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)