Fast and fun skating conditions Saturday on the trails groomed Saturday morning. The skate deck on the entire West Side was groomed, as well as the East Side Core Loop and Roundabout trails. Even though the underlying icy base is rock hard, the groomed surface of the skate deck had just enough edge control on uphills and downhills - rocket fast, a blast! On trails not recently groomed for skate skiing, the underlying base is icy and has a thin coating of snow that is skiable. The old classic track is skiable throughout the trail system and offers OK striding - although it's glazed where it's had traffic. A word of caution to classic skiers: you may need to work your edges hard on uphills and downhills.

Photos:

(Tom Paulsen)

Skied the core loop which is all that is groomed. Very icy. Some logging damage near the warming house to watch out for.

(Ryan Urban)

Since the previous two days had been warm with cold nights, we wanted a place with reputable, recent grooming, since we feared that classic tracks would be likely icy. Where better than Blue Hills? It was a great decision to ski their less-skied West Trails. Classic tracks were lovely and there was enough snow in center lanes to snow plow on the steep hills. Lumbering is happening near the warming hut, so I had to take off skis three different places in the beginning, but after that, it was all clear.

(Madeline Uraneck)

I skate skied West Side Trails this morning. They were in good condition. I started from the Warming House at the East Side Trails and skied clockwise to access the West Side Trails. I noticed that the East Side Trails were icy but the trails on the West Side did not seem icy. As mentioned by a previous skier, there is logging going on at the East Side Trails with heavy trucks crossing the ski trail which required taking off skis three times starting at 1 and heading toward 26.

(Deanna Letts)

Gorgeous day, blue sky. The trade-off for the nice weather (34F) is trickier skiing, as trails get soft in the afternoon sun. We had a good ski on the core trail (12 K). Tracks were holding up fine, though we knew with cold night temps that the next day's trails would likely be icier. Lumbering was taking place in the woods near the warming house; we had to take off skis to cross a short patch where the trucks had crossed the trail. Otherwise, great conditions. Seize these last days of snow and joy at Blue Hills.

(Madeline Uraneck)

The West side skate deck was freshly groomed after Friday's wind storm. Fun curvy, hilly trail with good coverage. It was mostly firm with small areas of new drifting where the trail is open to the lakes. Less debris from the wind than I expected. Thank you groomers!

(Amanda Wieckowicz)

Great coverage on all the East Trails. Crew was still out rolling this morning. Fresh snow and cold = soft and slow, but it will ski in and setup soon. Tracks good, but not great. Love this out of the way gem of a network with great terrain.

(John Ericsson)

We haven't had snow for a while but these trails are in very good condition despite that. I skied most of the trails - far east, west, and most in between - and didn't see any bare spots. Probably the trails in the nicest condition are on the west side as they have seen very little use and the snow hasn't been worked as hard due to the late opening of those trails because of the logging activity in the area. I crossed over from intersection 23 and did L-K-J -I-H-G-F-D-C-I-J-K-L. Walked the short distance between D and C as there hasn't been enough snow to cover the road in that section (was used for the logging). In areas where there are conifers - spruce, pine, and hemlock - there can be significant tree debris on the trail. This was specially true under the hemlocks. As Hemlock Canyon has a lot of hemlock this was particularly the case on that segment - the trail was literally covered with hemlock fruiting structures. You may wish to put up with that though as this is also the most picturesque area on the whole trail system. Also noted that Washout Trail was not groomed for classic skiing nor was the upper portion of Elevator - B2 to 9 (where the trail is relatively level) nor was Rollercoaster. Cold day so very few users. Met nobody on the trail.

(Geary Searfoss)

The East side core loop and most side trails are open and in good condition. The west side is open after logging was completed last week, but there are some thin areas yet. Excelsior Road on the West side is groomed surprisingly well already past the A junction. You have to keep your eyes open for a short .62 km. Once you hit A though it was great skiing Saaturday afternoon. Edge control but fast. I didn't notice any classical track until A on the West side, but I saw plenty of smiling classical skiers coming back down Excelsior Road. Good skis on the East side, B skis on the West side.

Photos:

(Amanda Wieckowicz)

East side trails are all open--west side-some logging taking place disrupting the ski trail. Classic set nicely on most trails and skate deck is awesome all over.
Groomers should be commended for the great work.

(Dave Swanson)