Bronze, Silver and Gold trails smoothed out a bit. Conditions in the woods are pretty fair; prairie/open spots very marginal. Single track is in fair condition also. Short loop packed, with a track, on the ballfields.

(Bill Kosfeld)

All trails have been groomed. Classic tracks were previously set and continue to be in decent shape. A thin ski base of 1-2 inches of snow is consistent across most of the trails. Parts of the trail and parts of the classic track do have exposed areas of grass and leaves. Some hills have had sledder and hiker use and caution is advised due to thinning snow conditions.

(James Rue)

Decent conditions overall. Thin base but skiable, the prairie and a few sections of the woods had lots of grass, stems and leaves in the classic tracks. Some areas had foot prints and sled tracks.

(Peter Casey)

Two of us teamed up to groom all of the trails at Battle Creek West this afternoon. Generally good skiing throughout with the exception of the open prairie trails, which were more windblown. In the wooded areas, the trails are in very good shape. Classic tracks were set on every trail section and are fair due to low snow. Be aware of grass/twigs/dirt in some sections, but they are mostly avoidable. Ski Games trails are bit irregular and bumpy in spots, but coverage is good. Trails need to set up and should be good with cold temps.

(Doug Schumacher)

Did the Silver loop, beautiful grooming. Classic track is nicely groomed, but some areas are bare and need more base, mainly at the entrance. In the woods classic and skate are in good shape. Skate track is excellent overall.

Photos:

(Christina Ewig)

Bronze, Silver, Gold and Ski Games trails have been rolled with grooming expected in the morning. The new snow has covered everything nicely (no bare spots) but the base is still thin.

(Karl Dewahl)

Sections in the woods mostly fair to good, but still bare spots. Prairie sections mostly bare. Be very careful on hills and corners. Ski Games packed but conditions pretty rough.

(Bill Kosfeld)

Groomed all of the trails this morning except the Ski Games segment which been rolled only as of Thursday evening. The first 0.5 km of the trail from the trailhead including the traditional stadium area, and the easy trail is in very poor condition. This section of the trails is always subject to being wind blown and that is the case now. We groomed a temporary access trail across the base of the sledding hill that will allow the wind blown area to be avoided. It joins the main trail at the approximate 0.5 km mark. From this point to the wooded areas on the hilltop the trail is in fair condition with some thin areas. Might want to consider taking the marked shortcut to the top. Once in to the wooded areas, the trails are in good condition. Very few easily avoidable thin areas. Even the big downhills seem quite skiable. There is a uniform 2” depth compacted base that skiers were leaving skate marks in as they skied. There are no tracks set. The other area of caution is at the end of the loops. The final hilltop before descending back to the trailhead was blown bare by the wind. Skiers will have to be careful and maybe a little creative to get back to the temporary access trail.

(John Fitzgerald)

Parts of the trail system were rolled on Wednesday, and a subsequent attempt to groom these same sections on Thursday was partially done. After one pass on the Bronze trail, the grooming was discontinued due to a mechanical issue. Until the grooming equipment is fixed, the trail remains windblown and un-groomed. Be careful and use caution if you go. Updates will be posted once grooming equipment becomes operational again.

(Doug Schumacher)

Finished rolling the Bronze trail (2-4 passes), Silver (1 pass), and Ski Games (2 passes) at 8pm. Nothing on the Gold Trail. Snow coverage is pretty good over most of the trail, but there is no base. There are a number of wind scoured / bare spots in the open areas in the stadium, in the prairie and on Ski Games along the bluff. There is at least a coating of ice in these bare areas. Grooming plans: Work will continue Thursday with more rolling, followed by grooming. Best if you can wait for more work to occur before using the trails. If you do go, be very careful.

(Karl Dewahl)