Champlin ski team skied at Rainbow Resort trails during its December ski camp. Trails (groomed for classic and skate skiing) look good and skiers had a fun ski camp.

Photos:

(Amy Xu)

Renovated, Combed, and track set the South 6K trail and the 3K classic only trail today. Loose granular surface; Average Base Depth is at 3"; deck is rock hard; very few icy spots from thaw/melt: 9* above and cloudy when finished; twigs and leaves are strewn about from high winds last couple days. Bring your good skis. After renovating a couple trips finally put the finishing touches on grooming the trails. Worst thing was picking up the twigs from the crazy winds the past few days. We now have 18K of trails groomed and ready to go and conditions all things considered are good.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

North 9K trail now renovated, combed, and track set. Average base depth 3"; base very firm; surface is loose granular snow with some small snow/ crystal nodules. With high winds there are twigs and leaves here and there on trail surface. Off trails 10 to 6 inches of snow. Previous track sets on South 6K trail renovated out. Not perfect but considering warm up earlier this week trails are good. Bring your good skis. The night grooming of the North trail went better than expected; previous roll pack base renovated and track set good. Track sets in stadium area are a little shallow due to snow loss from this week however on the trails they look good. Grooming plans: Will be grooming the South 6K trail and 3K trail tomorrow.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

All trails double roll packed in last four days; South Trail and 3k Classic are now Tidd Tec combed and Track Set; average base 3" ; Base firming up good; North trail is roll packed for skate skiing; Track set clean and deep. Bring your good skis. Got going late this morning at 5*F above, cloudy skies, NW wind, snow showers in the air and finished at -5*F, clear skies, and wind diminishing. Setting tracks and combing went very well for a first time groom for the season. Very clean and deep track set and with the cold temps I am positive the base will be set hard.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

Packed all trails again late afternoon/ night. Average base depth 4"; base still bit soft; with colder temps overnight expecting to firm up. No track sets. All trails open for Skate skiing. Went out again to pack our fresh snow to help firm up the base. Grooming plans: I will be setting tracks and combing skate lanes Friday. Stay tuned.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

Dry snowfall added more to yesterdays 6+ addition to the base. I followed the roll packer out on classic skis after 4pm. Conditions were soft, dry and slow so picked wide touring that would let me float more since it seemed like the moisture in yesterday's heavy snow fall was sucked right out with the light fluff we accumulated today. I can recommend B skis except on one spot-short steep uphill on 10k loop where snow was just too dry and loose to pack down under the groomer-every hill was fine except for that 20 meter section. Even Eagles dive was pretty solid. So where the snow wasn't roll packed I measured about 1 foot and were things were packed about 7 inches of base. You can see from the pics how soft the snow is and not as cold and squeaky today but dry.

Photos:

(Jill Troutner)

6" new accumulated powder snow; 3" packed base; base soft: north, south, and 3k now roll packed; no track sets at this time. Base soft, currently 14*f above; snow flurries in the air. Grooming plans: Grooming of the trails is on going. We have snow now. Finished roll packing first round last night and will be continue grooming next couple days. The woods are looking like a winter wonderland.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

A light snow over the roll pack has added to the base (still rock skis IMO but I actually had no new ouchies to my rock skis. Snow is very cold, dry, and squeaky. Fast where it is skied in but first tracks are slow. Air temp at time of ski was 7 but snow temp still -4.

Photos:

(Jill Troutner)

A brisk 16 degrees this morning so I headed over to recon Rainbow trail and was amazed -it was warm ground and that initial snow was wet and heavy but the higher elevation and drop in temperatures allowed Doug to get out there and roll pack. So...You could rock ski it but I personally do not see any advantages to that without 2-3 more inches of snow. No classic track yet and with temps staying below freezing the base has set up with good coverage.

Photos:

(Jill Troutner)

On average 3" new accumulated powder snow from snow 2 days past; average packed powder base 1" to 1 ½" after roll packing; few thin areas from wind blowing; currently cloudy, 17*f with light snow flurries in the air. North trail and 3k trail now roll packed, no track sets. Base soft, however with colder temps should firm up. Rock skis for skate skiing. We have completed roll packing the north trail and 3k classic. Light snow falling and no wind made for a very pleasant trip. Past roll packing has set up hard and we are on our way to a winter wonder land.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)