Spirit Mountain campground loop has full coverage. The other loops from what we were able to see had lots of snow too! No grooming and we were the first and only on the campground to enjoy the mid winter like snow.

Photos:

(Eve Graves)

I skied the outer loop. Conditions were pretty terrible. Deep grooves from previous skiers need to be avoided everywhere and make the downhills dangerous. Most of it has enough snow that it could be groomed.

(Jonathan Olson)

Skied the 10K skate. Generally in good shape, though hasn't seen the groomer since around an inch of fresh snow felt ok right away in the morning when it was still cold, but got quite slow and sticky after receiving some direct sun and warming up a bit. Still a good base and no worrying spots! Probably best to try to get out in the morning.

(Mitchell Campbell)

I hit Spirit Mountain trails right about the time the air temperature went above freezing, with plans to do the 10K, connect to Magney and do that system, and then the 3K if I had any energy left. It was blowing surprisingly hard up there, so the ~1 inch of snow on the trails had drifted in places. On the 10K it was enough to obliterate classic tracks in places, and narrow the skate lane in others. Definitely got slower as my ski wore on, but the base was quite firm so the uphills weren't the death trek they otherwise might have been. Very level and nice for skating otherwise. My skate marks did not go very deep, so hopefully the track will hold up well with or without future grooming. I was not in any shape to do the 3K at the end, so its condition is unknown but likely quite similar.

(Sara Zimmer)

15 F with "feels like" -5. Sunny. The trails couldn't be more perfect. There's a lot of wind, so areas of wind blown skate deck and filled in tracks. But seriously, nothing to complain about. Fast fast fast.

Photos:

(Louise Levy)

A little fresh combined well with the packed tracks and skate deck this morning. Tracks were set a little closer to the middle of the skate deck to give better RH pole plants as the RH edge remains soft. Two areas were flagged with yellow caution tape and stakes to guide skiers to the LH side of the skate deck: Valley of No Glide creek crossing and the bottom of the first hill on the 10K after the Magney Connector. The kinks remain and will become deeper as temps rise next week.

Photos:

(Larry Mishkar)

Skied the 5k and connector to Magney. A layer of light snow made for some fairly good skate conditions. The skate deck on the 5k seemed skinnier than it had been in the past, and despite our best efforts we couldn't help but skate over the classic tracks occasionally. Good coverage but a lot of hole punching through the icy crust. Cannot comment on the conditions beyond the 5km- but you can definitely use your good skis on the inner loop. Tracks looked firm but didn't look like anyone had actually been in them yet.

(Ketzel Levens)

With the lack of heavy, wet snow this season, and no matter what falls this weekend, some Spirit Mountain creek crossings are starting to fail. Where we haven't yet installed culverts, the small creeks are running and eroding the snow from beneath. This erosion of the skate deck and classic tracks is causing kinks at the bottom of hills, and much care must be taken when crossing these locations. As of today, there are four locations to look out for: The first steep downhill on the 10K past the Magney Connector; the first small creek crossing on the Valley of No Glide, the first downhill past the 5/10K connector, and the base of the last steep climb on the MacDonald's Loop. The posted photos show the kinks and how the skate deck is softening due to running water. We will flag these locations on our next groom.

Photos:

(Larry Mishkar)

I was finally able to ski the entire Spirit and Magney-Snively loop tonight! The Spirit trails were well groomed. The classic tracks were good (although missing on some of the longer uphills - not sure why?) The right hand pole plants were very soft, punching through 6-12 inches almost every time. After the Connecter to Magney, the first long fast downhill had 2 sticks criss-crossing on the classic tracks at the very bottom. I cautiously took the downhill - it looked like someone had face planted at the bottom likely because the tracks sunk down abruptly! The left side of the skate lane was just fine to ski on.

(Elaine Nelson, Skinnyski.com Race Team)

Skate skied the connector to Spirit Mountain trail system from the purgatory of soft, break-though snow that was the Magney-Snively system. Skied just a bit to convince myself that I should definitely have skied Spirit Mountain instead. I only skied on a tiny bit of the trail, but that part seemed wonderful for both techniques - well set.

(Sara Zimmer)