Due to extreme cold and wanting to preserve the health and sanity of our staff and life of our equipment, we have opted to not groom Tuesday overnight on the snowmakng loop.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

With preparations for the City of Lakes Loppet Ski Festival, please note the following restrictions this week:
Thursday and Friday night from 5 - 9 p.m. skiing will be only on trails from Coaches' Corner east (Ridgeline, La Squadra and Trail 18). Access from La Squadra near the Chalet or via Trail 18 from behind The Trailhead. If there is natural snow all the natural snow trails will be open to skiing as well. (Note that while we are not directly using Twin Lake that trail would also be closed - no way to access without going through closed trails.) These restrictions apply to fat bikers as well.
For Saturday and Sunday all trails - natural or artificial - will be closed until 3 p.m. each day.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

Snowmaking Loop = The 5+ inches of snow that fell overnight was tilled in and mixed as it was falling. We are now continuing to groom with the snowcat this morning as more snow is falling.
Natural Snow Trails = All of the natural snow trails (Judy, Skyline, Tornado Alley, JD Rivers, Wirth Lake, Butler, Bog and the Chain of Lakes) are being rolled this morning. Snow continues to fall!

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

Skied the man-made trails Sunday with my coldest glide wax and was very happy (with the snow, the wax, all the happy people out skiing...not so much in the condition of my legs). Excited to try the natural snow trails for the first time in a long time!

(Chris Jandro)

The classic was perfect this morning and the groomers set really great tracks. Just when I thought I would lose it, the tracks would end and pick up again as soon as the turn was done. I wasn't gliding as fast as I'd like, but oslo green was plenty of kick. I skied a couple skate laps afterwards in the warmer sunshine and the deck was firm and pretty fast. No sugar to be seen anywhere and no ice on the turns. Great course today.

(Dan Boody)

Utterly perfect classic skiing this morning. Nice firm tracks, double set about half if the time. They are doing a really nice job chosing the line and knowing when to pull it and when to leave it.

(Zachary Handler)

I got started at 3:45 just after a high school race seemed to have ended. The first lap seemed fast. The deck was very firm with only a tiny bit of looser snow on top-but even that was not sugary. The turns were all easy and fun - fast but no problem getting an edge and no ice. The adjustment to the turn on the meadow is great, nobody was snowplowing it at all. A ton of skiers hit the course and with all the traffic there was some ice getting exposed by my third lap. There was a big square of ice on the inside of the S turn leaving Twin Lakes. The snow was very clean - the only debris was on the flat leading to the meadow/twin lakes. Amazingly firm deck and overall great conditions.

(Dan Boody)

Beautiful wintry day at Wirth. Very windblown which makes for slow skiing but worth all the extra effort to enjoy a sun shiny day. Thanks to grooming crew for a solid base that goes for miles!

(Joe Dolan)

Skied around lunch time, after about 1-2" of fresh snow. My timing was a bit off as the grooming crew had two PistenBully machines out grooming post-snowfall (I hate ski on new cord before it has a chance to setup). Conditions were very good on the snowmaking loop, and not quite as fast with the fresh snow. Fresh classic tracks were being set.

(Bruce Adelsman)

Too much of a good thing? There. I said it. The blanket of new snow actually made it harder to ski. But I'll take it! :)
The extra loop near La Quadra is a great additional workout. Hopefully all this snows helps all that area ski trails.

Photos:

(Paul Larson)