Air temp 28. Skied at 10 am. Icy with skied in conditions. Enough of a dusting of new snow helps but fast conditions making downhills frankly terrifying. Recommend B skis because conditions are fast on downhills and we did a lot of edging and still had a spectacular wipeout. Skated and then classic'd on 6 k loop in the morning and evening today. Some small debris from winds on parts of trail heavy and other sections clear. Skied out and back on the long loop where it junctions into the 6k-where terrain is more gently rolling and avoided the big downhills. Overcast conditions kept the beautiful hoar frost on the trees all day-gorgeous. Frost on trees is spectacular.

Photos:

(Jill Troutner)

Temp 29F, cloudy to mist, ski trails look good for good skis. Enjoyed being in the woods on natural snow.

(Amy Xu)

Trails are in pretty good shape. Classic tracks were good. Skating was pretty good as well. Some crusty spots, but overall quite good given the warm-up last week.

(John Pfund)

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)