The skate deck has been re-groomed and is relatively soft. We left the tracks alone. There was an a little new snow overnight and in most places ski tracks are packing that down somewhat covering the icy bottom of the classic tracks. There is a tree down on Silver to ski around so some of that is not groomed.

(Jeff Roberts)

It looks like the oak trees finally decided to admit it was winter and drop their leaves, so there is quite a bit of leaf litter out there. Some thin spots as the warm weather rolled in but overall a good time. I got overzealous on a downhill on the silver trail and ended up sliding halfway down the hill with my face. It took me until I was finished to realize my sunglasses came off and are probably imbedded in the trail somewhere for future archaeologists to study as they contemplate how I survived that full-scorpion face ski maneuver.

(Joe Osterberg)

Had a very enjoyable first ski of the season. Sun was shining, no wind, 11degrees, great set tracks.... what more could you ask for? Willow is so beautiful and one of my favorite places to ski near the metro. Some debris on trails but overall a very good ski. Thank you groomers.

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(Woody Croatt)

Excellent conditions on all trail segments. Full depth classic tracks with no windblown snow in them. Skate deck was a little soft for intervals but it will firm up tonight and tomorrow. By a small miracle of Christmas, not a single walker had set foot on the ski trails!

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(Andrew Brown)

All trails at Willow have been groomed and new track set. There are a lot of sticks, leaves, and pine needles in a few areas.

(David Thofern)

I skied the purple, silver, blue and green this morning. The grooming held up very well from the winds last night. Most of the trails were in excellent shape. The only significant drifting or filling in of the classic tracks is the green trail between the boat landing and the nature center. Blue had some drifts on the one way downhill heading to the falls.

(Bill Callas)

With the hope of giving some people weekend holiday groomed skiing, we groomed all the trails for skate and classic except the red and the last east .5K end of the yellow. Also, orange has no classic track. There is some tree debris under the pines and in the woods and some scattered areas of drifting but a lot of the trail was not blowing in.

Photos:

(Bill Callas)

All trails have been rolled. No track has been set. A number of down trees and brush have been cleared as well. Further grooming and tracking will depend on the wind conditions.

(David Thofern)

Skied the silver loop and some side loops as well. Everything looked great when I was on them. I was the first to pack down most of the classic tracks but it was getting more traffic shortly after that. There were a few sections of track that were a little shallow or busted out because so much of the snow we got is still hanging out over our heads in the trees. Beautiful out there and great skiing.

(Joe Osterberg)

Great trail conditions, doing a lot quickly with fresh snow and clearing the debris from the trail. A few sections were a little soft and uneven but the majority was in peak form. I skate skied, but the classic tracks looked sharp. I used B skis, but the small amount of debris was easily avoided and there was no exposed ground anywhere. Thank you to the volunteer groomers. Off to a great start.

(William Sikorski)