My daughter and I skied the 8K this morning, willing to endure any conditions just to be out on skis! To our great surprise, the snow was awesome and we had a fantastic ski! Thank you to John and team for your grooming and care of this woodsy oasis. We saw a white hare cross the trail and knew all will be well.

(Andrea Watson)

Snowflake was groomed up this morning. The skate lane was wide and smooth with the fresh powder nicely blended in to the corn snow. Looks like there are many weeks to go in this season!

(Bruce Bauer)

The skate decks on the 6K and 8K trails were groomed with the Ginzu this morning. We are grooming backward right now, trying to remove or reduce the “harmonic bumps” that form this late in the season; they seem to be caused by the rhythmic bouncing of the Ginzu, and probably bother the groomers more than skiers. Anyway, the decks groomed-up smooth and flatter, nice and fast. The classic track on the 6K is still decent; there is no classic track on the 8K, and we will consider setting one after next precip event. We are still 100% coverage, no open ground on the trails. We are open 8-8. We are cleaning the door knobs, counters, etc more frequently, so practice common sense hygiene, minimize time in the chalet, and get your social distancing on the trails. Happy St Patty’s Day!

(John Graham)

Kudos for all the work John and crew put in yesterday transforming the ice block that the trails had become. They were touching up the 6K this morning when I got there. Both trails are in great shape. The 8K was groomed yesterday (no classic track) and a little chunkier with some refreeze in places but still great and no icy areas. It was not touched up today like the 6K. The 6K was super fast with a great edge. A little less edge on the left side of most of the trail as the right side was tilled up more for the new classic track. The base is still quite deep (I would estimate 6-10" of compacted snow/ice) so a great deal of spring skiing left in this already epic season. Thanks again Snowflake.

(Tom Heinitz)

Yesterday’s rain plus last night’s freeze turned our trails into a glacier, but multiple runs with 2 Ginzus this morning yielded 14Km of beautiful skate deck. Four returning skaters pronounced it “awesome”. Classic tracks took a beating; shallow, icy, melted sidewalks, but solid as a rock. With no freeze/thaw cycle in the forecast, we decided to rip out and reset the 6K classic track. It will be fragile today, but will provide a decent track for weekend skiers. This was time-consuming, with 6 runs just to dig out the old track, so we have not set a new track on the 8K, which is skate-only, this weekend. We still have a good base, with no exposed ground on any trail. Snowflake is open 8-8 all weekend. Enjoy what looks like a perfect skiing weekend.

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(John Graham)

Magical spring ski at Snowflake today. 31 F when I got there about 11:20 and 33 when I left about 1. John and crew (Thanks!) had groomed the 6 K and the perimeter loop with the Ginzu and it was super fast, but plenty of edge, no mashed potatoes. I skated and stuck to 3 laps on the 6 K (I like the flow of the winding 6 K), but it looked like someone had skied the classic tracks this morning. I usually think days like this in the spring are our reward for being out there on below zero days earlier, but we had few of those this year. Still a Deep base on the trails and lots of snow in the woods.

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(Tim Holst)

The “snow-hole” came through again: 2” fresh snow! This morning we groomed all 14km of trail for skating, then ripped out the old (buried) tracks and set 14Km of new classic track. Decks are a bit soft, and the snow is not transformed, but the trails are beautiful. We are open til 8 tonight. Sadly, the weekend will bring warm weather. Snowflake will be open from 8 am - noon on Saturday and Sunday. We will be closed for the day at noon, and the chalet will be locked at 12:30. Additionally, we will be hosting a Biathlon meet on Saturday morning, so the 6K trail will be closed to non-biathletes from 9:30-closing time. The 8K trail will remain open for members and guests, until noon.

Photos:

(John Graham)

Snow fell much of the day, but we had very little accumulation, due to the temps. Tonight temps go to low teens, so we will be out in the morning to groom all skate decks. Friday looks cold, so we’ll be open til 8 pm. Weekend forecasts looks warm so to preserve trails, we will be closing all trails at noon on Saturday and Sunday. The chalet will be locked at 12:30 pm on both days. Also, on Saturday morning we will be hosting a Biathlon meet from 10 am until 1 pm. The 5K trail will be closed to general skiing starting at 10 am. The 8K will be groomed and open until we close, at noon. Forecasts for next week look good for grooming and skiing, which is why we want to preserve the trails this weekend.

(John Graham)

Trails are holding up well. Both loops had firmed up after dark. There was just enough texture to skate, but it was very fast. Exercised due caution on downhills. An enjoyable night ski under a half-moon. Thanks John, Dave, and crew for your efforts to give us great spring skiing!

(Gordon Mesedahl)

As temps started below 32 tonight, we ran 2 ginzus around the 6K, twice, knives well-down. The result is a very smooth skate deck, with about 1/2” of icy corduroy. Should be good, fast skating, however the knives could not dig very deep on the uphills. The classic tracks are as firm as a luge-run. With the warm/freeze cycle we do not want to rip out and reset them right now. Mixed precip in the forecast. We will see what actually happens, but plan to groom the perimeter loop, and the rest of the 8k as snow/trail conditions dictate, after the precip.

(John Graham)