The trail groomers worked sim magic today! It was rock solid ice when I got there and Greg Updike and another groomer made some beautiful skating snow. Go check it out.

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(Joe Iverson)

Hats off to the Snowmaking and trail crew! The 1.5k of loops is the best thing to ski on within many miles of Winona. It's just so nice to get off of the roller skis, not that I was on them that much this fall. There's no bare spots, the nice base got topped with slight fresh coat of snow. We could use some real snow, but for the time being, I'm glad we have this.

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(Joe Iverson)

Beautiful trails at St. Mary's today. Amazing how good the snow conditions were after sleet this morning. Mostly skate skiers out today. There was a 1.5 K loop. Very nice! They have definitely done a lot of work on the trails! We are grateful to have ski trails in southeastern Minnesota.

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(Pamela Peterson)

The 1.5 km man-made trail survived the warm-spell but needed some new coverage. Volunteers hammered Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday and covered the entire man-made area with a new coating of snow. Grooming plans: Grooming/leveling planned for Friday. Hopefully your schedule is open for skiing Saturday and Sunday! The lights turn on automatically daily around 4:30PM and off automatically after 9PM. For first timers, access is from Yon's Valley. Make your way to Saint Yon's Hall parking lot.

(Jason Mork)

Saint Mary's trails will be closed for snow making probably until Saturday. Look for an update Friday.

(Steve Horeck)

Man-made loops survived Saturday. There are a couple avoidable short thin spots. Overnight temp bottomed-out just enough to harden. Grooming Sunday morning loosened everything but left some chunking. New track set but doubt it'll last very long. Coverage enough for B skis or even good skis if you're careful.

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(Jason Mork)

Thanks to the groomers and volunteers, the first ski trail is open in SE MN! For those of you with little children, this is a gem for families. The trailhead small flat loop allows you to see where kids are at all times. Tracks are in great shape and skate deck was good this morning. Minimal icy spots.

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(Ian Chang)

I was very happy to get out skiing. First snow ski of the season for 2 hours and yeah, a bit sore after! But there was no damage to my skis. The groomers have done a blast. But it's still early manmade snow so I probably would not use your good skis if you have nice ones. But it really was pretty good and if you head over to Winona, say thanks to a groomer. They've been putting in the time!

(Joe Iverson)

After many hours and many volunteers Winona Nordic Ski club was able to complete a 1.5 K of manmade snow on the lighted loop with access from Yon's valley. In partnership with St Mary's we were fortunate enough to get cold temps and fire up the ski season in Winona.

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(Steve Horeck)

There is a manmade loop open. About 1k, with a couple of loops. Chatted with Steve the groomer and they hope to better connect the loops and shore up some bare patches. I was happy with B skis, the conditions were very decent.

(Chris Stindt)