Skating deck in the bowl has firmed up; there are places where snow has blown in. Great classic kick, but would be like skating on Jiffy Extra Crunchy today. Pipe and Meaner are still not regroomed.

(Jim Bennett)

Unfortunately the big storm only left about 3" of snow. The bad news: Much of the snow on the west trails (The Pipe, Meander) blew off. These trails have not been groomed since the storm. The good news: Most of that blowing snow wound up in the bowl below, so there is pretty good skiing (about 4.5 Km) on lower Rattler and Hammer. Hammer is the best. John went around those two with the PB this morning. Still blowing in some areas. Skate deck was firming up with the cold weather, was soft and deep in some areas, windblown in others, and thin and dirty in others. Was nice for classic even without a track. The top of Storbakken looks like a gnome's playground on a frozen planet, with four giant mounds of snow and ice. Grooming plans: Park and Rec is working on pushing all that snow onto Rattler, and were going to move the guns to the bottom of the hill this afternoon to create a long runout below the hill. Next will be putting the guns on Rattler oval by the upper parking lot. Hopefully they can pack The Pipe and Meander later in the week, and those trails will be mostly skiable. Lots of grass poking through now.

(Jim Bennett)

What a difference a few days of very cold temps, man-made, and nature-made snow makes! At 4° and strong winds, conditions were challenging. The gusts have blown snow over all the trails. Wonderful amount of snow all over the trails. I brought my B skis and those are a safe bet. No need for rock skis, but I still wouldn't bring your best set just yet. Great work by the snowmaking crews.

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(Mark Stanfield)

If you haven't been to, or heard of Gamehaven Park, like me, get out there ASAP. I only learned of this place yesterday, but the city is investing a ton of time, equipment, and manpower into pretty impressive trail infrastructure and actual snowmaking. I can't believe I'm saying it so I'll say it again: snowmaking. I've included pictures of both snow guns which were in operation this morning and will remain in a 24/7 configuration for the next several days with these incredible temperatures. I spoke with one of the 5 or 6 crew members who were out there and you can see that they are working hard to build an extensive Nordic trail system. These are city employees who will be out there, even at night, moving the guns and throwing snow down. Totally stoked. The conditions this morning were at least 3 inches of snow and should support a decent type of ski, maybe not your best planks but still excellent snow. Mostly fresh thrown "powder" with some icy crunch and a very thin packed base below. Let's hope the temps stay way down!

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(Mark Stanfield)

The entire 12 Km system was packed after a 3" snowfall, and has about 1" of loose snow on top. No tracks, but nice classic skiing. Grooming plan: Start grooming Friday, as the snow comes, hopefully have everything PB - groomed, with a track, in good shape for the weekend. If you are tired of hamster skiing come on down.

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(Jim Bennett)

Not much going on. Machines are up, two small piles of snow.

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(Brian Ploehn)

Eagerly waiting for a local trail with snowmaking to open like the cities or Winona. Snow guns are in place but not much snow yet. Hopefully soon.

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(Ian Chang)