A little powder over a hard crust. A few minor snowfalls have helped to cover the hard crust base, but still some icy spots, especially in little depressions (frozen puddles) and windswept areas. No grooming planned until more snow, letting the powder sit on top of the crust.

(Owen Baird)

Ice-crust covered with a little powder in some areas. Grooming was attempted today, but there were too many unfrozen puddles under the crust. Groomers will try again Tuesday. Trails in the trees generally had a powder layer that made them fairly good. Trails in the open were hard ice and crust. Trail from Arb trailhead out through field is one of the worst for ice. Many sticks and pine branches down.

(Owen Baird)

Fair to good conditions, 1 inch base, rock skis advised is some areas, skating deck firm, but thin, no tracks set until more snow. No grooming until more snow.

(Owen Baird)

After a few inches of fine-grained powder all trail were packed Saturday. Not quite enough to set tracks yet. Only a few areas with some dirt in the snow. The several short, steep hills on Big Ben are the worst for thin snow/sand.

(Owen Baird)

Trails were rolled after a couple inches of fine grained snow Sunday. Another half inch today. Still some thin areas but overall good. Brainerd HS team skied in many of the trails which made the snow much faster. Plenty of kick in the new cold powder. Paved section of South Acorn - Paul Bunyan access trail not recommended. Wet area at base of steep hill on Northstar may be rough due to frost heaved mud (skied Sunday but not today). Good moonlight skiing in the jack pine savanna.

(Owen Baird)

Most trails were rolled Wednesday. Thin snow in spots resulting in skis hitting dirt at times. South Acorn is unskiable. Other lighted trails fair to good.

(Owen Baird)

Conditions: Good for skating.
Trails are rolled with good coverage but the base is thin in a few spots. Good early season skiing. Recommend rock skis. No classic tracks set.

Photos:

(Elias Anoszko)

Conditions: More trails cleared and packed.
With some trees cleared groomers were able to roll several more trails today. Northstar, Pioneer, Ojibwa, most of Acorn still have many down or bent over trees and are ungroomed. Most of the open trails are unlighted so bring a light if you ski after dark and want more than a little bit of groomed trails.

(Owen Baird)

Conditions: Deep snow with full coverage.
Short skate loop is rolled and other trails can be classical skied backcountry style with ducking under, slaloming between or going over trees occasionally. All in all a great afternoon. Used Atomic Skintec skis which worked well on the variable types of conditions. Once trees are removed should set to a great base.

Photos:

(Kyia Anderson)

Conditions: Plenty of snow but mostly ungroomed due to numerous downed trees.
About 1 foot of snow in Brainerd Friday. The wet snow and wind resulted in many bent and broken trees at the Arb. Groomers ran sleds without grooming equipment on a loop that had fewer downed trees: Little Ben - Potlatch - west Acorn and through the old landfill back to start field. Good skied-in track on some trails, but need to duck under bent trees. It will be several days before the trees are cleared and normal grooming starts.

Photos:

(Owen Baird)