The lighted loop was groomed by the Pb at night. The skate deck was tilled and is in good condition. Flat and firm with a loose layer of snow on top. Should be great skiing in the morning. The classic track is another story. Where there was a track it was left as is. It is too firm to reset a new track at this time.

(Mark Janis)

I parked at homestead and planned to do the outside loop, but abandoned the plan after going down the far side of tower hill. Holy cow that was an interesting ride down. Very hard and icy in the shade with some soft spots in full sun. I do not recommend.

(John Washbourne)

Epic failure for your virtual Birkie partner at Lapham this morning. Conditions we’re unsafe and not skiable on the lighted loop (nature made snow) and back section. After Big Valley there is a groomer stuck on the trail. The groomer has ripped up the base to dirt on this section. I eventually took my skis off at section E13 and walked around the system back to the lighted trail. The boot pocked, rutted, and rock hard conditions made it too dangerous to ski. Tower looks to be a mess as well. Throughout the back trails there are several large boot marks going down the middle of the trail system. Some look to be the groomers after he abandoned his machine. Super unsafe as they are deep and frozen solid. I hope the groomers can recover from this.

(Matt Smith)

The Pb was out last night with mixed results. Just the man made loop was tilled and a small section of the classic track was set. The snow cutter on the Pb works great but it did take awhile to get used to so only the lower part of the man made loop was renovated. Grooming plan: The remaining section will be done tonight.

(Mark Janis)

Due to the warm temps the PB was not out last night. We will not be taking it back out until the temps are below zero at night. We should be back at it Wednesday night. Nightly grooming for the virtual birkie on the lighted loop will resume as allows.

(Mark Janis)

New snow overnight was groomed to create a nice surface for skate. Firm base with a fresh snow layer. Slowed a bit in some areas due to warming temps. Special thank you to Mark Janis for bringing out the Pisten Bully early this morning.

(John McCarthy)

The lighted loop was groomed this morning with the Pb. After the snow last night all the classic tracks were reset and the skate deck was tilled. It should be another great day on the trails.

(Mark Janis)

Nicely groomed. Snow a bit slow with the warmer temperature today. The evergreen lot was about 2/3 full, so plenty of room. Few people on the homestead trails.

Photos:

(Mike Borst)

I took our sweet new Pisten Bully out for my last groom of the 2020 2021 ski season. We are headed south for the rest of the ski season, Mark and Rick will continue to give you the best skiing possible at Lapham. Teri Baby and I skied our virtual Birkie yesterday up at Greenbush. Nothing compared to the Birkie, but we had a wonderful ski in the northern kettles, trails were in excellent condition. I groomed the entire man-made and lighted loop trails this morning. I reset a few tracks, most of the tracks looked really solid. The skate deck should be Rocketfast today for all you virtual Birkie skiers. The DNR continues to groom all the trails off the man-made and lighted loop. The Lapham peak ski club welcome’s all Birkie skiers to the park today and through the 28th. There will be some fun at the fire pit from 2 to 4 this afternoon, come on out.

(Keith Adelmeyer)

Skied the outside loop Kettle View and Moraine Ridge from homestead about 2:30 pm, and it was truly first rate! Here is a huge thanks to the groomers doing the real awesome work. The tracks were wide in close to evergreen from a lot of traffic, so I much preferred the farthest loop. Great coverage, and seemed really fast to me especially the downhills. It was still easy to maintain control on the hills although there are some small trenches in the skate deck at the most high traffic spots on curvy downhills that made it slightly challenging. Thanks again groomers, I had a blast!

Photos:

(John Washbourne)