The 2" of heavy wet snow covered the debris that fell all week. That same snow made conditions rather slow. Tracks were set by skiers because it was too wet to drag. No wax skis were working well with the warm temps. Hopefully our base will hold until the next snowfall. Guy mentioned that logging operations on the Red Pine loop will be ending soon and they are hoping to get that trail groomed for skating and classic.

Photos:

(Mike Casey)

East side (Ridges Trail): Skied this morning in light touring waxable Fischer skis. Trail is in very nice shape. Well formed ruts with a little debris showing up from the wind. With the warming temperatures, make sure your wax is spot on, or consider waxless skis for the next few days. West side (Red Pine Trail): Due to ongoing logging activity, only a small portion of the trail is open for skiing. A small loop is packed in the southeast corner of the trail system. No track is set at this time. Avoid the entire north, west and far south portions of the trail system. Backcountry (Ice age trail, fire lanes, footpaths, dunes, swales and Molash Creek): Plenty of snow to go anywhere is the forest on snowshoes or back country touring skis. We showshoed a couple of miles yesterday and found deep powder that makes for slow going. Return trip on packed snow was much better. Do not try Molash Creek: It appears well frozen, but does have flow most of the winter.

(Grant Houghton)

Skied Classic Rawley Point trail. Firm well set tracks with full coverage. Hadn't been much ski traffic so tracks were in very good shape. Strong winds were bringing down pine and hemlock needles as well as some oak leaves. Very enjoyable day.Remember to leave your skating skis at home as the Red Pine trail is closed for now.

(Michael Casey)

Ridges Trail was packed and tracks set early this morning. Conditions are very good. The ridges trail has three loops totaling 7.5 miles through pine and hemlock forest.

(Guy Willman)

Six inches of new snow last night. Ridges Trail is packed and groomed for classic skiing and is in very good condition. Expect somewhat soft conditions today. Red pine trail (skate ski trail) is not groomed do to a logging operation going on now. We hope to be able to groom a portion of the trail in the next two weeks. More snow may fall this afternoon.

(Guy Willman)

Point Beach area received around 5" of fairly dense powder yesterday. We've been out twice on ungroomed fire lanes and found just enough snow to make a decent track. (We're typically skiing on metal edged, waxless back country skis.) I can't recommend them enough if you want a long season of skiing. There was sufficient ice formed in flooded woods to support walking a few days ago so I would expect it to also support back country exploring. Folks, this is a nice time to go explore other side trails, open dunes and other untracked areas of the forest. Just don't bring out your best skis yet. I'd also like to echo the Forest Supervisors comments regarding the tree thinning. We live very near to the area they are working. This is large dangerous machinery that has limited visibility. Stay clear of their work area and their transit roads. You can easily hurt yourself or skis due to heavy rutted roads and hidden debris.

(Grant Houghton)

The Red Pine Trail, our only trail that has skate skiing will not be groomed until a logging operation is completed. We anticipate in the next two weeks the logging operation will be completed to the point that we can groom a portion of the trail. The ridges trail was packed but is not in skiing condition!

(Guy Willman)