on Tuesday. We finished grooming all of our trails for classic and skate skiing on Wednesday morning.

(Chas Curry)

Trails in great shape this afternoon. The trails look to have been recently groomed. Cool temps (0) gave us light traffic on the trail. We did about 2.5 miles.

(Matthew Schwarz)

Trails in great shape. Very firm skate deck from the cold. Pincushion loop had a good stretch with a lot of boot tracks, but otherwise awesome conditions.

(John Leaf)

Base 20+ inches. 1-2 inches of new snow on Monday. All trails groomed for skate and classic skiing on Monday and Tuesday.

(Chas Curry)

Perfection for classic and backcountry! 50 inches and well groomed and off trail was just beautiful. Ran the trails twice since they were such a dream for classic skis.

Photos:

(Grace Stewart)

Base 20+ inches. 8 inches of new snow on Monday. All trails rolled and/or combed. Classic tracks set on some trails.

(Chas Curry)

The skate deck at Pincushion was still firm this afternoon in spite of temperatures in the mid to high 30's. I did not try the classic tracks but they did not look glazed. A few poles plants poked thru but other than that, the grooming was excellent.

(Tim Nelson)

Best skate skiing of the year! I was a little worried after we received some freezing rain yesterday afternoon. but not to worry. The groomers at Pincushion touched up all of the skate lanes, and skating was fantastic this morning -fast yet able to get an edge. Some of the classic tracks were also reset, and looked to be in good condition. Great snow cover here - I used my "B" skis, but would not hesitate to use my best skis.

(Timothy Lederle)

An amazing amount of snow - many thanks to the groomers for all their hard work! The skate deck was pretty soft, especially on the Pincushion Mountain and Ole Hyvaa loops. This made poling interesting, with poles regularly punching through more than a foot. I hopped into the classic tracks and double poled on especially soft sections, which helped. It began raining lightly soon after I started, which created a nice crust that sped up the deck and made pole punch-throughs less frequent. All in all - a super fun outing!

Photos:

(Alan Chapman)