The Nordic Spirit Ski Race was held today on the trail system. Racers enjoyed fantastic conditions. The whole trail system was groomed with double classic tracks. The tracks will remain until Monday evening. Skate skiing available at Grand Avenue Nordic Center.

(Siiri Morse)

All trails have been rolled, groomed and tracked! Condition are soft, but coverage is complete. Enjoy the beautiful conditions!

(Reitler Hodgert)

Trails are firm and classic track is hard set. Good conditions on whole trail system with debris in classic track and on skate lane from recent storms and high winds. All trails will be groomed Friday afternoon. Trails are closed from 9AM to 12PM this Saturday, January 19th for the Frosted Fatty Fat Bike XC race. Trails will be groomed Saturday after Frosted Fatty race is completed.

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(Siiri Morse)

Attempted to classic ski, but wouldn't recommend it. Tons of leaves in the tracks and the skate deck was abrasive to strip off any kick wax you have. The combination of the leaves causing me to velcro to the track on downhills and stripping of the wax and losing all kick if I stepped out of the track made for an unpleasant ski. May have been more enjoyable with waxless skis or skin skis for classic skiing.

(Tera Hasbargen)

Very good conditions with complete snow coverage and fresh grooming. The base seems very strong. At the beginning of the morning it was a touch icy but that softened as the day warmed. This is a great trail! (We drove through the Seven Bridges area, too, and it seemed to have great snow. ).

(R. T. Rybak)

I found the trail to have good coverage with no bare spots. The skate deck was firm but not icy. The trail has some debris but not bad. We had a great ski and saw nobody on the trails on a Saturday.

Photos:

(Steve Dolan)

The Spirit Nordic trails are groomed and ready to go! All of the campground loops and 3k are tracked for classic and skate. The 5k and 11k have a nice skate deck, but are awaiting classic tracks.

(Reitler Hodgert)

Excellent conditions on all the trails. The 11K loop is fully covered, nicely groomed, a few soft spots but no ice - even on the steepest segments. I was very comfortable using good skis. The 4K and campground loops had a bit more use so were not as smooth, but still cannot complain. I was skating so only observed that the classic track appeared to be in great condition (although the smattering of oak leaves and soft snow might make wax-less skis preferable).

(Steve Squillace)

All trails groomed with a deep base. Skate deck is still a bit soft with spots that I was punching through with my poles at times, but overall enjoyable and worth the drive. I used my good skis and didn't have any issues, but some of the trails had a fair amount of brush poking through and a few dirt patches every once in a while to navigate. Lots of k's worth of trail and would love to return to hit the connected trail to Magney-Snively.

(John Leaf)

If only my body would keep up with the kilometers that my mind wanted to ski today.... Thank you to the city groomer who groomed nearly all of the trails (maybe finishing the 10K after I left). I actually skied over to Magney as well finding nothing but absolute perfection. The connector was amazingly fun and fast. Couldn't have been better.

(Jena Ogston)