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)

After another inch or so of dense snow last night, we took both Ginzus around Tilson. Groomed and set tracks on Green, Orange, Yellow, Red, Blue Return to main Blue and back to Orange. We also packed the east side of the Blue except for the Little Blue Hill trail which needs more snow. Everything looks great! The tracks improve with each pass, and corduroy is fine everywhere (except for one hilltop on the east Orange where the wind had scoured the top, but it's very skiable.) You can probably use your good skis without problem if you're careful.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

We received about 1.5" of light snow since grooming was done. People had skied in set tracks on Green, Blue, Blue Return, Orange, and Yellow. It was good skiing. Red had only been packed and a few people made their own tracks. It was ok too. Two pictures of Red and two of Blue.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)

I Falls got a bit over 4" of dense snow yesterday. High wind blew ridges almost bare. Today in sub-zero temperatures we used both Ginzus and groomed and tracked the Green, Blue Return to main Blue and back to Orange, Orange, and Yellow trails. We packed but did not groom the Red. The tracks are ok where the snow was deep enough and the skate corduroy looked super. Given the thin cover on ridges I'd still use rock skis, B skis if you're careful.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Conditions about the same as Wednesday with about 1" of new fluff. Still snow for good glide on rock skis. Skied Green, Blue Return, Orange, Yellow, Bogwalk.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)

Trails are freshly rolled/packed this afternoon. Not enough snow for track setting. I had good glide and kick with blue wax on rock skis. I skied Green to Blue rolled around first return trail, Orange and Yellow rolled.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)

Intl Falls got a bit over 4" of snow yesterday. We used both rollers today on the Green, Yellow, Orange, and Blue Return to main Blue and back to Orange. On the way out we got the Bogwalk. Skate only, no tracks. There's lots of debris on the trail and cover is thin over rocky areas. But some sections look great! It's well worth trying out with rock skis.

(Burgess Eberhardt)

I skied a loop through Green Swamp Trail to Orange to outer Yellow Trail and returned across Bogwalk. High points of hills had expected rocks poking through. Swamp has weed stubble. But in most of the woods I had a good ski. With 2 inches of snow I had plenty of glide for rock skis and I did not encounter rocks on the flats, mostly on bumpy hills. So, fun to get out with rock skis. Do not use good skis. I will go again.

Photos:

(Steve Langenbrunner)