I stopped by Monday to put away some stuff in the Chalet. Trails were pretty well baked down to the dirt.

(Michael Howe)

I started classical. The pin oaks are releasing their leaves and depositing many of them in the classic tracks, which are also starting to show bare ground. The skate deck has good coverage but is thin. Bare ground is starting to encroach in spots.

(Bob Schwartz)

Same report as my previous Tower report with one positive exception: classic tracks are set on all trails including the big hills far away from the warming house. More grooming was also performed today on the skate deck too as I noticed it was widened in some areas specifically hills (thank you grooming crew). Get out it's great!

(Brady Zwiefelhofer)

Recent two inches of additional snow and great grooming has provided some of the best skiing of the season at Tower Ridge. All trails were groomed and a track was set on most. Encourage folks to take advantage of the skiing here before warmer weather.

Photos:

(Darryll Farmer)

Grooming was in progress mid afternoon, no track set. I took the B skis but the trail was good enough for the A set. The crunchy spots were obvious with little or no risk of damage. Just avoid it since there is room. First time here with a friend. No track, no problem for either of us. I started on the B classic wood skis. Wrong. With the air temp around 30, the skis iced up in the big loop down below. Sun drenched areas were the toughest. Switched to waxless and skiing worked better. In most places, the bamboo touring pole plants sank in to basket depth. I would expect track setting is in the grooming plans for Thursday. The oak and pine forest was flocked with new snow. Skier traffic was light. The overlooks of the river valley are beautiful. We did not explore any of the black trails, just the easy to intermediate stuff. Tower Ridge is in great shape right now. I wish I would have had a good look at the grooming piece being towed. The opertator and equipment was doing great work. The view from the chalet is like no other I have seen. Six bucks per vehicle gets you in. Don't miss this fleeting chance.

(Jeff Bolte)

I got off the trail at 6:45pm. The snow and grooming was so great I had topmost right away. I think this was the best snow conditions we've seen all year. Heard a rumor the groomer broke this past Sunday; well it's fixed because all the trails including hills were groomed and totally even. Even after today's snow it was soft but really not that soft. I highly encourage folks from out of town to come since Eau Claire has a bunch of snow (for now).

Photos:

(Brady Zwiefelhofer)

Tower had not been regroomed since the weekend; it is partially groomed. There were only a few bare spots in the tracks, otherwise good coverage and could use your good skis. It was soft and slow last evening. The travel WI website says that Tower was partially regroomed but no tracks set on Wednesday.

(Colleen Duffy)

About 75% of the trails have been groomed for skating and classical. None of the big hills have been groomed. The classic tracks are deep and firm with only occasional leaves. The skating deck is uneven with soft edges after 12" of new snow. The tracks of the groomer are often visible and there are ruts and furrows, but overall good or better. Another round of grooming should make for excellent skiing.

(Mark Blaskey)

This is the best snow I have seen all year, anywhere. The trails were rolled and 80% machine tracked. The only trail not open was the "Red" loop (maybe because the groomers did not want a lot of rusty skiers out killing themselves on the big hills...). This was sort of weird snow in that it was not super fast but sure was fun. I could not have guessed that driving 90 miles would offer such immense difference from the nothing we have here in the Twin Cities!

(Gary Follett)

From the County: With the fresh snow that we received over night (10"+) and with it continuing to snow today, we should have some decent ski trails for this weekend. Keep in mind that we did lose nearly all of the existing base that we had on our trails as well. Groomers are out right now at Tower Ridge and at Lowes Creek park packing down the trails. Tracks have been set at Lowes Creek and are in fair condition, no tracks set at Tower Ridge as of today but has been groomed. As of right now, Tower Ridge will be freshly groomed on Saturday and Sunday as well. So come on out and check out our trails! Vehicle passes are required at all Eau Claire County cross-county ski trail locations.

(Bob Schwartz)