Very pleasing conditions, especially considering our recent weather. Very few icy spots, some sugar on uphills, but overall good edge and glide throughout. There was some debris on the trail from the wind. Hoping for a natural refresh. Huge thanks to the BC crew.

(John Greene)

Artificial snow trails all open. Trails were very icy especially on downhills and curves. Sometimes difficult to get an edge. Thankful for artificial snow!

Photos:

(Ethan Knuti)

The manmade snow trails remains in good condition. Hard and fast in the morning and soften up as the day goes on. We groom the manmade snow trails nightly. The natural snow trails are closed until we get a decent snowfall.

(Rob Adams)

The skiing at Battle Creek was excellent this morning on the snowmaking trails (natural snow trails are closed). I skated several laps on the Pond, Prairie, South Woods, and North Woods loops and found good coverage, solid (hard) skate deck overlain by a thin layer of corduroy (churning up a little on the climbs and getting scraped down on the descents). The grooming crew provided trails with good push, good glide, and good downhill control in spite of the lack of natural snow and the recent thawing.

(David Sonnenberg)

Natural snow trails are closed due to icy conditions. Man-made snow trails are in good condition with plenty of snow. The skate deck is hard and fast.

(Rob Adams)

Got on snow at 6a and the trail was beautiful. Skate deck was fast and crunchy with plenty of coverage.

Photos:

(John Greene)

Manmade snow is in good shape with no problems. Natural snow areas are slush. High school meets this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.

(Ken Pelto)

Classic tracks were very good - the descent on the Horseshoe had the smoothest curvature of the season (best in 2 years) - great fun to take the tracks sweeping around the light poles down to the Shoe. The Cowabunga descent was also fun although there some small steering adjustment jogs to the track that increase the difficulty given the speed - the biggest steering adjustment jog was hidden as the track went over a small rise in the bottom, just past the connection to the natural snow trails.

(Karl Dewahl)

Back to Battle Creek, and for the first time I skied one of the natural snow trails. I thought the Ski Games loop might be a pleasant ski, just looking for a gentle course to get into a rhythm and fine tune my skating. The trail is well designed with gentle hills and curves, with complete snow coverage, but the snow is relatively thin with the skate deck rutted in places and scraped to hardpack in others. The trail cross section is dished in several areas, and there are several segments where one side of the trail is significantly higher than the other. These two characteristics combined with insufficient snow to "level" the cross section made it difficult for me to get a good skating rhythm. So, I adjusted my goal for the day, worked a little harder than I originally intended, and had a good time in the sunshine. Additionally, I must compliment the grooming crew for providing a skiable trail with limited snow after several days of thawing last week.

(David Sonnenberg)

Trails were excellent at Battle Creek this afternoon. Previewed the BCFK course and skied all the trails. There are a couple oak leaves on the natural snow trails, as you might expect, but the trails are in really good shape. Port-a-john drop off has happened, and race day is fast approaching!

Photos:

(Adam Mahar)