Only the stadium is open which means skiing at the base of the downhill ski area. The tubing hill is groomed and tracked which adds a nice climb. 2.5km if you go back and forth and climb the tubing hill 3 times.

(Mark Bushinski)

Beautiful conditions at Giants' Ridge today. Skate deck is firm and fast. No bare spots or ice. As always, groomed to perfection.

Photos:

(Steve Squillace)

With a 6 to 8 inch packed base, piston bully groomed trails are ready for the Pepsi Challenge Saturday.

(Todd Roswold)

Third and final day at Giant's Ridge for now. We repeated yesterday's classic ski route, up the Sarajevo chair to Nordic ski trailhead around corner from chair lift, today's temp warm, 36F at 1 pm when we began our ski. A short distance from lifts is the Hail Mary Intersection where Bronze and Summit go their separate ways. We stayed on Summit until the Wynne Creek trailhead. Skied out and back on Wynne creek trail, 2 km out and 2 km back. Then we finished going down to lodge on Summit which then connects with Northern Lights. The trails had been groomed between when we skied yesterday and today. The warmer temp was starting to soften the snow in the sunny spots, but trails still in excellent shape. Realized why so few folks were on the Nordic trails over the past three days, of course the Birkie was happening this the weekend in Wisconsin. A great three days of skiing, maybe revisit this place a couple more times before the snow goes away this winter.

Photos:

(Harlan Jones)

This is our second day at Giant's Ridge. Cloudy to start at around 2 pm, 32F air temp. We were classic skiing again today. When you purchase the Nordic ski pass at Giant's Ridge you get 2 free rides up the Sarajevo chair lift which loads in front of the chalet and ski rental building so we took a ride up and found the Nordic ski trail that connected with the Summit trail. We skied on Summit until it junctioned with the Wynne Creek trail, and we skied on Wynne Creek to where it ends and connects with Laurentian. A light coating of snow fell overnight, approx. an inch or so, and the trails were not groomed since Friday, which was not a terrible thing, with a bit of snow in the tracks, our classic skis held well to the tracks on the uphill sections. There was a snowboard competition on the ski hill today so the crowd was either alpine skiing or watching the snowboarders. I saw a few groups of skate skiers on the trail as well as one or two classic skiers, very quiet and uncrowded for a Saturday. The sun came out and we retraced our tracks on Wynne Creek trail, back to Summit and skied back down to the chalet on Summit which connects for a short distance on the Northern lights trail. My photos show the trail a bit more tracked up today vs yesterday, but the classic tracks were still in good shape and I did not see any frowns on the skate skiers as they flew by us. Another fantastic day of skiing.

Photos:

(Harlan Jones)

Arrived at Giants Ridge about 12:30pm, slight breeze blowing, temp around 21F. My wife and I started our ski around 1pm, and headed from the chalet up the hill to get onto the Summit trail which is the green trail on the trail map. We skied about 4 km on the summit trail and then turned onto the yellow Biwabik Spur trail which goes for 6km until it connects with the Oslo trail. The main section of the Oslo trail has been closed all season due to flood damage from the previous year. The Biwabik Spur joins a short section of the Oslo trail, approx. 2 km, which leads to where it connects with the Bronze trail. We both were classic skiing and had not skied all last season due to lack of snow. Once we got to Bronze it was mainly downhill the rest of the way, approx. 3 km, thankfully, because we had pretty much over done it our first day back skiing since 2023. But it was beautiful, plenty of snow, trails in pristine shape, blue skies, total silence once away from the chairlifts, only a few other folks on the trails, and minimal wind with all the tree protection. We'll be out again, if our bodies recover overnight.

Photos:

(Harlan Jones)

Beautiful conditions at Giants Ridge today. Silver, Gold, Cedar and Summit trails freshly groomed. I was skating but the classic tracks are perfect. Never better. 40K and still reluctant to leave (but my legs were screaming...).

Photos:

(Steve Squillace)

Stunning conditions (if you can embrace the cold). Freshly groomed after recent HS State Meet.

Photos:

(Steve Squillace)

The Ridge is nearly perfect right now. They finally brought the PistonBully out last week, and it made all the difference. The skate deck gets smoother, firmer, and faster with every grooming, and the classic tracks are bomb. All the main trails, Cedar, Summit, Bronze, and Gold are as good as it gets. While still good skiing, Laurentian, Wynne Creek, and Biwabik Spur are not as firm or smooth as the rest. Good luck to all the High School athletes competing at the State Meet this week!

(Tony Norland)

Fabulous conditions today. Parts of the Gold and Cedar Trails are double-tracked for classic races, otherwise single. I was skating but the tracks were deep and firm. Silver trail was freshly groomed (skate only).

Photos:

(Steve Squillace)