Midwinter ski conditions in November! Deep tracks, firm level skate deck and stunning scenery. It doesn't get much better than this. Sulo's loop is still wet and there is a lot of km not groomed yet, but it takes a lot time to deal with 3 feet of snow! More than enough km for a 1st or 2nd time out.

Photos:

(Eric Koch)

Excellent skate skiing, mid season conditions, firm considering amount of snow. Skied around 15 K. Track looked good. Grooming was over the top good.

(Andy Kang)

Woke up to 2 inches of new snow at 4 AM. Full groomer crew on this morning. We spent an 8 hour shift getting existing trails regroomed and opening more. I was in the bigger Pisten Bully out powertilling and setting track on 20 k, that mostly has had up to 6 multiple passes and is in midwinter condition except Sulos and Memory have only had 2 PB rounds and are a bit soft. A large portion of the groom time today was spent getting the Highlands open. Lots of trees down and bent over so it is slow going. I got in the PB and packed a few of the steep hills on the Highlands. Grooming plans for early Saturday morning: We plan to groom with the Pisten Bully the 20 km, and work on the Highlands with a full crew. We hope to open the Highlands Sunday. The Foundation is looking for volunteers to snowshoe and trim brush with loppers on the Hemlock, Jack Pine/White Pine so we can start packing and grooming the famous classic only trails. See or contact Matthew, the new manager in the chalet or via the website. He has loppers and snowshoes available and maybe some SWAG.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Beautiful afternoon at ABR with frosted trees, light snow falling, and about 15 km of trails groomed. Classic tracks were set on Cherry, Popple, Meadow, some of River, some of Blueberry.

Photos:

(Sue Schroeder)

Great skiing with way more than enough snow. Skate deck soft but excellent. Tracks looked good too. Beautiful! Will get better too!

(Will Andresen)

Full crew out this morning, we have 10 k Pisten Bully groomed, powertilled and tracksetter as of 10 am. Grooming plans: We are working on another 5 km to get open soon, looks like about 20 cars in the lot.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

What a great day of grooming. The storm brought us 20-22 inches of heavy, base building snow! We had a full crew today out grooming/packing and prepping trails. Even with the extensive trail brushing done this summer by staff and volunteers, we had considerable clearing to do. Many 5 inch birch trees from 15 feet off the trail bent over with the heavy snow. It was slow going but we packed in 15 km of trails, mostly the combi trails on old ABR: Blueberry, Cherry, River, Popple, Hilltop. Grooming plans: We plan to have a full crew again in the morning on Thanksgiving working to repack, drag and hopefully trackset for skiing at 9 AM. Skating may be a bit soft but I think that is obvious given the heavy snow amount. I am hoping to bring out one of the Pisten Bullies either tomorrow or Friday morning depending on how things freeze down. We plan to open more trails as the volunteers and staff cut bent over trees and we can groom them. Happy Thanksgiving, see you tomorrow 9-4.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We had a great opener today. Skiers from the Twin Cities, Hayward, Duluth and Minocqua along with our local crowd. Lots of smiling faces. The new early season loop proved to be the key to getting us open on 5 inches of fluff on unfrozen ground. However the early season loop can not overcome mother natures warm temps. We are closing today and will reopen as soon as we get some colder temps and another couple inches.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Shockingly good skiing at ABR today. I was surprised how smooth trails were given limited snow depth. There were of course some rocks and debris to dodge with the early season conditions.

Photos:

(Sue Schroeder)

ABR's new Low Snow Loop came through with great skiing on only 5 inches. Blueberry, Cherry and upper Pelto especially good. I used my good skis, but would recommend B or rocks to be safe.

(Will Andresen)