Classic skied this morning and tracks were in very good shape - only a few places had ice from thaw/freeze. Yesterday skated and excellent coverage except, again where there was thaw/freeze ice but easily avoided. Lots of snow still.

(Tony Pellegrini)

After the Birkie cancellation, we headed to ABR Saturday morning. The snow was still falling when we arrived, and the main parking lot was packed (Birkie bibs everywhere!). We hit the trails and were seemingly the first out on the Peltonen Pass trail as there were no tracks on the fresh snow. It was so light and powdery that skiing on an ungroomed track was actually enjoyable! The downhills were slow because of the fluff, but it was comforting knowing that we would have a soft pillow to land on if we took a spill (especially since all of the hills were unknown to us). As more people got out, the trails packed down a bit, and more grass started to show through. The sun came out midday, which was beautiful. By the time we left at 1 pm the tracks were started to show considerable wear, and since there wasn't a base underneath the snow, I'm not sure how much longer they'll last. Magical while we were out though!

(Dan Boody)

The 12 inches of new snow yesterday, last night and this early morning made many hungry skiers happy. We groomed up 65 km this morning and last night. It took multiple passes this morning even with both Pisten Bullys out but it should be firm in the morning. The groomers are just heading out tonight. We should have primo conditions for the morning at 9 AM when we open.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

The lake effect snow continues to come in force, we have gotten about 6-8 inches today; I am just coming off the Highlands packing and freezing the wet area that is the entrance. The Highlands area looks like it is well covered and should groom up well in the morning. Groomers to the south have been working on the trails that were flooded and reporting back they should be ready for morning skiing at 9 AM. I have not heard back from the single track groomers.  One of the PB's is just coming off Cherry and reporting excellent conditions on Cherry and Peltonen. Second shift groomers will be heading out soon to complete the grooming. It looks like we should have about 60 k groomed up by 9 AM.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

2-3 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday and 3-4 inches of lake effect snow today! We had a great day of skiing today on the trails open and groomed and saw many bibs from the Birkie! The new snow groomed in well again this morning and then it snowed all day. We are heading out tonight to try to reopen the South and North that were flooded from the River rising. Groomers will be grooming to provide as many k as possible for Saturday. Not sure we will get all 73 km open but hopefully we can get 40-60 km open. The snow skied well today, many happy skiers. Lynn Ellen Schmidt you left something here.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We received over an inch of a heavy wet snow and groomed 17 km this morning. We are open for skiing today Thursday and conditions should improve with the cold and more snow. Additional trails will be opened as the River level goes down.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We are going to close the ski trails Feb 21-22, Tuesday and Wednesday, due to the rain and "unsafe" and variable conditions. This is very unusual for ABR to close the trails during the main season. We make this announcement early in the evening so that traveling skiers can amend their ski plans for the next two days. We hope to reopen for Thursday, stay tuned. We still have the trails snow covered and the forecast is favorable.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We had another day of spring skiing today. Skiers reported that skiing was super fun and fast on the ground up corn snow from 9-12. Skiers also enjoyed the warm skiing at 45 degrees, on a firm base from 12 - close. We groomed all 73 km of trails last night and this morning including power-tilling all of the wide trails with the Pisten Bully and power-tilling the narrow trails with the Alpina  dual track and Alpina small tiller and track-setting with the "Ginzu" Groomer and Bearcat. We will continue to groom for the next several warm days with lighter equipment and limit our open trails to the more gentle terrain so that the more expert trails keep their snow. (It is difficult for the groomers to climb hills in the softer conditions and it is easy for the beginner skiers to snow plow the soft snow off the trail). So we will be skiing on River Trail, Popple, Pit, Memory, Bachelors, Sulos Cherry, Blue Berry to the shortcut, Meadow and Tamarack and Hemlock and Jack Pine/WP, Rascals and Spank's. That is 20 km of skating and 31 km of classic.
We do have one small cabin open for next weekend and the Hantala House. Pre Season Season Pass Green Banana sale is on along with the ski shop sale!

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Awesome spring skiing at ABR. Skied both classical, and skate. It got pretty mushy after noon, but it felt so good skiing in shirt sleeves.

(Thomas Gahr)

Beautiful conditions, we started at 9 am, it was about 28, grooming was great as usual for ABR. We used waxless skis and conditions were fast. Sun was out and warmed up pretty rapidly. When we finished at noon it was 50 and getting slower. To bad the warm stretch is so many days. They have a good base and Eric know how to work his magic with the snow. Spring skiing conditions for now.

(Laurie Fabrizius)