Late afternoon skiing after a warm day will always present some challenges, but O'Brien is now in even rougher shape because of a snowmobile or some other type of vehicle drove down the center of the skating lane leaving ruts, tread marks, and churned up snow in its wake. A familiar and fairly simple downhill was made dangerous because of these ruts. Icy hills normally are not a problem for me, but I didn't want to risk injury by tackling the big ones on the outer perimeter. The classic tracks looked pretty nice, but the skating lane is in tough shape. Use caution!

(Michael Jorgensen)

Most of the system has been groomed and is in great shape. The two loops before the railroad crossing were rolled but not groomed for either classic or skating. Great snow, postcard day. Not sure why the best hills in the park were not groomed but it was nice to be out.

(Jim Smith)

Fair for skating; very good for classic. Brilliant sunshine and 28-29 degrees. Woodland and Wetland had been packed and groomed for classic. Other trails were neither. I used FastWax Salmon LF for skating; Swix Blue Extra for classic. The groomer had only made one pass. Hopefully will regroom for Saturday. I only skated Wetland because it was too soft. Switched to my combi's after crayoning on Blue Extra. Initially I was afraid the wax was too cold but it ended up giving good kick and glide. Machine-made track was generally perfect. At least it felt fast to me. After going across the marsh on the return on Wetland, it looked like the machine-made track quit so I continued to Beaver Lodge, which only had a skier- made track but once I got back on Wetland the machine-made track reappeared. It was good classic skiing for a regular skater like me.

(Keith Carlson)

All of the trails had been rolled and about half of the trails had then been groomed with track set. the outside hilly loops had only been rolled. WOB got about 6" of new snow. The best skiing looked to be in the classic tracks. Very soft on the skating deck.

(Dan Murphy)

William O'brien was incredible today! Got on the trails around one and freshly groomed skate deck! Looked like only one other person out before me. Little to no ice, smooth sailing throughout the entire park! Incredible! Classic tracks looked to be in decent condition. A few spots washed out but solid and formed enough. And a few classic skier's rolling through about that time as well. Again, wonderful job to the WOB groomers! So nice to have so much acreage to play in with beautifully groomed snow!

Photos:

(Liz Westerhaus)

Classic tracks had not been reset but on most of the inner loop they were in very good shape. Little bit sloppy in the usual spots. Snow was fast and no debris. Did first hilly loop and decided not to try the others as a fall on that snow would have hurt. Skate lane looked in excellent shape. It had been regroomed. Fun ski.

(Mike Chrun)

Skied several loops in the early afternoon with temps rising above freezing. Trails were somewhat icy and crusty. Portions of the trail had significant leaf litter. Still very skiable and decent conditions.

(Whitney Clark)

I had not been to WOB in a number of years, based on a previous report I headed there rather than drive to Wisconsin. What a nice surprise. Trail was 100% covered, and only had a couple crunchy spots, I wouldn't call them icy. Skated all of the trails, and only a couple connector trails were not touched up on Friday. If we get some snow, it will only make WOB, that much better.

(Bruce Fiedler)

Got on WOB trails around 11am. Looked like groomers had just been through. Plenty to work with still as groomers seemed to be able to kick up enough to create a fast but safe skate deck. (Snow was "crumbly" -- not sure if there's a correct term for that; refer to images,) but forgot to wax and was able to skate along pretty quickly and have plenty of an edge to push off of. Another beautiful day at WOB and continuous thanks to the WOB for staying on top of the trails. Skied the main loop (didn't do any of the outside hilly loops,) and skiing was fantastic!

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(Elizabeth Westerhaus)

Skied the outside loops at O'Brien late this morning. Skate deck was excellent, though a little rutted from other skiers since the last grooming. Tracks were full depth and clean except for the occasional oak leaf. Snow was beginning to soften and transform as I finished a little after noon. No bare spots at all on the groomed surface, though a few south-facing spots on the trail edges under evergreens are thin or already bare.

Photos:

(Tim Power)