Today I skied my second favorite trail, River Run. I headed out on Base to Nose Dive to Yukon to Island Hop and on to River Run. Conditions on the core trails were good to very good. However, conditions on River Run were one of the best I have experienced ever on River Run. It was last groomed on Wednesday after the Sunday thaw. The skate deck was firm and fast and control on the downhills was excellent. Whereas I would call some of the core trails a bit icy, no such thing on River Run. They were the best ever. Excel Lange! So much fun. I even did an encore skating back on base to survivor to XC Express, to Creek and back to the Chalet. It was a great afternoon of freestyle skiing. Kudos to the groomers at MWP. They set the bar high.

(Jim Gantz)

The trails have recovered nicely from the warm weather and subsequent freeze last weekend! Most trails have been power tilled at least twice since then making for some great skate decks and classic tracks. Trails were firm, fast, and fun but there was still great edge control. With the snow being on the abrasive side, skins or klister base binder covered in the wax-of-the-day were working well.

Photos:

(Erin Blow)

All of the long trails have been re-groomed. Fast and fun skating. Wilderness trails are also packed. Tracks are solid and have also been re-groomed.

Photos:

(Brian Ciske)

The inner trails which were groomed since Sunday's warm spell were in fine condition. Fast, pretty clean, and not icy. I'd avoid the longer trails until they get regroomed as they are too hard packed to be fun.

Photos:

(Brian Ciske)

I skied my favorite trail at Minocqua Winter Park, Lake Marie. The tracks and skate deck were firm and fast. Conditions today were excellent. Out on Base, Nose Dive, and C and D and back on C and D, Island Hop, and Nepco for a total of 21K. It was a good afternoon of skiing.

(Jim Gantz)

Skied River Run after the new grooming piece had flattened and shaped. I think they bought well from what I tested. Mighty nice; flat and firm, pole plants solid, and with just a bit of snow dust in the track that I kicked in. Just right if my wax tech could have given a bit more kick. Should be dandy for the coming Wolf Tracks this weekend. Warmish temps and great snow depth. Doesn’t get much better.

(Ken Schoville)

Wow what a difference from Saturday! The temps have dropped and the snow has finally stopped long enough for the groomers to catch up. (Kudos to them for what I’m sure was a long stressful weekend). The last few days have been fantastic! The snow has dried out a little making for some gorgeous skate decks and crisp classic tracks. I had the honor of being the first skier on Nutcracker and boy was it a blast...perfect tracking and fast but controllable skate decks. Weeee!

Photos:

(Erin Blow)

My wife and I, both in our 70s, decided to try Winter Park Saturday. Temp at that point was about 30 f. We arrived at about 9:15 a.m. and bought passes. No mention made that the trails were not groomed. We begin skiing, finding a semblance of track underneath at least 2-3" of fresh snow. I kept listening for the sound of a groomer but no such luck. I couldn't imagine that they would take our money and send us out onto ungroomed trails. Another problem was snow accumulating in the kick pocket, which necessitated a modified ski position to keep the kick area planted so that it did not accumulate snow. We had intended to go out to Wolf Tracks and do the whole circuit. We cut it short by doing the shortest loop and returned, coming back on Nepco's Cruise. As we were driving out at 10:40 a.m., they were just getting the groomer warmed up as we drove out. The parking lot was approaching full at that point. There was one high point. We were able to pass a skater (we are classical skiers). The poor guy was really struggling and taking occasional breaks (nothing had been done on the skate deck either).

(Bill Miller)

Beautiful day to classic ski at Winter Park. We got there early and temps were still below freezing, so skiing was nice. They had gotten several inches of new snow and it was like a winter wonderland. The longer outer trails hadn't been groomed yet, but the inner trails were very nice. Hard to believe Winter Park is 40 years old this year!

(Kevin Hillegas)

Classic skied today. All the interior trails were groomed today after the snowfall from the last several days. Unfortunately, Wolf tracks, River Run and Lake Marie were ungroomed with 4-6 inches of wet snow that has accumulated over the last few days essentially making them unskiable. Hopefully, they will be groomed soon. Otherwise, it was a beautiful ski at Winter Park.

Photos:

(Ron Fabrizius)