Wonderful conditions for our Friday Virtual Birkie. Skate deck was groomed to perfection with tilled granular snow on firm frozen base. Things started to soften in the afternoon with the warming temps. Thanks to all the groomers and staff at Nine Mile who created a great race course with minimal snow!!!

(Randy Lueth)

We were really surprised how good the skate ski was this morning at nine mile. The deck was rock hard but the groomer had the top 3 / 4 inch on the 10 k route tilled into controllable corduroy with the hard base the skate was super fast. We talked to him on his way out to do the 20 k route, he said it was hard to till because it was so hard but we were loving it. We tried where it wasn't tilled and that was too hard, couldnt get an edge in. Classic tracks were well formed and did not appear to be icy but were super hard also.

(Joe Barrick)

Weather has degraded the snow on all the trails. They are icy in some areas and soft with a high water content in others. The groomers deserve a huge thank you for keeping the trails usable and safe with skate lanes having corduroy enough to provide decent conditions. Thank you grooming crew! Note: If anyone found a small black bag containing black colored Aftershokz headset please turn it into lost and found. Thanks!

(Michael Donnelly)

Skied my virtual (classic) birkie this morning at Nine Mile. Classic was in great condition and got faster as temps rose above zero and had more traffic. But mostly had the 20k loops to myself on my way to 43k. The final 3k loop they mapped out was confusing so I did the final 3k (after two 20k loops) by just going out and back on the Y trail. Beautiful sunny day. Thank you groomers!

Photos:

(Larry Sobal)

Classic skied the 6 Km and 10 Km trails today. 18 degrees felt so nice compared to the previous week! Trails were freshly groomed. Only an occasional pine needle under the pines and a few scattered oak leaves in the tracks. Tracks were silky smooth - awesome day to classic. I did notice a couple of spots where some sand was kicked up by the groomer - easily avoided. The signage is up in anticipation of the virtual Birkie, Korte and Prince Haakon races next week.

(Bill Konieczki)

All trails are open and in good shape, We are seeing some very small bare spots showing up due to the shallow base. Groomers are preforming daily maintenance grooming and in the process of resetting new classic track. Conditions are overall very good.

(Bradley Mroczenski)

Great ski today at Nine mile. The groomer was setting a new skate deck and then setting track as we skied, was not totally done but in process. All areas really nice.

(Joe Barrick)

Very good skate lane conditions today after 11 am. Leo's loop was a bit rough, and the two road crossings have sand/snow mix so watch your ski bases. The Piston Bully was out laying track and grooming the skate lanes. The 20 km loop needed some grooming in places and there is steady but light debris on un-groomed patches, but I suspect these will be set and ready for a good weekend of skiing.

(Luke Fortney)

Very good skiing. With continued polar vortex weather snow has not transitioned and glide is minimal. The downhill sections are great to run right now, the ski traffic is very light. Deck is stable and flat with some soft areas.

Photos:

(Mark Timken)

Great ski today at Nine Mile. The tracks were hard and there was great glide with no ice. The skate deck looked great also but you could see there were some soft spots were some skis had sunk a little, saw less than one percent dirt / debris, the snow sounded like styrofoam being so cold but the classic skis were eating it up, cheers.

(Joe Barrick)