Fantastic conditions no bare spots with tons of snow, 16-18 ft wide skate deck groomed to perfection. Phil is an artist with the groomer and he paints a perfect picture. Wow, classic tracks were the best I've seen this year though we skated. The skate deck was packed really firm no sinking more then a half an inch to an inch. Just beautiful, way to go Phil.

(Joe Barrick)

Grooming is in progress. Skate lanes on the green and blue trails are ready to ski. The remaining skate lanes and all classic tracks should be completed by early afternoon.

(Brian Nischke)

Great day. Skied all but one black loop and all trails were excellent. Snow falling. Could not have been better. Well worth the drive from Madison.

(Jeff Meade)

Arrived around noon and skied the black loop. The trail was in excellent condition. Plenty of snow cover with virtually no debris on the trails. The snow was faster than I expected given the 5 degree temperature. Definitely worth the drive up.

(Ross Lemke)

All trails were groomed with the PistenBully today. New classic tracks were set. Skate lanes are in great shape. Excellent mid season conditions.

(Brian Nischke)

I worked the chalet this cold Sunday morning. Phil had green and blue skiing mid winter form which is remarkable givin the amount of snow. I managed to get out and try the trials due to thin crowd today. The fields were a bit soft so I opted to stick to green and blue. Phil and crew have been working on the black.

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(Tracy Piontkowski)

Skied at 8am. Phil has already groomed the trails to Olympic perfection. Slow snow because of temps but fantastic conditions on the lower loops.

(Jim Rauchle)

Iola got under an inch of snow Thursday, but it was enough to make the skating good today: very fast but not icy except in a few spots that are easy to see. No classic tracks, but some folks were striding. The green and blue are just fine while the black is closed, but it wouldn't take much snow to re-open it. The western fields are skiable but much more tentative than the rest given the ice underneath and one spot where one needs to walk across grass for about 15 meters.

(Charlie Dee)

I skied Iola today, as I had heard it was skiable. It was! ( It's really quite amazing that it is, given the brown surroundings in the area.) I skied the Green. There is full coverage--there's just not a lot of snow to work with. I used rock skis, but I could have been on B skis. I skied down the little hill before The Pines once but decided to bypass it on subsequent loops. Just not much snow to corner. Given my skill level and time on skis this year, I decided to stick to just the Green loop. I imagine falls would be very hard, as there is an icy base underneath--although it is only exposed in a few areas and can be avoided. Others there said they skied the blue and it was OK. I traveled 25 minutes (from Point) to ski there, and it was worth it for me. However, how far you'd travel to ski there this weekend is a question you'd have to answer for yourself.

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(Bill Fehrenbach)

Grooming is currently underway at Iola Winter Sports Club in order to prepare approximately 2.5 km (the green loop) for skating tonight. The PistonBully is out tilling the ice and crusty snow. Expect fair skating conditions on the green loop. Classic tracks will not be set. The remaining trails are closed.

(Brian Nischke)