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)

We have groomed for skate and classic the SuperTour course, which includes the Downhill Musher and 11B/13B Alpine runs. We continue to make snow on Big Bend and Black Bear, so watch for changing conditions. Overlook and Deer Stand are natural snow loops, and have minimum snow covered, so they will see a groomer once snow depth is adequate.

Photos:

(Larry Mishkar)

Skied at Grand Ave Monday night. Snow guns where running at full blast up on the hill, and I couldn't tell if any were going on the XC trails. Nordic trails had been groomed beautifully for skate but no tracks were laid, though classic was still great with single digit temps. We only stayed on the manmade loops, so not sure if the "natural snow" trails of GANC have been groomed yet.

(Ketzel Levens)

GANC trails are now closed to public skiing until the Duluth SuperTour races end Sunday afternoon Dec 5th, and the course is cleared of fencing and signage. Snowmaking will start up Sunday night and run continuous as temperatures dip low. About two-thirds of the system has good snow covered as of today and our snow making efforts will focus on increasing snow depth on some previously snowed in trails and on those trails that remain green. We will open segments of the system once they are groomed to our standards.

(Larry Mishkar)