We opened all of Ridgeline Trail to Coaches Corner today. We are now up to 3k and the PistenBully is pushing out the Catwalk and remaining portion of the lesson loop/east half of Green Meadow loop now. So within the next couple days we will be open to the Roundabout.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

Skied the natural and machine made trails in Wirth North this morning. With the warmer temps, it was fantastic skiing! Overall, still good coverage, but there are some areas to look out for: Under 55 the snow is getting quite thin, would use caution; The connector from Theodore Wirth parkway to trail 18 is thin and dirty, I took off my skis and walked it, though it's probably passable with b skis; there are a few spots on hills and under trees that have grass coming through and/or a lot of debris (JD rivers has one bad spot on the hill, and there is one on the first and last hills of the skyline trail). On the artificial snow, the quantity of snow is astounding and today la squadra opened up!

(Sam Knuth)

Got out around 8:30 am on the short made-snow loop, for my first ski of the season. Plenty of people out, but the trail was in great condition. No icy spots at all. The wind at the top was pretty fierce, but the temps were fine. Plenty of room on the trail despite the number of skiers, and the trail is wide enough to pass pretty easily. The trail didn't change at all during the 90min or so I was out. I almost forgot I was doing laps!

(Dan Boody)

I skate skied the natural trails on Friday and again early Saturday morning after being out of town all week. There was fresh grooming on most of the trails. Solid, firm base with overall great coverage. I didn't find any ice except near the bridge over 55 where there is a bit of a wetland area, but nothing too bad. Under 55 is skiable, though I'd use caution with good skis. There are a few spots in JD rivers and on the golf course with some debris from the trees. Overall fast and smooth and super fun.
The only real challenge is confusion over the direction of the trails. During the day yesterday it seemed about 1/2 the people were going the wrong way. There really is not much of any signage yet posted, so the confusion is understandable. Some of the new signs are quite small and low, and hard to see.

(Sam Knuth)

Fresh corduroy on the lighted snowmaking loop. Slow, but in excellent condition. Snow guns were producing a lot of snow on the lower stadium and tubing hill, so hopefully we'll have more open shortly. I measured a lap at roughly 1200m.

(Adrian Swanson)

JD Rivers, Tornado Alley, Skyline had full coverage with minimal debris. Watch your head on the gnarly tree overhanging in JD Rivers section. The snow is a bit thin near the 55 underpass but I only noticed it by the clacking of my pole tips. I skated but the classic tracks looked just fine from my vantage.

(Joe Krisch)

The trails crew opened the next section of the snowmaking loop this evening. Skiers can now ski 1.5k starting on Trail 18 behind The Trailhead which is now connected to the east half of Ridgeline trail. There should be more trails opening soon. It looks like a great week of snowmaking weather ahead!

Photos:

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

Skiing on the natural snow trails just south of the Trailhead (Skyline Trail and Tornado Alley) this morning was awesome - very clean snow, plenty of coverage, no risk of ski damage for skate skiing. Classic tracks were mostly intact and in good shape, but a few spots were showing bare grass. The grooming crew did a great job with gentle grooming - I was amazed how good the skiing was considering our small snowfall and warm temps over the last week!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

Inspired by the posts yesterday, I started at JD rivers, up tornado alley to the bridge trail, then walked to the machine made loop (the connector isn't skiable). Overall, a lot of traffic since yesterday and does not look like grooming was done today. JD rivers was mostly decent, with a few bare spots showing through, and ice around the bridge over the creek. There were some volunteers putting snow under 55, which was great to see (thank you!). The trail on the north side of 55 is quite icy and hard, the rest of tornado alley is OK. Pretty hard packed with a few icy spots. Bridge trail was good, though getting slushy and thin in spots. The machine made loop was great, though I'm quite curious as to when we'll see it expand - looks like lots of snow to work with piled up!

(Sam Knuth)

Despite the 37 degree warm sunny day, the Front 9 Golf Course trails were for the most part very good in the early afternoon. Just a few spots that were icy, a few bare spots, and some areas getting soft, but all pretty avoidable. I found Tornado Alley to be getting a bit icy, there was 30-40 ft. of bare cement under Hwy. 55, and then JD Gardens was good. A few skiers were skiing the wrong direction so some directional signage might be helpful, especially since some of the trail directions have changed. Great fun to be out on natural snow trails on such a beautiful day!

Photos:

(Dave Carlson)