7" new powder accumulated yesterday and overnight; average base depth 3 to 4 inches; 3K Classic, 6K Loop, Wolf Run, and Bucks Run now roll packed last night and combed, renovated, and track set this morning. Eagles Run, Rabbits Trail, Cougars Run, and Ridge run roll packed last night. Bring your good skis. Base is punchy now but should firm up. Started last night roll packing in light snow showers and 17F; then finished the last hour in a snow dump where it was hard to even make out the trail. Started this morning grooming with tidd tec at 5F above and completed early this afternoon at -2*f. Great to see all the new white powder on the trails and trees.

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(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

Over 50 percent tracks reset-deep and solid track. Snow temp is dropping. I measure 5 inches new at trailhead that is getting colder but has mixed in well with base. Snow was just getting "squeaky" and my skis were slowing way down. Snow feels dry and powdery.

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(Jill Troutner)

Half inch of new snow made this a very nice ski. We skated and strided and even got out on the lake. The groomer has done a great job of preserving a deck and track set as well on more than half the trails. We came in between skis and had a pizza and a nice chat with the owners. Great winter day!

(Kathy Gang)

Brought 25 skiers up from Chaska/Chanhassen and stayed on site in Rainbow's cabins. Trails were in amazing shape considering the recent warm weather. You can tell Doug worked hard to keep the snow they got and mixed in the fresh snow that fell. Tracks were decent with only a few areas of grass poking through. If you have never skied here, the outer loop at Rainbow offers many challenging climbs and fun downhills. It was really cold all weekend, but the wooded trails shielded the wind and the ski in/ski out cabins allowed us to take quick breaks and get back at it. So great to show my metro area skiers what it's like to be on different trails while enjoying nature. I love our manmade snow in the metro, but nothing beats real snow in the north woods. Overall great experience well worth the drive, my kids are already asking if we can go back!

(Eric Adams)

Waited for warmest time of day to ski. Fine dry cold snow, put your coldest wax on. Only skied 6k loop for self timed tour today cause it was cold and felt like slow noisy ski -- every contact with the snow sounded squeaky loud. Trails holding solid and classic track was great for double poling. Only took a few pics because of cold fingers.

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(Jill Troutner)

Trails were in great shape given the weather over the last week and a half! We skied two laps on the 6km loop and while there were a few icy spots and a few thin areas a majority of the trail was well covered and ice free. To maintain the tracks Doug has opted to not reset them, resulting in one or two areas where the tracks have washed out. Overall I was very pleasantly surprised and would highly recommend trying out the trail system if you haven't yet. The skate deck looked to be in good shape.

(Dylan Ramstad Skoyles)

I enjoyed a really nice post-New-Years ski trip with my family at Rainbow. Ski trails were in very good condition considering the thaw that happened after Christmas. The classic tracks were a little icy, but had enough fresh snow from dustings on Wednesday and Thursday that kick was decent. There were some spots with vegetation sticking out, but all very avoidable. The skate deck was regroomed on Friday and was level and firm throughout. It was a little slow due to the cold temps, but I imagine will be a much faster when things warm up a bit. We also spent a lot of fun time on the ice rink. Accommodations at the ski-in/ski-out cabin were great. We're excited for our next visit

(Thomas Blackstock)

Weather 0F; clear skies, light nw breeze; average base depth of 2" with 1/2" of fresh powder snow from past 48 hrs. The base is for the most part frozen granular; track sets remain ungroomed and are shallow in areas and icy; deck does have a grip to it in sun protected areas of trails. 6 K loop: bucks run; rabbits trail; cougars run; and ridge run now renovated and combed on the skate lane. B skis recommended. Some grasses and a few twigs showing in thin areas. Went out to groom this morning at -4f below and with the sun shining actually felt warmer out in the woods. Renovated out the past few days of skiing activity and pack the ½" of new powder snow. All things considered found conditions to be fair to good.

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(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

Icy but still good skis if I ski smart. Doug just did another groom trying to mix the last two days of light dusting (maybe 1/2 inch of very dry powder), that squeaky stuff that doesn't really mix up but floats around and then blows everywhere when there is wind. And cold -- so conditions are fast and icy so I actually just want to ski slow and careful. I avoided hills and stayed on easy sections since I wasn't up for the wild ride on some of the downhills, with how icy the base is it is better to just Picabo Street down and have fast feet. I am more likely to damage my good skis on an icy downhill, so I only stayed on the moderate (blue loops). So I feel like in this cold polar snow with icy base that these are not conditions for hard interval ski training but go out and put in foundation and focus on drills. Classic skiing the track was solid but my skin ski were only good on flats.

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(Jill Troutner)

Classic skied for our last ski of camp at Rainbow. Temp 5 degrees and flurries made for a great morning ski. Skied some in the older tracks and some out. Had pretty good kick with Rode Multi Blue. I wanted to give a thank you to Leah and Doug for their hospitality and grooming. It's been a while since Orono Nordic has done a camp at Rainbow, we will be back.

(Brian McCollor)