Overall good snow coverage compared to other trails in the area. The snow has held up well in the woods and on most trails. It was snowing when I was out there, but the trails had not been groomed/rolled yet. This did not prevent the skiing from being great. The classic tracks were snow covered, but skied in by others making them ok. The skate deck had an inch or two on it making it very skiable, but just had to lift the legs slightly higher.

(Gary Simon)

The snow is too wet to groom on Tuesday, Jan. 31. It just turns to snowballs. I did not try to ski.

(Jeff Bolte)

We are working with what we have and the skiing is generally good in the wooded area and poor in the open. Specific by trail: Blue (re-groomed today); campground loop (re-groomed and re-tracked today); orange(lots of bare spots); prairie loop(very poor); ( purple (re-groomed and re-tracked on the inner loop today); red(re-groomed and re-tracked today); silver (re-groomed today); yellow (very poor). Be careful going down the hills.

(Jeff Roberts)

What a crazy trail surface. I found hard ice in mishmash of shapes, some frozen puddles, some really nice stretches of old corn snow mostly reconstituted into a decent base. But overall it was disappointing. Quite hard in most places to keep feet under you, and the downhills are definitely not for the weak of heart or mind. Covered all trails along the river edge, the rise to parking lots above the overlooks, and then Johnson Farm trails (these were better than most). I will not come back until more snow falls. I give credit to the groomer who was out trying to till it up between 12 pm and 1 pm, but there is only so much that can be done with mostly icy base. Still the park is one of the special ones in area. Where else can you ski right up to impressive waterfall!

Photos:

(Dean Kleinhans)

All of the trails were groomed this morning with track set where possible. You'll find the best skiing in the woods on the Red, Silver, and the 300 campground loop. Areas out in the open are thin and icy. There are some easily avoidable, scattered patches of slushy water. Skate skiing should be much better than classic as the classic track is icy and has numerous spots of dirt.

(David Thofern)

The grooming run goes on Thursday morning, skate deck only. Please give it some time to set up. Dave is good about reporting here so stay tuned.

(Jeff Bolte)

No grooming yet. An inch plus of damp snow has somewhat bonded to the ice, slush, and crust below. I classic skied a very short stretch of the Purple and tried to stay in the old track. That was okay considering the alternative on the skate deck. The deck was bumpy and noisy. Best guess is that the snow on top will mix decently with what is underneath yielding a skate deck only. The key here is temperature. It makes sense that the grooming team is waiting for cooler temperatures. Meanwhile, it's not good out there. If you have a groomed alternative, pick that trail.

(Jeff Bolte)

It was a short trip on classic B skis from the boat launch up through the 300 campground and back. Departure was around 7:30 pm. Track varied from fast granular powder to ice. The textured skate deck was a mixture of loose powder to a crunchy conglomerate of ice and snow. The sun and warmth have worked on the trail since Jeff groomed it this morning. Let's start with skaters. Getting your edge should not be a problem. The deck has not had much use. It felt okay on the classic skis while on the deck. The classic track is solid on the bottom and several varieties of fast. Track depth varies. Pole tips did that work. How fast? On my low camber fish scale classic skis, I left the 300 for the boat launch down the gentle S turning hill, glide only. I bailed out of the track, too fast for comfort in the first turn. All that drag on the skate deck slowed things down enough to stop about 70 feet short of the boat launch turn around. That's at least twice the normal result of a glide down that run on those skis. If you plan to ski Willow while it's frozen, bring solid intermediate or better skills. It was wicked fast tonight.

(Jeff Bolte)

Awesome conditions this morning. Went there expecting treacherous conditions and was surprised to find the more heavily used trails freshly groomed. Great job groomers!

(Paul Greenwald)

Receive 2" new snow on Monday night and it turned cold last night so the new snow groomed out great. All trails were groomed this morning and most were re-tracked. Hope this snow holds out over the next few warm day.

(Jeff Roberts)