Early morning ski started icy, until Groomer Mike showed and worked his magic. Beautiful spring ski. Few spots bare and still icy, but will take it.

Photos:

(Laura Beilke)

Trails were rolled today after about 5 inches of wet snow overnight. In the late afternoon snow conditions ranged from slightly glazed to semi-dry powder. The sun had started to burn through areas where base was gone, but the new snow was holding up well where over remaining base. Northstar not groomed and expect Big Ben and Potlatch to have significant bare spots by Friday afternoon.

(Owen Baird)

Warm weather and fast trails. Trails were in pretty good shape considering the warm temperatures and sunshine. I skied everything except North Star and only Big Ben had thin spots in the typical places - easy to ski around. I talked to some folks classic skiing who reported good glide.

(Jacquelyn Bacigalupi)

A dusting of new snow over recently recently groomed and now softer base with the somewhat warmer temperatures made for the best skiing in a while. New classic track set. Still some areas of dirty snow and leaves and tree debris, but overall very good. Note: School races at Arb much of the day on Saturday.

(Owen Baird)

Groomers have been able to get out and work on the skate lanes most days so that's been maintaining a good skiing surface. Classic track was set some time ago. Still good solid track, but starting to collect leaves and other tree debris. At least the leaves don't stick to green kickwax as much a they do to violet. Northstar trails have not been groomed in a while so are harder, but skiable, with a few micro dustings of new powder on the surface. Some thin-dirty areas mostly on Potlatch and Big Ben.

(Owen Baird)

Skate deck is about an inch of well-groomed old snow with some transformed snow mixed in over a hard/icy base. Classic track last set about a week ago, so just skied-in old snow without any of the transformed base showing up. A few small areas of dirty snow but overall very good. Not much for tree debris. Skate deck will probably be groomed daily through the weekend and the classic track is planned to be reset Friday morning. Lumberjack Jaunt open track ski course is marked and ready to go. Note school races will be held at the Arb Saturday from about 8-4:30.

(Owen Baird)

Grooming today broke up the hard skate deck a bit, still some hard-crusty sections, but some softer areas too. New classic track set that looked generally good and seemed to be mostly powdery old snow. Gusty winds to around 40 mph this week brought down a bunch of leaves, needles, and sticks onto the trails. A few sections of dirt in the snow. I didn't ski it but the Northstar trail reportedly crusty and poor for skiing.

(Owen Baird)

Hard base with a little lose snow on top in most areas. A few hard-icy sections, mainly near the trailhead and along the Paul Bunyan trail. Classic track has not been groomed in a while, but well skied-in and in good shape. Just a few small areas of dirty snow, could use good skis with caution. A half-inch of new snow fell while skiing which made for nice skiing, but a little slower snow.

(Owen Baird)

A couple inches of wet snow fell Thursday into early Friday. Trails were packed Friday morning. A few areas were a little hard/glazed from ski traffic in the afternoon, but by skiing on the sides of the skate lane in less skied-on snow the hard sections could be avoided. Classic tracks not reset, but appeared to have been mostly skied-in and looked good.

(Owen Baird)

Better than I expected after the warm days we had this week. Sections of trail were in great condition, and nearly all of the trails had full coverage (I didn't ski North Star as that is classic only). There were areas of thin and dirty snow/debris in the usual spots, but they were easily avoided. The only trail I would recommend avoiding until we get more snow is Big Ben - there was intermittent bare ground on the hills. Rudy's and Acorn were very nice. Fun, fast snow.

(Jacquelyn Bacigalupi)