In cold sunshine today we used both Ginzus on all trail segments. The Little Blue Hill trail is good to ski now, just watch the ridge tops. Sometimes the skate corduroy looked ratty but usually it's fine. The tracks are good.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

All are open, but no grooming in last week after about 4 inches of snow. I skied in 1 inch of snow in tracks on Blue long loop and then Yellow. Others had skied in Green and Orange. At blue shelter, Voyageurs Park had snowmobile packed their trail up to the shelter. -8° but calm, so was a beautiful full sunny day to ski.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)

-1° F at start and windy in parking lot through Green Swamp Trail. Once I got in woods it was pretty calm and enjoyable skiing. There was about 2" of new snow on top of tracked trail on Orange Loop but several skiers had skied the tracks in. I went on Blue Loop which had about 2 inches of unskied new snow, and I skied over into the old tracks. Obviously slowed my glide but light enough to ski through ok. I went from old shelter on far end of Blue Trail toward VNP. Trail was snowmobile packed in past but no discerable classic track set, but I was able to go through about 4" of light snow because of solid base.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)

Today in warm weather we got at the east side and groomed and tracked all the blue except for the "Little Blue Hill" trail which we packed w sleds. In most places the skate deck and tracks look beautiful. There's one section of the main Blue, split rock hill , which is still rough as is the bypass below it. The north side of the Blue Shelter Loop is always lumpy this time of year but it's skiable.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

4.5" of fluffy snow covered the icy deck nicely. We were down one machine, so the Blue Trail is untouched. The Ginzu did a nice job on the Green, Orange, Yellow, and Red trails. The tracks and deck are a bit soft but should set up. Grooming plans: We plan to open more of the Blue Trail tomorrow.

(Steve Johnson)

I skied the Green, Orange, and half the Yellow in light falling snow, 12F. There's just enough new snow in the tracks to make striding fun, but you do occasionally catch the pole basket under the icy crust. No one has skated. Herringbone is difficult because there's not enough snow to get an edge.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Very, very icy! The freezing rain left a thick hard crust everywhere. I skied Blue Return and around Red Trail. Many pole plants skipped off, I had to plant poles firmly, straight down. Herring-boning and snow plowing were almost non-effective. I went down hills slowly or side step, unless a straight away. With all the above cautions, my fish scales worked surprisingly good on the flats and in the well formed tracks, so it was a fun ski in spite of ice.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)

27F. Overcast, light breeze. There's about an inch of grapple crust from the sleet over night. Under the cedar trees the snow is still soft-ish. Now the downhills are a lot faster and dicier.

Photos:

(Louise Levy)

28F. Sunny, breezy. The trails were groomed on Tuesday, all except the outer part of the blue trail. This trail report covers the 24th, morning and afternoon, and the 25th in the morning. The snow coverage is intermittently good and thin. Keep an eye out for boulders just at the surface in a few places. In the morning on the 24th I got to ski with groomers, Burgess and Steve, two top notch trail stewards. When I went out again in the afternoon the yellow and orange loops were a lot more skied in, but still great. Thursday morning the snow was still fantastic. This trail system is one of my favorites. Fun terrain throughout and a great place to ski long stretches of V2.

Photos:

(Louise Levy)

Thanks to groomers for good job rolling and setting tracks. Also off season work seems to have eliminated pointy spots on hills. The track is great with enough snow in some spots on Blue Return and Red, but other short stretches have grass/debris poking up. 3 pictures on Blue of variations. The longer Blue Trail is only snowmobile packed right now.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)