After grooming all sections of Tilson Creek on Friday in below zero temps with both Ginzus, I skated it all on Saturday to see the results. It was chilly for skating, about 12 above, but glide was pretty good. The skate deck is finally really hard, and skiing was excellent. The tracks are a tad thin in some places because the snow was hard when we groomed, but overall they are fine.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Left from Rainy Lake Visitor Center. Snow was fast, skate deck was clear and classic was set. Very few out on the trail today.

Photos:

(Jamie Saeland)

Bitter cold and windy today, again. Another few inches of snow driven by high wind was too much to handle with Ginzus even after our rolling on Thursday. We left both at the Green shelter and then rolled everything again with both rollers, leaving a perfect base for subsequent Ginzu work. We groomed and tracked all open segments - the east end of the Blue is still closed for possible logging - but all other trails are great. It was too cold for pictures.

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Probably 6” of snow fell on Tilson Creek yesterday. We used both rollers to pack all segments twice this morning. Mighty mighty cold!

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Groomed and set track on the 20K that is open. About 8K of the Blue Trail is closed for logging, Renegade Trail on the Red Loop is now open and tracked. Keep that bare skin covered while skiing for the next few days.

(Steve Johnson)

Refreshed skate lanes on all trails and reset track on Green and Renegade Trails. We missed the big storm but ended up with an inch of cold smoke. Temps never got above zero all day. One ambitious skier was out early and tracked most of the trails before I got there.

Photos:

(Steve Johnson)

International Falls received close to a foot of snow over the past three days. We packed with sled and drags yesterday and rolled and set tracks today. The snow is very cold and slow now but will set up over time. All the open trails are in fine shape and we have opened a new section of the Red; it’s still uneven but fully skiable.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

8F. Partly sunny, calm. Fantastic in a lot of places; exposed rock, branches and cedar cones in other places. It’s pretty easy to avoid the junk. A lot of the stretches with good snow cover are like an uneven roller coaster, great for practicing balance. This is such a beautiful trail system.

Photos:

(Louise Levy)

2F. Cloudy. Trails haven’t been groomed since yesterday. Most areas are in really good shape for how little snow cover there is. The skate deck is very uneven though so great conditions to work on balance. Small tree down on yellow loop.

Photos:

(Louise Levy)

39 F. No wind, overcast. The trails are great for how little snow there is. The first 200 ft of trail has two sets of boot prints. Tough to get pole purchase because the snow is shallow. It’s easy to avoid the bad areas with rock and dirt. There’s a tree down on the orange loop that I couldn’t move.

Photos:

(Louise Levy)