Conditions: Pretty good after it froze last night.
For those skiing fanatics, last night we groomed approx. 2.5km at OO. We got 7+ inches of snow, but the ground is warm and with so much rain before the snow, there are lots of puddles. The one side of the loops at OO was pretty dry...so we groomed it up! Enjoy the skiing!

(Chris Campbell, American Birkebeiner)

While they received a healthy dump of snow Wednesday, the base is too soft and wet for grooming.

Photos:

(Bruce Adelsman)

The Birkie Trail is officially closed for the season. Even though it feels like spring outside, the trail is closed to all spring-like activities such as hiking, running and biking until further notice. To preserve and protect the trail, the Birkie team has closed trail gates and will make an announcement when the trail is once again open for activities and use.

Photos:

(Chris Campbell, American Birkebeiner)

Skied early today. It froze overnight so was very fast and icy at 8:00 am. By 10:00 with the sun shining, the trail was starting to soften up. There were a few open areas, but overall, the trail was in very good condition.

(Barb Krzak)

The Birkie trail is still skiable; icy and rough in the morning when it's cold, soft and slow when it's warm. But you can ski if you want to.

(Tom Detzner)

Conditions: South of OO soft deck, slushy and bare in spots, debris in spots. South OO/warming hut well covered some debris few bare spots. By mid afternoon deck got soft and every plant sunk in a couple of inches. Trails North of OO were much softer, less base, and more bare spots especially on any hill facing South.
Slow going but still enjoyable blue sky day up North.

(John Halley-Stillwater MN)

Conditions: Good. I used my rock skis, but friend used her good skis. Somewhat soft, but lots of snow. Fairly fast because of the ice crystals.
I skied from 00 South on Wednesday. The snow cover wax excellent for the first 4 k then got icier and thinner, but only saw a few bare spots. Did not ski north of 00 yesterday. Did see the Piston Bully go north although the Birkie site says they aren't grooming unless it gets colder.

(Barb Krzak)

Conditions: Spring conditions.
Skated south and north from Mosquito Brook Trailhead. Thin but still skiable south! My skis were not scratched and I was able to ski to within 200 ft of Lake Hayward shore! Diehard because I've come a long way to be here and I was determined to see and ski the course not in race mode. North to OO was thicker in general of course, again fine for skating, decent glide despite the very warm temps yesterday. Only a few spots to be careful getting through. Glad to have seen and familiarized better with race course, looking forward to first skate Birkie in 23 years next season.

(Scott Waichler)

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)