Sunny days, cool nights. Super fast spring skiing on Tilson. Yes there are portages, rocks and roots, even flowing water, but many sections are wide, smooth, and perfect. I started at 9 yesterday and at 11 the trail was still firm.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

3 to 4" of very wet snow fell Friday. Temp's cooled down overnight to about 27 at 3 pm today. I rolled the skate lanes on all segments once, some twice. Skating looks perfect - Spring skiing at its finest. Almost all rocks are covered now, but sun will expose those on south slopes. You could certainly use good skis if watchful.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

18 above, sunny. Skated Green, Orange, Yellow, and Red trails. The thick base is very hard and where no loose cover edging is difficult. Probably 1/3 of the time we double poled such areas. Lots of debris in some sections. But nonetheless skiing is fabulous. We met fat tire bikers at Black Bay, and the trail is perfect now for biking. The rocks are showing on south-facing hills - we walked those parts.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Skated all trails in perfect Spring weather- sunny 35 F. Snow just beginning to squeak at 2 hours. There's about an inch of loose snow on top of very hard base. All trails are fine for skating, no tracks other than what classic skiers have made. Base is good except for usual bare spots where ridges face the sun.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

+3F, sunny! Instead of Hayward, I groomed today. Finished renovating Blue Trails. Yesterday we did the Yellow and Red. All segments now have a refreshed skate lane with good corduroy on level surface. We probably cannot set tracks until we get new snow.

(Burgess Eberhardt)

With sun and 25F we started renovating the Tilson Creek trails today. There's about 6 to 8" of hard base in most places. We made several passes to cut the icy crust and set corduroy for the skate lane on the Green, "new" Blue, old Blue from new back to Orange, and one pass on the rest of the Orange back to first shelter. We saw one skater who reported fast skiing, and whose tracks looked good. There are a couple of bare spots on the Orange, but easily avoided. No tracks yet. Back in action!

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

We will close the trails when snow is too soft. Please be careful not to make deep ruts. Ski in the morning only.

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Trail was groomed and fast. I skied 30 KM with the temperature around 20 above. The tracks were deep and firm. They were not glazed or ice. There are some leaves and sticks from the wind. There is still close to 24 inches of snow on the ground.

Photos:

(David Kettula)

We groomed all but the cut overs on Monday, trying to finish before the snow got too warm. We were able to get great tracks set on all but a K of trails (wet snow prevented deep tracks at the end). The corduroy looked super. I skated all trails Tuesday. Tracks are fine if you like them super hard. Skate surface is icy in most places, a bit softer in some. Edging was east though, making for fast and fun skating. The base is deep and very firm so that trails should come through the warm weather ahead without any problems.

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Snow, snow, and then even more snow all day Tuesday. We packed and rolled everything last night. Today all 3 groomers were out. While 2 set tracks and did the skate lanes, the 3rd packed, dragged, and then rolled the Blue Hill #2 trail - the Terror. All trails are groomed. It was sunny but cold - below zero for sure (NOAA said -17F this morning). Lovely day to be outside.

(Burgess Eberhardt)