Skied from Oberg lot out Picnic trail, but followed the fresh rolled powder on the connector from N to P, then return to the full Onion River back. Groomer was out rolling the ~3" of powder that fell yesterday (thanks sir!). The deck was soft, slow, and smoother than velvet! So much nicer than over near Britton Peak area. I'll be back, should set up super well tomorrow.

Photos:

(Michael Kosloski)

Skied from Britton Peak to Oberg via Picnic and back on connector and lower Homestead. Picnic and connector (L to J) were good corduroy and just a bit of debris and stubble. Hogback, lower Homestead, and the trails near Britton had an inch or two of powder and were quite bumpy/unlevel with some annoying stubble. It was difficult to skate naturally on those sections. Snow was very slow everywhere. Recommend starting at Oberg lot for best trail conditions.

(Michael Kosloski)

Skied from Oberg trailhead. Onion River Road and all of the western part of Oberg loop other than the hill from M to X had been freshly groomed. Other trails that had not been re-groomed were still nice--a light coating of snow on top of the well-groomed base. The classic tracks are in great shape with the except of a few short segments with some dirt poking through, which are easy enough to stride around. The skate lane looked great. I did notice that the gate at X for the eastern part of the Oberg loop was closed.

(Erik Larson)

Skied from Oberg trailhead up the road, over to the Picnic ridge and back on Hogback, Homestead, and the connector. New snow from Saturday night of 1.5 to 2" blanketed the trail and made for smooth skating. Only one other skater was out made it to the high point and turned around so I had virgin snow for the second half of the picnic trail. It was sweet. No dirt, no scary undulations, no stubble on the ridge. Hogback was a bit rolly and the downhill was exciting. Homestead was a bit torn up by a fat bike or two which was quite disappointing to see as this is supposed to be ski only trail and is signed that way. But coverage was good and the trail was smoother than I expected. The connector new snow was less and there was stubble and debris but no dirt. When I got back to Oberg there was evidence that the groomer was out working his magic.

(Tim Nelson)

The Sugarbush website (from Jan 1st) says "Fair" for Onion River Road, but I thought it was good (skied to the end). Tracks were mostly intact. Skate lane had solid coverage, looked pretty smooth. I skied a bit of L to M, and the track wasn't great near the parking lot but got better toward M. (Sorry no photos, was keeping fingers warm.)

(Anne Flueckiger)

Skied the Moose fence loops and then the connector to the Picnic Ridge trail back to Britton Peak lot. About an inch of new snow on top of solid tracks for Moose Fence, Connector, and Picnic Ridge. The Moose Fence access trail was fine as was the upland loop. Good coverage, smooth, very little stubble. Maple Loop was smooth but stubble was an issue. The connector and Picnic Loop were great. Hogback and the Britton peak were not tracked and were not smooth. Great day in the snow.

(Tim Nelson)

Classic skied the Onion River Road up and back to the Oberg trail, then did the Oberg trail back to the parking lot. Onion River Road was the old reliable. Good tracks, pole plants on right side were soft in places, inhibiting double pole capability but the glide was good in spite of the cold. Way down was fun as always. Oberg trail was rolled, and skier tracked. First half was fine but the downhill was very bumpy and required zigzagging to avoid some ice and bigger holes. After the downhill, it smoothed out. Skating looked slow in the cold on the road and would have hard on the rolled surface of the Oberg loop.

(Tim Nelson)

The groomers have done a great job with the amount of snow that we have so far. Given the varied terrain and locations, there is some variation in overall quality--best quality trail is along Picnic Ridge (N to O--although I only went from N to the second snowmobile trail crossing). A bit more specific detail about specific segments:
I started at the Moose Fence trailhead. There was quite a bit of scrubby ground shrub poking through, at times necessitating striding in the skate lane, particularly in the lower Maple Loop (S to P)--I did not ski the upper part (S to Q to P). The connector from the Moose Fence Trails to the Picnic Loop was mixed. Up until the Six Mile Creek crossing, it was similar with a lot of poking through. After the creek, the snow cover seemed better (although there is one notable exception at a low spot that has not completely frozen over and filled in--there is coverage on about 1/4 of the width of the trail; it might be a bit more difficult coming from the other direction as the low spot is on a down slope).
After crossing the snowmobile trail heading to N, conditions were very good. From N toward O (at least as far as the second snowmobile crossing), conditions were fantastic with one exception of a low spot at the bottom of a hill that necessitates stepping out of the classical track). The classical track, although a little shallower than prime season, was well formed. It was also surprisingly fast. I really appreciated the quality grooming that has a reasonable space of packed trail on the outside of the track (allowing for some correction if need be on some of the down slopes).
From N to the Oberg trailhead (via Onion River Road), there was a bit more scrub poking through (and the snow was faster than I had expected). Thanks again to the groomers!

(Erik Larson)

Skated the Onion River Road at dusk and later. Skate deck is soft even though there is only 4-5 inches of snow and it had been skied a lot since Friday nite. A little slow on the way up and poles were hitting the frozen road underneath. I double poled down in the classic tracks which were excellent and double poling down fast in the dark was a blast.

(Tim Nelson)

I classic skied the Onion River Road today at 4 pm. Solid tracks on both sides, no rocks or gravel but poles were hitting gravel in a few places. Skate deck looked OK but had an inch or so of powder on top with only a few tracks in it. I could not see in the dusk conditions whether it was OK for good skis but I assume it was. Snow was slow as it was around 5 degrees when I was skiing. It was great to be on natural snow after a week of man-made short loops in the cities. Other trails that I could see had been rolled but not yet skied. The natural snow season has begun again!

(Tim Nelson)