Conditions: Icy, tracks are melting out. Good Skate, Warm but very solid base underneath so the skis did not sink in too much. Pisten Bully roughed it up going north on Monday morning.
Skied out of Double OO this weekend--It was quite good. It did not freeze last night. I went back to OO to see if it had corned up at all but there was a little rain and it had a soft glaze. Felt a little too epic so I did not ski-- but there is a huge base on the trail and it should be skiable for quite a while.

(Dan Murphy)

Conditions: Freshly groomed corduroy for skate, glazed classic.
Skied at OO late morning. I classiced, my husband skated. North of OO was pristine, saw only one set of tracks on the skate side. Sadly, I was disappointed there were no classic tracks set on either the skate or classic trails and the old tracks were groomed over. Went to the south side of OO and they had reset track on the east side of the trail. Someone had skied in the old track on the west side for about 3K, I got much better kick on that. Nice day to be out in the north woods - enjoy before its gone!

(Kathleen Miller)

Conditions: Very good - loose new snow on the trail between Mosquito Brook and the gravel pt road - nicely groomed north on the gravel pit road.
Skied from Mosquito Brook to the gravel pit and back late this afternoon. The trail south of the gravel pit is not groomed, north to OO is. It was fine for skating or classic but a bit slow with dry loose snow on top. South of Mosquito Brook, it is not groomed and has not been skied. North, it hand been skied and was fine. North of the gravel pit, the groomed trail was much faster.

Photos:

(John Breitinger)

Conditions: Very good - groomed since 2-3 inches of new snow yesterday.
No report from the groomers, but happily we found that, in addition to grooming for the Fat Bike Birkie, they didn't neglect the skiers! Birkie trail south and OO loops are groomed for skating and one track set. Track is firm, somewhat glazed and very fast! Not sure how far south they groomed. Birkie and Classic trails north of OO are groomed for skating (no track that we could see) and probably go as far as the FBB turnaround, about 2/3 of the way to Boedecker.

(Carolyn Senty)

Conditions: Very good but changing.
I skied from 1 to 3pm from double O south. Trail was a bit icy in places and a bit dirty but fast. However around 2 pm the snow started coming down heavily and by 3 pm the corduroy was covered and slower. They are predicting more snow by tomorrow so the conditions are changing but worth the ride.

(Randy Ruege)

Conditions: Excellent this morning.
Freshly groomed and tracks set. Firm and fast this morning but it's warming up. Get out and enjoy!

(Carolyn Senty)

We survived Thursday with very little rain (although we heard some thunder!), no direct sunlight, and temperatures didn't climb above the mid 30s, so there was minimal snow loss on the substantial trail base. As of Thursday night, winds were cooling the trail providing a very fast surface. Current plan remains mostly unchanged: We'll fire up five PistenBullys on Friday evening, starting from different points along the trail and should be able to groom up the entire trail length in under six hours. If the snow appears to be sticky/clumping, we'll delay the start of grooming or switch to lighter weight equipment as needed. We still expect very good conditions for the races on Saturday! Note: Remember, the Birkie trail is now closed for skiing until race start Saturday morning.

(Chris Campbell, American Birkebeiner)

As most of you know, in anticipation of the warm wet weather forecast coming into our area on Thursday afternoon, we will be closing the courses at midnight on Wednesday. There are many skiing options available in the area for training, including at Birkie Ridge, Telemark Trails, North end Trails, and Hayward Hospital Trails. We received 2-5 inches of snow overnight on Monday and we will not groom the course until Friday evening. This is our best strategy to keep the snow cold underneath (new snow is a great insulator) and manage the moisture when it comes (will absorb). We will however groom the Birkie Ridge Trail on Wednesday overnight and again on Thursday overnight. As it is forecast now, we may have a brief period of sub-freezing temperatures overnight on Friday. We will target our grooming time schedule based on the coldest temperatures with the goal of producing the firmest possible tracks for Saturday morning.

(Chris Campbell, American Birkebeiner)

Conditions: A mixed bag. At least 2" of new snow on the trail where I was. Deep enough in some places that I had to exaggerate lifting my trailing ski to keep from dragging it in the snow. No sign of grooming anywhere but it was pretty early so none was really expected.
Not sure this report will do anyone any good but I skied the Northern most part of the course for a little bit this morning. I gave up early because it's tough to ski easy in loose snow. Right now there is a lot of snow on the course. Plenty deep and solid underneath a fresh blanket.

(Andy Schwartz)

Conditions: New snow over night, temps in mid 20's.
Birkie Trail got 2"(north) - 5" (south) depending on location last night. Birkie Ridge was groomed last night and is the best skiing for today. Race course prep continues so standard grooming timing and amounts won't be happening the same this week. Bridge erection and snow install has begun in downtown and compaction of new snow is underway on the lake.

(Chris Campbell, American Birkebeiner)