We fought through the drooping and downed trees and managed to get a little over 10 km of trail open for both skate and classic skiers. We touched up the skate lanes and set a few more tracks this morning. The trails are in good shape. However there are several frozen slushy areas and still some sticks left. Come out and enjoy them while it lasts.

(Robin Stafford)

Like many another great trail in the Northern Highland, this trail is close to water. Sometimes this causes problems but with fresh snow and good cold, the Northwood Golf Course trail is fully open and in excellent condition. The vista at the top of a long descent, on the "Out-Back" trail, is well worth a look. The groomers have managed to squeeze both classic and skate areas into a narrow corridor and it's proximity to highway 8 makes it an easy and beautiful way to get in some serious k's!

(Bob Nussbaum)

Trails were in great shape with the exception of a couple dirty areas. Judy's vista is quite skiable, usually the swamp section of this trail requires a bit more snow than the rest of the trails here. Wide, flat skate lanes and good classic tracks throughout.

Photos:

(Levi Smith)

Northwoods was groomed this week after 1-2" of new fluffy snow. The skate deck is in decent shape and has gotten much firmer over the past week. There are still a decent number of bare spots/dirty snow spots to side step, most of it is leaves and dirt rather than rocks however. Classic tracks were set on most trail segments and are a bit of a mixed bag. There are sections with really nice tracks, but also long sections with dirt and debris. Didn't ski Judy's vista, but would expect that trail is still in rough shape due to lack of snow on some portions of that trail.

(Eli Anoszko)

Skied in the evening with the Wed night ski group. Northwoods was groomed and tracked earlier in the day with an additional inch or so of fluffy snow falling after the grooming. Tracks are a bit shallow and there is some debris here and there. Mostly it is just grass and oak leaves to avoid, but there are a few places with some dirt and the occasional rock in the track. Judy's Vista and the short cut trail were rolled but not groomed. The skate deck is starting to level out, but still uneven in spots. Overall much improved from last week.

(Eli Anoszko)

Still rock ski conditions, but better than earlier this week. Rhinelander picked up an additional 1" of snow and Northwoods was regroomed. It's still lumpy in spots and a few areas of dirt and debris to dodge. While the base is getting firmer, a strong skate push in the wrong spot might mean hitting a cart path. Hopefully things will firm up even more with cold temps; doesn't appear that the warm temps on Friday did anything to the snow, still very crystalline and new snow like.

(Eli Anoszko)

Trails were rolled and groomed on Monday per Northwoods Nordic website, which also recommended avoiding Judy's vista due to unsafe conditions. I skied the outer loop, Cooks Run and Out and Back. Conditions were variable with some segments in good shape and others quite rough. Definitely rock ski conditions, base is thin with dirt and debris to hop around. Base is also soft and lumpy bumpy, only a single pass was made on most trails with the groomer although trails were rolled across the full width of the trail. Really could use some more snow, but it sure beats not skiing.

(Eli Anoszko)