Groomers were at work Thursday night and went over some trails again this morning. Trails yesterday and this morning are really, really nice. Given the amount of snow we have gotten this year, really great job by the groomers! Skate deck is flat and firm but has been raked to level and soften things up. Just a few bare spots and some increasing debris on the trails but all easily avoidable. Some icy/hard patches on the hills or in the corners but all manageable. Again, great job by the groomers and looking forward to some snow to freshen things up.

(Craig Woodley)

Fantastic! I covered the brown, green, silver, some yellow, orange and red trails. Best ski of the year for me. I hate to tell everyone how great it was. First time here for me. Thank-you volunteer groomers.

(Karen Possley)

I've been skiing this year over at the Willow every few days since the Christmas Eve day snow. I just got done skate skiing the Red, Brown, Purple and Green. Another very enjoyable experience, thank you groomers! A few (avoidable) thin spots here and there, (mostly on the purple). All together, I'd rate it at least very good. I thought the classic tracks looked real fine too.

(Walt Zuliani)

What a beautiful park, and such good trails! The skate decks were well groomed with decent cover in spite of the shallow snow - No rocks, just a few leaves. Classic tracks looked good also. The screaming downhills on the silver trail were very manageable, but could become icy with much more traffic. I love the open water in this park - it was good to see so many birds - Swans, Goldeneyes, even King Fisher! Trails are good for both big hill thrills, and gentle rolling landscapes and birdwatching.

(Jennifer Hengelfelt)

The skate deck was beginning to get pretty hard and glazed so I went over all of the trails with the teeth down on the Ginzu to chop up the surface a bit. This results in a bit of "kibble" on the surface, but overall much improved. The classic tracks are in fair to good condition with a few washouts here and there. We'll likely wait for more snow before trying to reset track.

(David Thofern)

Skate deck center is firm and in generally good condition. Some sections are a bit bumpy where tracked by skis and a few hikers. Spots in the woods with debris on the trails, easily avoidable. Skied purple, silver, blue, yellow to brown and down the rollercoaster. Downhills and turns on silver are starting to get scraped down and icy/hard spots made it interesting at times. The multi-use section of blue from the falls to the bottom of the big hill is the only section I skied where I was thinking B skis would be a good idea, everything else coverage was great.

(Craig Woodley)

Beautiful classic ski at Willow River today. Trail conditions and snow coverage were very good. Big Thanks to the groomers! Thrilling ski down the Brown Loop.... always so much fun and one of my favorite loops! Get out and enjoy this awesome park!

(Jo Beth Croatt)

Yellow trail. Tracks and skate deck were exquisite. Thanks to the groomers for getting out there early.

Photos:

(Ginny Ballantine)

The weather allowed for complete grooming this morning with new traks and a groomed skate deck Trail conditions are variable as follows: Good to very good on Silver, Red, Yellow and Orange (more that 1/2 the system). The new snow in combination with re-groomed old snow yielded good coverage on the skate deck and well-defined new tracks. Fair to poor on Purple, Green, Blue and Brown. Icy and bear spots on about 1/3rd of the trail sections on these trails.

(Jeff Roberts)

Ungroomed but somewhat skiable. Downhills were a bit sketchy. Hopefully will get groomed once temps are solidly below freezing. Decent coverage.

(Bob Brown)