Some glaze from this morning, but except for the actual icy-pool areas, it was not too hard to catch an edge. If you start by the driving range, it gets much better than at the start. Even the long western exposure along the hill is covered. There are small dirt and grass spots, but those are avoidable. It's a little trickier to avoid frozen slush with ruts. Not primo, but surprisingly skiable. I only skied the west side of the bridge. Thank you to the groomers!

Photos:

(Gary Countryman)

I groomed out the very rough roll job from last week. I was not able to set tracks. The skate deck groomed out nicely for the most part. There are quite a few easily avoidable grass patches, and there is some pavement showing through on and near the bridge. Should be easy to avoid if you are careful. There are also several patches of frozen slush that did not groom out nicely. These tend to be at the bottom of hills, so beware and be careful around these. Other than these the deck looked fast and firm.

(Mike Keyes)

Trail is rolled, no tracks set. Looks like here and there snow stuck to the roller and pulled up. Easily avoidable. Some areas of water running/pooling under the snow. I only skied the Western side, and cut it short since I new to classic style and was tired. Actually glided okay. Some variation though that caught me off guard with some sudden slowing down. Asphalt paths are fully covered, but not far down.

Photos:

(Gary Countryman)

Surprisingly very skiable. Not groomed since weekend 1.5 inch snow, but cover is good and no debris. Patches of ice here and there. I stayed on the west half.

Photos:

(Ben Messerly)

Just went out and reconnoitered the trail this evening with hopes of grooming it up for the weekend. Unfortunately, the trail is in pretty rough shape. Although there are few dirt patches, there are numerous stretches that are fully converted to ice. In particular the west side of the bridge hill has large ice patches on both the up and down sections which would make it very difficult to navigate on skis or with the groomer. I would recommend not skiing here until we get more snow.

(Mike Keyes)

Unfortunately, grooming didn't hold up well in the 40 plus degree weather. It appears that somebody skied on it at the warmest today, so there are large ruts. In portions of the North loop somebody walked their dog leaving deep boot prints. I had a look on the hill heading down to the southern loop, I wasn't comfortable going down the hill in the dark with the deep skate ruts coming up the other direction -- I didn't want to risk a fall or breaking equipment on the downhill turn. Reserve this for rock skids in the daylight until the groomers can get out and repair the damage ahead of cooler weather. In all honesty, you're better just going to Wirth right now.

(Alexander Risse)

Groomed the skate deck this morning. Right now the snow is very firm and I suspect it will be very fast until it starts to melt. I did not touch the classic tracks. They are in good shape, but are probably pretty icy. The Four Oaks stretch (on the west side under the trees near the Pickleball club) is mostly ice for about 30 yards, and there are a few other ice patches here and there, but mostly the snow looked OK with full coverage with some sort of frozen water.

(Mike Keyes)

Super soft squishy skate deck with hard smooth ice in the thinner spots. Classic tracks icy but decent overall. I was skijoring and the soft snow made things a little wild. Big concern with walkers using the ski trails instead of the walking trail next to it. I fell due to hitting someone's bootprint the wrong way on a fast downhill. I got scraped up but luckily my dog is ok.

(Branden Smith)

Lovely to be back out on Columbia again. There was some leaf litter that seemed to have been blown down during the rain and a couple patches here and there that were a little thin. The thin spots were easily avoided with the nice and wide grooming. Great job groomers!

(Chance Davis)

Groomed and set new tracks at Columbia tonight. The course is in great shape and has a wide skate deck. The tracks set well but may have a few shallow sections. It should set up nicely and will be great skiing tomorrow. Enjoy!

Photos:

(Jim Daggett)