Conditions: Firm skate deck, with soft snow on top for great glide. Some wind debris but really minimal. Classic tracks looked deep and firm. Recently groomed and not heavily used. Best conditions of the year so far.
Skied from Oberg lot thru to Homestead, Hogback, Picnic loop and Oberg loop. Conditions for all were about the same and skiing was wonderful.

(Tim Nelson)

Conditions: Skate deck good to excellent except the Oberg loop (X-Y-W) is fair.
Started skating at Oberg on a perfect sunny winter morning. I made for the Picnic loop straight away. It has firmed up beautifully! Then back via Hogback and upper Homestead. The groomer was out again this morning and I had maybe 10km of virgin corduroy to skate on. I got back to the trailhead and had to ski a bit more, so I added the Oberg loop. The X-Y-W section had some footprints and was uneven. Had to ski with care on the steeper downhills. Saw several others out enjoying this great day. If you're in the neighborhood, you really should give Sugarbush a try, it's awesome!

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(Mike Kosloski)

Conditions: Good to excellent deck. A little fluff in track, but otherwise deep and decent.
Skated from Britton to Oberg and back via Hogback and Homestead. Recent grooming has improved the trails greatly. Wind debris from last weekend is mostly covered up. Trails are skiing faster, firmer, and smoother. Be careful of one water bar on Bridge Run downhill... could be trouble if not paying attention. Thanks to the Sugarbush groomers for all their great work!

(Mike Kosloski)

Conditions: Good base, but only fair due to lots of debris from wind last couple days.
Skated the Onion River Road and Oberg loop. Footprints for ~3km from trailhead...glad I went CCW around loop. The trails could stand a touch up grooming to firm them up and reduce the debris issue. Saw about 10 other hardy souls out braving the cold and howing wind. Regardless, it's super great to be back up here this winter, love this system.

(Mike Kosloski)

Conditions: Good: groomed with spots of light litter and some isolated light drifting (only a few spots with buried track and then just a few meters). Only saw a couple of places with shallow snow above ice.
From Onion River Road trailhead, I skied the Onion River Road and the Oberg Loop. Far fewer people out today than yesterday. The wind gusts (40 mph+) have brought down a few things (needles and twigs mostly), but the track is holding up well. Somebody did walk in the skate lane for the first 3 km or so on the Oberg Loop--from intersection W to Y to a bit past the second snowmoblile trail crossing). It may cause problems for skaters or those skiing in a clockwise direction if out of track for the downhills. I thought I was well sheltered from the wind on the Onion River Valley leg (M to L) but it was that the wind was at my back. In places without drifting, the track is a bit faster than I had anticipated.

(Erik Larson)

Conditions: Recently groomed after new snow fall.
Skied all the trails that are open except Onion Road. They are all in good condition, the picnic loop section is a bit soft and bumpy at places but still very enjoyable.

(Jonas Holmberg)

Conditions: Skate and classic: excellent.
My wife and I arrived at Onion River Rd shortly after 9 am this morning. New perfect grooming awaited us. We did two loops (22k) and had the entire system to ourselves till the very end! Molly said skate was fantastic, for classic my first lap was slow as I skied in the new grooming. The trees are flocked with ice and snow. Add the sun breaking through the clouds and we had a fantastic time. The Superior National Forest Ranger even had the pot bellied stove fired up in the cabin next to the parking lot. Had a grand time talking with the Ranger post ski in the small cabin. The skiing should only get better on Onion River Rd as the new grooming firms up.

(Rich Hoeg)

Conditions: 2" new snow on firm base.
Skated Onion River Rd. on new snow with more falling. Should be excellent for weekend skiing what with more snow today and grooming. I almost always see Jan Horak when I ski at Sugarbush, and sure enough he was heading out when I was finishing up.

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(Anne Flueckiger)

Conditions: Fresh powder, firm tracks and skating deck. Temp around 30.
Kudos to the groomers and volunteers to get the Sugarbush Trails in the best condition possible with the lower snow. Great tracks and skating deck. Caution however is needed to survey the downhills for "bowls" and water bars. Skied the back side of Picnic today, what a delight! I would suggest "B" classic skis as there are exposed raspberry canes in the tracks at various points along the system, only Onion River Road is totally free from the canes.

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(Liz Wagner)

Conditions: Decent firm skate deck on the Britton Peak loops. Could use more snow to cover bumps, some debris, and water bars. I used my B skis. Happy to see Homestead loop groomed and tracked.
Skied Homestead and Hogback loops from Britton Peak. Homestead was the best as it seemed newly groomed and had the fewest water bars. Hogback was not so good but could be skied with great care. It had been packed but not tracked on the west end. It looked like the picnic loop was packed (not tracked) on both east and west end, but I did not ski it. Also did the Oberg loop from Oberg lot but would not recommend it as the water bars on the lower part of the trail are somewhat problematic as usual in low snow warm conditions. But overall thankful for the heroic effort of clearing and opening these trails. Thank you SBTA!

(Tim Nelson)