Great skiing here! Great base on the loops that are open. A bit icy in some places. Solid and has tracks set too.

Photos:

(Anna DeMers)

At noon today we opened all machine-made snow trails with tracks and corduroy. Only Deer Stand and Overlook, our two natural snow trails, remain closed due to lack of snow. We groom daily and are usually finished by 8 am using our Pisten Bully. Please observe all directional signs as we are no longer an "out and back" system put in place while we were snowmaking. Short tracked sections are groomed in East Stadium where one may work on technique or wax testing or enjoying your first ever Nordic ski experience!

Photos:

(Larry Mishkar)

An absolutely gorgeous morning for some classic skiing at Grand Ave! 2-3" of powder came down as I skied, so the tracks were a little soft (as expected). The snowmakers were blowing snow on the beginning portion of the trail to help with base depth, so that area should be avoided until they get it pushed and groomed. Otherwise fantastic skiing conditions! Thanks to Larry, Erik, and all the other snowmakers for making this happen!

(Jordan Woods, Ski Hut)

Snow is still holding up in good condition despite the heavy weekend traffic, and has set up nicely overnight. We will be pushing out the snow made on the black bear loop this morning and opening it late morning hopefully for you to enjoy. The trade-off will be that we will have the area up to valve house one from the stadium closed to thicken the base as we lost some from the storm and had to move quickly for the super tour race so we could not get our desired 18+”. The alternate route will be up the side of the alpine run to the first race course cut-through onto Big Bend. Overnight temps are very cold, so hopefully we can get what we need done overnight and have it back to normal in no-time.

Photos:

(Erik Blow)

More fresh natural snow overnight again has really helped the snow base recover somewhat from the rain storm, and things are looking great! Tracks have set well and I’ve taken some extra time this morning to keep widening and leveling the upper roller coaster loop. As with all new sections they get better with some age and more tilling to break down the chunks and even everything out. We still have two guns working on thickening base and filling in the corners on black bear, so please stay out of those areas as we move snow around and have equipment and personnel present. Happy skiing!

Photos:

(Erik Blow)

Another beautiful ski at Grand! I was there around 7am and found the trails nicely set up after a night time grooming. Classic tracks were being set as I was skiing. The Spirit crew continues to blow snow on the remaining trails. This trail system with the man made snow is a great asset to the XC community in Duluth - especially in years like this one. About 1.5 km per lap.

(Samuel Olson)

Excellent conditions, considering our circumstances. Best, if only, spot to get Ks in in town this weekend. Busy and mashed up in some spots, but otherwise good to go.

(Emily Nagel)

We have (mostly) survived the torrential rain and freeze from last nights system, with much of our available trail tilling out to an acceptable level. There’s no way around it; everything is ice or a lot of tilled ice at the moment. It will be firm and granular for a while, but tracks set really well and it’s definitely skiable. Of note, there are some major water issues above the DWP on the roller coaster connector. This area was pushed out for a high school race tomorrow, but it is very thin and water logged so we do not recommend going this route. For now, the temporary two-way on roller coaster remains the best course. Additionally, there is a smaller wet patch on upper black bear to keep an eye out for. We’re still open and there’s still skiing to be had!

(Erik Blow)

Howdy folks, we had a successful Section 7 race yesterday using the newly opened big bend section of trail, which now allows us to have another loop completed! We are groomed and tracked through the stadium and into the core trails, but do not have track on the alpine runs at this time or up the "Supertour" loop. We have some mechanical issues with our track-setter that are being addressed today and hopefully will be back in service tomorrow. You can still access the upper section of the Supertour loop and the Black Bear trail, but due to our need to pull power and water across the trail at the mid-section of the big hill, we ask that you please observe our closures and make this section an out-and-back. The Spirit Mountain alpine runs will be open this weekend and will commence full-time hours afterwards, so from that point on we will not be grooming specifically for nordic in these areas, and we please ask that skiing stay within the confines of the GANC once the weekend starts. We are making progress on the upper section of the Roller Coaster loop and connecting to Black Bear and the S-turns, and we hope to have that connection made by the end of the weekend. Think those cold, snowy thoughts!

(Erik Blow)

Thursday we will be hosting Minnesota section 7 ski teams for the Proctor Invite race at Spirit Mountain. Stadium setup will begin in the morning and racing begins at 11am. Please keep this in mind if you are planning to come out and ski tomorrow. Thank you!

(Erik Blow)