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)

More snow fell yesterday. What a fine morning today! We started at 7 and took both Ginzus around Green, Orange, Blue, Yellow, and Red. Skating and classic should be nearly perfect. I’d say use your best skis if you know where the light cover always occurs, otherwise best to stay with B skis.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Finally got both Ginzu groomers activated! Tilson had another 2 inches or so of dense dry snow and we were able to set nice tracks on Green, Orange, Blue to Blue Return and out, and Red. Looks fine! Yes, there are still a few rocks showing and one or two ridges are almost bare, but overall we are in great shape. I classic skied all but the Blue this afternoon and the tracks are fine, crisp and fast. The skate deck is firm.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

After the melt down and freezing rain we finally got cold and a few inches of dry snow on Tilson, much more than in town. We rolled our usual course today, Green, Orange, Blue to Return and back to Orange, then Red. The Blue Return is rough - I’d skip it. The east side of the Red, around the shelter, is also rocky but skiable; the rest of the Red is quite nice, west side especially. There are enough rocks visible that rock skis are the wise choice, but if you watch, B’s will be fine. The exception is the little hills south of the Red shelter - those are bad. But skiing is super, no matter what!

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

Cold! Below zero, cold toes….. We received perhaps 5 to 6” of dry snow, and were able to use both rollers on almost all trails today. We still anticipate logging on the Blue Trails and so have opened the main Blue to the Blue Return and back to Orange but no more of the east side of the Blue trail. We rolled the Red but not the new Red Renegade. The base is thin, no tracks. I think if you are careful you could use B skis, but I’m sticking with rock skis until the next snow.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)

After the ice and then some 5 inches of snow last week we’ve been working to clear as much as possible. The Green, Orange, and Yellow trails are clear and the Orange and Yellow are rolled. I skied part of the Orange and Yellow this afternoon and was surprised - the flat sections are fun! The Bogwalk is great, of course, for 7/10 of a K.

Photos:

(Burgess Eberhardt)