Tracks are still holding up pretty well on the Yellow/Orange/Red trail, with a slight increase in debris, but not enough to warrant switching to B skis. A few short stretches of shallow/washed out track are starting to show up, and the second (skiing counter-clockwise) open area with full south exposure by Otter Creek is glazed up. The short outer loop has not been machine tracked recently. The skied-in track is well packed, but tracks are too deep, resulting in boot scraping, especially on the portion west of the gate by University Rd. At mid-morning, violet kick wax covered with special violet was providing good grip in non-glazed areas. .

(Joel Rosen)

Track on the Yellow/Orange/Red trail was reasonably deep and had only minimal pine needle debris that was easily avoided. About 15% was glazed, with nearly untransformed snow on the remainder. By mid-morning, special violet kicker was still providing good grip, with a bit of technique adjustment needed on the glazed portions. The Blue trail had similar conditions, except for a small section on the south end where a maintenance snowmobile track intersects and it appeared some work had been done in this area, and the track was washed out and glazed for a few hundred yards.

(Joel Rosen)

We set a new track on the orange and blue trail this morning and it looks to have turned out good. I suggest giving the blue trail a try while you can. It won't be tracked much in the future.

(Mark Hagen)

We classic skied the blue trail at the Cloquet Forestry Center today. The trail has been enjoyed by many deer and someone unfortunately walked right on the trail through one part leaving deep foot prints and others walked along it for much of it. Such a huge area and they chose the ski tracks? Beautiful trail, different from the other side of the road. 2.3 miles from start to finish. Someone said they had just finished grooming the rest on the other side too!

Photos:

(Eve Graves)

We groomed the orange trail this morning. Once I was past the area trampled by the Beargrease Derby tracks set to full depth. The Blue trail on the East side of University road is tracked also. Skiing should be good again.

(Mark Hagen)

The beautiful Blue Loop was packed and tracked today on the east side of University Rd (~3.8km; see online map). The ski trails that are normally groomed on the west side of University Rd will not be open to skiers this weekend because of the annual Beargrease Derby scouting event. These trails will be regroomed as soon as conditions allow. If you are hoping to get a long, quiet ski in this weekend, Saturday in particular, we suggest trying elsewhere.

(Lane Johnson)

Strong winds were dropping more pine needle and cone debris on the trail today. The track is not a consistent depth under the pines (most of the trail); in several places it's shallow or washed out. The open areas have much cleaner tracks with more consistent depth. Wind-blown snow from Monday's 2" was just starting to fill in the tracks in a few of the open areas in the early afternoon. With some areas under the pines glazed and some untransformed snow elsewhere, waxing was tricky, but a few light layers of green covering some remnant purple worked fairly well for me. Did not ski the small, additional red loop where debris is likely to be even more of a problem.

(Joel Rosen)

First time skiing here based on a local's recommendation. Took a break driving back to Minneapolis from a weekend of downhill skiing at Lutsen. We had cool conditions at about 14 degrees with the sun peaking through. The trail seemed like it had recently been groomed with some icy patches in the thick wooded areas. It was a beautiful spot to ski through the red pines.

Photos:

(Tara Helm)

We reset the track on the orange loop today. Full depth in some areas and a little shallow in others. We could use more fresh snow under the trees but the conditions better than before. FYI the scouts will be holding their annual Beargrease Derby on the red trail this Saturday. This will destroy the tracks on part of the ski trail.

(Mark Hagen)

Melting yesterday and refreeze made for very slick conditions this morning, with a lot of debris in about half the trails. Trails in the open areas were much better, some excellent. 40 degrees is a bit warm but it was gorgeous.

Photos:

(Michael Garcia)