Tracks are holding up fairly well, they should be skiable through the weekend. The Wadena Deer Creek cross country team had the distance runners cross training by skiing today. I took a few pics of Coach Olson and the team on trails. Great to see! All of them successfully skied down Harry's Gultch!

Photos:

(Denny Barry)

Set track on all but Pit Run today. A couple of marginal covered spots where track setter was lifted, leaving snow as intact as possible. Alpine Loop was groomed in order to get up on top to take in the views of the stream. It's a great place to be at sunset. Tonight's cooling temps should help set the tracks for a solid week of skiing!

Photos:

(Denny Barry)

Skied several trails Saturday. Conditions were the best we've seen all season. Classic groomed trails beautiful! Get out and enjoy them now.

Photos:

(Ronda Eckhart)

Gorgeous. Nicely groomed with little icing and only two bare spots on grassy windblown top of Alpine Loop. First or second set of pole plants since grooming.

(Mark Fickes)

Skied all trails, except Alpine this afternoon. Somehow my trail report yesterday claimed to use rock skis ; this definitely is my error. A skis are fine, except possibly on that pesky exposed to the wind Alpine Hill on Alpine Loop. There are 3-4 very small spots that had some dirt scattered in the bottom of the track. Tomorrow we will cover those spots with fresh snow. Pit Run Trail, has soft aprons and tracks not having been groomed enough due to lack of December and January snow. It's still very skiable, but with less than top energy pole plants. It was great to see some skiers on the trails in our little gem of a park today. Trails should be midwinter prime for the weekend. Hopefully we can encourage the walkers to utilize the groomed fatbike trails!

(Denny Barry)

The entire system was tracked Wed. at 3 pm. Track depth varies in a few places, due to uneven ground, and still not enough snow to totally fill in depressions. Alpine Run still has a back country element going for it, stay in the tracks to avoid the barely hidden rocks. Pit Run was tracked, it's not perfect, but it's skiable. Harry's Gultch was packed, the barely covered rocks on the flat section still need more snow for setting track. If you are a local skier you already are aware of the less than perfect areas, if you have never skied at Blacks, expect great conditions on all but a few easily seen and still skiable areas. Harry's Gultch is a steep tight twisty downhill that challenges everyone, it's packed and trackless allowing turning maneuvers!

(Denny Barry)

I had some fair skiing today. Sunset, Ridge and Black's were the best. Alpine should be closed as some serious rock damage could occur on the open hill and a tree blocks a portion in the woods. Bare spots remain a problem especially along the creek where spruce have sheltered the trails. Even a little snow will go a long way toward improving the trails.

(John King)

All but Pit Run and Alpine Loop were tracked late yesterday. Cool evening temps and no skier traffic afterwards, made for solid tracks with few sparsely covered spots for 3 of us today. The far west flat segment by the airport along with it's parallel segment in the middle, offer the best skiing! We still need more snow to firm up the base and provide full coverage. It was great to see about 12 people out enjoying the trails today, all smiling! Tomorrow we hope to clear a couple of down trees off from Pit Run and Alpine. Both are skiable, a bit uneven, but easy enough to get over and past the downed trees.

(Denny Barry)