We brought our youth ski team up this past weekend from East Central Wisc. and then a couple of us coaches stayed to ski on Monday for three hours. The conditions each day were better than the previous day for both classical and skate skiing...simply marvelous! Lots of happy faces! Great job Eric, Angela and ABR Staff!

(Steve Scharrer)

A winter wonderland at ABR trails. Snowing this am. I skied classic only and combination trails. The deck appeared generally very good for skating with a few icy spots. Classic trails had an inch newly fallen snow in them which slowed things down slightly. However the depth of the classical tracks is very good. The great conditions made the four hour trip from Madison rewarding!

Photos:

(Ron Fabrizius)

The daily snow and cold temps have been improving the trails every day. We opened Sulo's today and did our final preps out in the Highlands so we can open the Highlands in the morning. The new section of Tamarack 2 track will also open in the morning. This makes the gentle rolling trail a 12 km route to Jason Park. The Highlands has two thin rough areas on the exit hills, use caution or walk down the hills. 62 km of trails open!

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Many trails were excellent - Bard's Bump, Meadows, Blueberry. River and Memory some ice where low spots are frozen but there's not yet enough snow to churn it up. I did not do Peltonnen as with hundreds of skiers ahead of me I found even small hills on Bump were scraped and hard to edge. Hats off to Eric and crew for giving us the first glimpse of winter!

(Dave Minden)

Trails are really smoothing out well and covering is good. The main trails are skiing like mid winter today. We have 75 km we are grooming and 42 km we are skiing. Of the 42 km we are skiing, 30 km is great. We have classic tracks on most everything, there are thin areas under conifers but skiers are very happy.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We packed about 65 km, again today and trails are freezing down well. We're up to 3 feet of snowfall for this season, that's double last year at this time. It is still snowing lake effect... on the radar. We should have 25 k ready for 10 am Thursday. We just came in from grooming tonight it was snowing pretty hard.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We have been packing all day after 4-6 inches of snow. The temps are freezing down nicely. We plan to open Thursday morning at 10 am, we expect about 25-30 km open for Thursday and more for the weekend as we freeze the wet area down.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Present: Well it looks like it is turning into winter! We have been cruising the trails on snowmobiles and tracked vehicles the last week clearing the buried brush from the diminished base and installing new maps and signs. We have an inch or so of hard base(ice) as of today in most wooded areas. Fields are a bit bare but the main trail seemed to survive so far with an icy base.
Forecast: We have groomers coming in the morning to groom the forecast snow. We can not count on the snow until we see it but the forecasts are all online. We need 3 inches or so of dense snow to reopen. The base is frozen. We will pack the snow as it falls, except for Tuesday night from 5:00 PM-Wed morning, when we host the ABR Christmas Party to honor our hard working crew of workers and volunteers!
Future:  We will continue to groom and update twice daily with conditions as the weather changes to cold and snow over the next few days. I expect and hope that we will reopen Thursday for skiing. I know we will not open Tuesday or Wednesday for planning purposes.
Conclusion: watch the website and forecast, we can not answer the phone for all the calls.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

ABR reporting: The trails are closed for skiing. The surfaces are not “groomable” or “skiable”. We will have the ski shop open from 9-2 today. The trails will open for skiing when winter returns.

(Bruce Adelsman)

This will be one of the hardest trail reports that I have to write this winter...and maybe the longest.
WHAT WE HAD TODAY: We had a morning of early season skiing from 9-12 with a few more thin spots but coverage on the main trails for skiing. It was a bit soft but very skiable. Skiers respected the noon closing to preserve the snow from the 43 degrees.
WHAT HAPPENED TODAY: It started raining pretty steady at noon and it continues to rain at 5 PM. Upon "trail inspection" the water is running from the hills overflowing the drainage ditches, flooding the River and creeks in areas creating small pieces of trail that are skiable separated by bare stretches and flooded portions that may  or may not recede and freeze. The base is diminished to 1 inch of saturated snow.
WHAT WE WILL DO: Since the rain is forecast to stop in the next hour or so and temps are forecast to drop below freezing in the early morning hours, I will again assess the trail at 6 AM and see if it is "groomable" and "skiable". We will make every effort to make 5-10 km of skiable trail for the 9 AM hr and we will report in at 7 AM with an updated report of what we find.
WHAT I THINK: I am not optimistic that we will be able to create safe and enjoyable skiing for Saturday and Sunday without more snow and cold temps. We scared many skiers away on what would be our busiest weekend of the season with honest and predictive reporting over the last several days to help people plan their weekends and not drive long distances to be disappointed.  
IF YOU ARE IN TOWN: We will have the Ski shop open with some good sale prices and many of the stores in town have some good shopping. The falls would make a nice hike at Black River, the 5 waterfalls are raging I am told and would be pretty awesome to see.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)