Conditions: Excellent for classic.
Trails received about 8 inches of snow from the last storm and were groomed and tracked Wednesday and Thursday. Joanie and I strided all 16 miles of trails today and they were in fantastic condition! Tracks were fairly firm even with all the new snow. Have been skiing here for years and always enjoy making the trip from Madison. The skating lanes are narrow here, so it is difficult to ski the trails that way without cutting into the tracks.

Photos:

(Darren Blankenship)

Conditions: Fair to good for skating. Too narrow, needs about 2' more width to avoid skating over the classic tracks. Some really thin spots from warmth and lots of tree litter due to deer digging up acorns and wind today.
Overall, a good day in the woods, but 30 degrees with sun is no good. Could use cold to solidify the base, 1-2" of snow to groom in, and 20-degree days. Broke a ski tip on the first big downhill of Wildcat in a spectacular fall initiated by sinking into the soft base. Peaceful with so few people out there.

(Bill Barthen)

Conditions: Excellent to very good for classic.
Classic skied central, north, red oak, and south. Everything has track set and was the first to ski since the last dusting of snow. Much of it was just groomed and beautiful! Looked like the lead out to Wildcat and Norway Pine were in the same condition. Was 29 degrees when I started and 34 when I left, hopefully it holds up though this warm up.

Photos:

(Jason Melby)

Conditions: Nice and firm base with an inch of fresh on top.
Awesome Ski area without a doubt! Cut a lot a skate tracks in a very under used 20km trail system. What a great bunch on hills with great long glides! Super way to end the week!

Photos:

(Andrew Jennings)

Conditions: Poor to OK - Enough snow, just needs to be groomed.
classic skied South, Central, North and Red Oak. The trails do not appeared to have been groomed for a week. Classic track does not appeared to have been set for even longer. Central and half of Red Oak has no track, south and north has old tracking that is OK at best. Appears to be enough snow, just not being groomed? If you are going to the area, you are better off going to Levis Mounds even though you lose some climb and distance. They do an excellent job with the trails!

(Jason Melby)

Conditions: Skate is not good.
Went here to skate ski today. Trails looked like they had been groomed only once since the storm. Very soft hard to glide, and uneven. Was also a narrow skate deck. I decided to turn around and go snowshoe. I wouldn't recommend until they at least groom again.

(David Golomski)

Conditions: A little soft for skating - awesome scenery.
Great Ski at Schmrecker - good coverage and a little narrow - great for classic!

Photos:

(Andrew Jennings)