It's so awesome and so empty. Everyone must be tapering for the Birkie. The groomers got on it after the snow yesterday and made it World Cup perfect.

Photos:

(Michael Sund)

The snowmaking loop has been closed for races. I did the natural trails north of Glenwood each of the past several days. Today things are a bit thin in spots compared to yesterday, but overall holding up great. Grooming has been consistent and good. I'm skating, but the classic tracks look great throughout much of the course. No real danger spots, though around JD rivers there are some dirty and some thin spots. Transitioning from Wirth Lake to the land on the south east side looks like there may be an exposed stump (I go in the dark so didn't get a close look but it's avoidable). Today there was fresh grooming for classical but not for skate, which made an interesting grooming pattern (see photo).

Photos:

(Sam Knuth)

Forgot about the races, so I ended up skiing Skyline a bunch. The wind was picking up, but the temps warmed quickly too. The snow was plentiful, but there was some debris at the top of the southernmost hill and right after Tornado Alley meets back up with Skyline. Twigs, leaves and seed pods. But they were avoidable (I used race skis). Tracks were present but not really solid. Snow was hard packed and moderate speed. Overall, nice conditions.

(Dan Boody)

Skied most of the trails North of Glenwood. Snowmaking loop still had hard corduroy, and was slower than the natural trails. Natural trails didn’t appear to have been groomed all day, but there were almost no footprints and the snow wasn’t too hard packed, and actually faster than the man made. Despite the near-ideal Pre-Birkie conditions, I only encountered one other skier besides several dozen enthusiastic little kids and their coaches.

Photos:

(Andor Langski)

Started on the snowmaking loop, then headed South and skied the Bog. The coverage was fantastic and the snow was beautifully clean, especially on the connectors and JD Rivers. Under the bridge on Tornado Alley, there is a little ice to cross but still fine for good skis. Snow was slow for us in the Bog so we headed back. Judy had pretty good coverage, but a lot of the downs were very uneven, lumpy and loose from lots of snowplowing. The made snow loop was fantastic. The high winds that kicked up blew the little bit of falling snow around so it didn’t seem like much settled on the track. But the downhills were completely un-icy and the deck was plenty firm. The corduroy even seemed a little frozen still (not icy for traction though). As mentioned, Trail 18 was closed.

(Dan Boody)

Woke up early and was rewarded with a fantastic ski on the snowmaking loop as the sun rose above the skyline. You can't ask for much better conditions out there. Trail 18 was closed (though the Loppet website has it listed as open). Get out there and get those last few training runs in before Birkie week!

(Nick Campbell)

The sun was out and made the mid teen temperatures almost balmy! The race trail is a 3-6 foot deep immaculately manicured magic carpet. The B ski rating is for the natural snow trails. I was the only one who tried to skate ski the Judy loop, not worth the effort, it does not appear to have had any grooming since before the freeze.

(Lars Hansen)

This report mostly pertains to the natural snow trails. I skied the Skyline Trail (aka 'Front 9') natural snow trails across the street from the manmade loops. Overall skiable but a decent amount of debris (mostly sticks and rubber?) but you can get an edge and stability is OK. Most areas have been scratched up enough but there are definitely some icy sections where you better just keep your skis together and try and get through. The groomers did their best but it just needs more snow to be fun. The tracks looked very icy. I did not check out Tornado Alley or points south because Loppet's own website rates these as worse than Skyline... Warning: I would not go down the trail off Trail 18 to the Bridge Trail. It's icy and not safe - I just missed the railing. Climbing up to Trail 18 off the bridge over Theo Wirth Pkwy is fine. The artificial snow trails are all in good shape with the exception of some icy areas showing up through the pulverized snow at the end of Ridgeline/Catwalk last uphill section and a few other misc small climbs.

(Jim Carlen)

I made the mistake of starting my ski from the Wirth Lake beach house. All the trails are ice and frozen footprints. Skyline was not much better. I'm hopeful that the trail crew can work some magic on the ice on the natural snow trails this week. The manmade ski trails were hard and a little icy, back to the conditions we usually expect in a low-snow year. Classic tracks were holding up in most places. Start Oslo blue was kicking well according to secondhand reports.

(Adrian Swanson)

Loppet Festival and races start tomorrow night in Theodore Wirth Park with sprint races at The Trailhead. Please see the following list of trail closures for the event (closure details subject to change based on conditions):
Natural Ski Trails (Theodore Wirth & Chain of Lakes)
7 p.m. Friday, January 31 through 2 p.m. Saturday, February 1 — All Natural Ski trails CLOSED for Loppet Winter Festival and Festival prep
7 p.m. Saturday, February 1 through 2 p.m. Sunday, February 2 — All Natural Ski trails CLOSED for Loppet Winter Festival and Festival prep
Snowmaking Ski Trails (Theodore Wirth)
Friday, January 31, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. — Lower Stadium, Green Meadow, Twin Lake and Ridgeline to Coaches Corner CLOSED for Loppet Sprints. All other trails open to the public.
Saturday, February 1, 6:00am through 2 p.m. — All Snowmaking Ski trails CLOSED for Loppet Winter Festival and Festival prep
Sunday, February 2, 6:00am through 3 p.m. — All Snowmaking Ski trails CLOSED for Loppet Winter Festival and Festival prep
High School Races:
Monday, February 3 through Thursday, February 6 — All Snowmaking Trails CLOSED DAILY 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for High School Sectional Nordic Championships, All NATURAL snow trails open.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)