After over 6 inches of new snow fell on Wednesday, 15K of trails north of the Mora Vasalopppet USA Nordic Ski Center were groomed for skating on Thursday. Half of them were tracked on Friday and the other half will be tracked on Saturday morning with the Dodge groomer if it is not snowing. On Friday, the Eastern Pines, Little Round Top area and the West Oaks were firm, fun and awesome for skiing. The Vasa Hills and both the Bowling Alley and Amy's Alley had only been groomed once and were soft. However, the plan is to groom them again on Saturday morning to firm them up and to set track. The trees are beautifully covered with new snow. The snow and skiing conditions are as good as it gets.

(Terry Salmela)

was a fun cold day for skiing at Mora for the Vasaloppet. They did a great job giving us a firm skate deck and well defined classic tracks. No giant hills - fun just rolling along.

(Scott Greymont)

Firm base, but snow got slower as the temp dropped. Skis were really dragging by the end. These trails slap.

(Dalton Struck)

I drove up to Mora for some striding. They've made lots of snow and groomed and tracked many kilometers. There's lots of snow ready for final groom for the races this weekend. While the tracks and skate lanes were crusty, there was plenty of snow and no people. This place is a gem! Incredibly welcoming people and the Nordic center is phenomenal: interesting architecture, free sauna/shower, wax room with benches, irons, scrapers, brushes, and kick waxes. Support this place - it's a treasure.

(Tony Pellegrini)

Our Vasaloppet Nordic Ski Center trails in Mora are in fabulous condition. Our snow farmers have been hauling and spreading manufactured snow since the first week of December. They now have covered 10 miles of trail with manufactured snow. We will likely have more kilometers of trail covered with manmade snow than anywhere in the country. They are firm, groomed and tracked daily and great fun. Last summer we added two new great hills and over a kilometer of new trail. We are looking forward to skiing our Moraloppet Ski for the Cause on Saturday. For the Vasaloppet on Saturday, February 9th the Vasa race will be three laps for 54K; the Classic race will be two laps for 42K, the Dala race will be two laps for 36K and the Bell Ringer will be 13K. Come and check them out and register for the Vasaloppet. On Sunday, February 10th we will have exciting Fat Tire, Skijoring, Spark Sled and Miniloppet races.

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(Terry Salmela)

Very good conditions. 10 degrees, started snowing on my second lap. All the limited brown spots from the 1/12-13 weekend were gone. There were a ton of high school racers. I got a 10 minute head start on the boys and fortunately they did not catch me despite the fact that I was really dragging. Took a breather in the trail center and did the same thing - got a 10 minute head start on the girls and again they did not catch me but I cheated and skipped one of the branches that time. I used FastWax Teal LF. It was slow.

(Keith Carlson)

6 km open and groomed perfect. Perfect corduroy skate deck and a deep hard track. Snow farmers were working hard spreading more trail.

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(Craig Stolen)

Skiing Tuesday late afternoon both classic and skated course was very good. The skate surface is being groomed daily. Conditions are excellent for skate and good to very good for classic. Most of course is Good ski rated. Two small spots at entrance and exit of Little Round Top have a little dirt/stone debris. Easy to avoid but this is worth noting.
Snowmaking will resume again Tuesday night and likely will continue around the clock for a week as very cold temperatures arrive early Wednesday morning. Snow Farmers continue to expand the trail (currently over 6km) to a planned 18km course for the Feb. 9-10 Vasaloppet weekend. Nordic Center open daily 8am-10pm. Also 3km of lighted trails.

(Wade Weber, Vasaloppet USA)

Very good. A few brown spots easily avoided. It was 30 degrees per my car thermometer and overcast. Classic track looked good and consistent. It's been years since I've been here. There's a real ski fraternity here and a skater like me was in the minority. Lots of groups of friends and families with kids. Took me the first lap to get oriented to the twist and turns of the trail with its multiple intersections. But once I switched from my Fastwax Yellow LF skis to my skis waxed with Fastwax Salmon LF I was able to really cook on the 2nd lap, skiing consistently at an 8 mph plus pace. Was worth the drive to do something other than Hyland week after week.

(Keith Carlson)

Skied the 5k machine-made loop multiple times with our classic skis and wondered where everyone else was. Tracks were nicely set with some places of leaf debris that were to be expected, but generally firm and well-groomed except on the lake (an extra loop where it had only been recently groomed due to the "snow farmers" and had not had time to set up).
Our first time here and loved the change of pace from the Twin Cities machine-made loops and being largely in the quiet woods. The Nordic Center is a fantastic building with great indoor waxing set up, saunas (!) and showers, and kitchen facilities. And there is no cost to ski. Please come out and enjoy these beautifully groomed trails and be generous with your donation to support upkeep and snowmaking activities.

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(Bonnie Carlson-Green)