Conditions: Fresh 1-2" of snow mixed in on a good, firm base. Fairly fast still even in later afternoon.
Trails were in very good shape on Friday afternoon. Everything skied nicely, speed was still pretty good even with temps in the mid 30s. Classic track was a little glazed in places, but looked good. Plenty of snow, nothing even close to being thin.

Photos:

(Bruce Adelsman)

Course prep for Junior Nationals -- reinforcing the trails with man-made snow, base looks great.

Photos:

(Craig Jarvinen)

Beautiful tracks at Telemark trails today. Just one problem, I have never seen so many leaves in the tracks. Had on a cold weather wax so the tracks were skiable. No wax skis would be a better choice. Skied the first 16 K of the Korteloppet classic trail.

(Dick Roeber)

Conditions: Fresh inch of snow on nicely groomed, beautiful conditions.
Skied the 5K and 2.5K courses for JNQs. Really great courses, especially the 5K. Some long climbs, especially for the Midwest. Nice grooming, trails were in very good condition. Good skis, no problem.

Photos:

(Bruce Adelsman)

Conditions: The trails were tracked and in good generally good condition.
For anybody who has not skied Telemark in a while, it is a confusing and frustrating experience. The marking is poor both in terms of where the office/fee area is and on the trails. There is no defined area to start and the trail map we were given appeared to be a Google Earth photo with 2 trails marked. The problem is that we never knew where we were on the trails because the only markings we saw were hand drawn arrows and a couple of "do not enter" signs. The bones of a once great trail system are still there but maps and signage would be appreciated, especially when you are paying to ski the trails.

(John Brengosz)

Cable area received 5 - 6 inches of new snow Friday night. Stopped in to check out the conditions at Telemark as we purchased annual passes to ski on the man-made snow. Nothing has been touched. The 5 inches of snow received earlier in the week had not been rolled so there is close to a foot of powder on the trails. I hope they can get out to groom before the New Year's holiday.

(Randy Lueth)

Conditions: Pretty good, about four inches of natural snow mixed in with some artificial snow to give it a great base. A couple of kilometers were groomed for skating and there was a shallow classic track set.
Skated Telemark this morning, the snow machine was running the entire time and temps were around five above. The snow was a bit slow at times but felt good to be out. Also, skiers can venture off the artificial loop and if you are careful, you can ski in about four inches of rolled trails around Telemark. The groomer was out doing the manmade loop when we were leaving...enjoy!

Photos:

(David Martin)

Conditions: Man made loop, transformed snow.
About 9/10 of a km loop with a few hills, 4 to 10" deep, edge able and smooth skating, some remnant classic trails.

Photos:

(Joel Harrison, New Moon Ski Shop)

Conditions: Good coverage skate and classic, two loops some hills and flats.
Due to freeze up skiing in mid morning is best.

(Dale Cardwell)

Conditions: Man made snow loop, great skiing on a short loop.
Hard but edge-able. Fast and fun. Plenty depth and some nice hills. This should hold thru the warm weather ahead. Classic tracks perfect.

(Joel Harrison, New Moon Ski Shop)