I skied late Saturday afternoon after the temperature dropped below freezing and found a thin icy crust. I groomed Saturday night and successfully broke up the crust. In the headlight of the grooming snowmobile the trail looked like a war zone from the snow that fell from the trees the last couple of days. Grooming leveled it out nicely and while the trail does not look as nice as it does after a fresh snow, conditions are very good or better. Tracks are well formed. There will not be any icy skiing conditions.

(Bob Turnquist)

Ideal conditions and fresh tracks set. Thank you to all who work on this trail. Much appreciated. Did the East trails for the first time. Excellent.

(Jim Red)

Dragged and leveled trail yesterday. Tried to groom yesterday afternoon but the snow was still not set up enough. Groomed this morning after a cold night and have great tracks set. We are finally in mid-winter (excellent) conditions.

(Bob Turnquist)

Parking lot plowed and trails rolled, but no tracks yet. Some segments rolled twice and connector on East side has corduroy laid down. Groomer said trails are too soft to complete that grooming phase. We were very happy to be making skier tracks instead of breaking trail--looks like 8-12 inches of new snow. Pole plants were generally solid, but snow was a little more fluffy the further out we got from the parking lot. It's a winter wonderland out there with beautiful mounds of snow draped over the conifers! Get out there before the next January thaw!

(Dave Henning)

With the few inches of snow in the last couple of days we are approaching mid-winter conditions. Groomed this evening and conditions look like they will be very good to excellent. Tracks are well formed and with temperatures below zero tonight they should firm up nicely. Tomorrow should be a great day to be out.

(Bob Turnquist)

Leveled trails this morning and groomed this afternoon after 4+ inches of snow yesterday. Nice well formed tracks. After tonight's cold temps the tracks should be hard. Conditions will be very good or better. Thin spots appear to be largely gone. The only visible exception I noted is one spot on the trail leading to the "big hill".

(Bob Turnquist)

Tracks set last night firmed up nicely with 0 degree temps last night. Skied the West Side trails. Conditions are very good. In a few places the tracks are not perfect and there still a handful of thin spots in the tracks, all just a few inches long so they are easy to avoid. If you are careful it would be fine to use your best skis, otherwise use good but not your best skis.

(Bob Turnquist)

With the few inches of snow we have gotten lately and with favorable weather conditions I was able to groom the trails tonight. Since it is difficult to see the results at night, I would rate the conditions as very good. In the areas where the trail is double tracked I was able to see the first pass and the tracks looked great. I will check out the areas that were a little thin tomorrow and report. I think good skis should be fine, but to be safe I specified B skis.

(Bob Turnquist)

Groomed late Thursday afternoon. Conditions are very good. Tracks are full depth except for a few places on the Sylvania loop where the show is a bit thin and a few leaves and a bit of grass are visible in the bottom of the track. 99+% of the trails are in great shape. With snow on the trees it is beautiful on the trail.

(Bob Turnquist)

All trails were groomed this evening. Conditions are good or better. The majority of the trail is in very good to excellent condition but there are a few places where there is not quite enough snow so that the condition could be rated higher. 99% of the tracks are full depth but in a few areas grass or leaves are visible. The trails are all on Forest Service roads so there are a few rough spots largely due to vehicles driving through wet areas during late fall. Considering we have only gotten snow in the last week and the snow was very low moisture there is great early season skiing. I dragged the trails to get the air out of the snow and to level the trail 3 times prior to grooming today and set a rudimentary track with a light weight tracking sled and found skiing to be great the last few days.

Photos:

(Bob Turnquist)