Razorback received another 6+ inches yesterday and last night. I've been rolling the trails since early this morning and got all the trails packed except Mary's and Long Rider. With the sun out and temps in the mid-30s the snow has gotten too sticky to do anymore today. Grooming plans: With more snow forecast, we will resume grooming once it starts clearing out.

Photos:

(Robert Polic)

Another day, another bunch of grooming. Robert did all the trails we are using for skate during our opposites week. I talked to one skier who did most of the loops and said they were very good to excellent. I groomed and tracked all but Long Rider and Bruce's Roundabout on the side we are grooming for classic only this week. Nice deep track. I talked to another skier who said he had no problem with pole plants sinking. Tracks were deep and fairly firm. Should be even more so by tomorrow morning. Grooming plans: I will be back out in the morning to finish up the rest of our classic grooming.

(Will Maines)

Moved a gazillion tons of snow today. Dragged all loops, both skate and classic. Quite soft as you would expect with roughly 10-12 inches of new powder snow. Grooming plans: Tomorrow morning Robert Polich will do the finish grooming on the skate trails. When he is done I will do the same on the classic side and set track. Remember, this is week two of Opposites grooming. All loops on the skate side are groomed classic until next week, while all classic loops will be groomed for skate only. Come on out and enjoy "the other side.".

(Will Maines)

Razorback picked up 4-5" of fresh snow overnight. I groomed all the classic loops for skating (it's still Opposite Weeks) and Will is heading out to groom and set track on the skate loops. The fresh snow did a nice job of hiding all the tree debris that's been accumulating.

Photos:

(Robert Polic)

My wife skated and I skied the opposite week classic trails. Very different experiences. My wife loved the fast trails, while I loathed the very shallow tracks. These are difficult grooming conditions for setting track. I appreciate the hard work to make it skiable! But we need snow to rebound the tracks, especially on trails where tilling isn't an option.

(Mike Odberg)

This is opposites week at Razorback Ridges. After the rain and thaw we've been out the last two days grooming all classic trails for skate only and all usual skate trails for classic only. I talked to a couple skiers while out in the groomer this morning and they were very happy with the skate conditions. It was tougher trying to set decent tracks in a rock hard base. After several passes I have set halfway decent tracks on Will's Crossing, Ridge Trail and Roller Coaster. I would rate some of the tracks as good, many as shallow and some pieces as very shallow. Without a tiller on the Ginzu it was the best I could manage. I did not groom Long Rider, Mary's Frolic and Bruce's Roundabout. They have some long, fast hills with sharp curves, and I want to personally check them out on skis this afternoon before I would consider them safe enough to groom and track. Maybe I'm a little over cautious, but I would rather err on the side of caution than have a skier suffer a serious injury on an icy trail.

(Will Maines)

We got our machine back late morning from replacing a broken axle and groomed all the skate loops this afternoon. Starting today and for the next couple weeks it's Opposite Week(s?) at Razorback. That means what's traditionally groomed for classic is now being groomed for skate and what was traditionally skate will be groomed classic. Ski the better side of Razorback! Due to making multiple passes to widen the classic trails for skating, the outer edges will be a little soft and there may be some unevenness - this will be smoothed out next grooming. Grooming plans: Will will be grooming and tracking the traditionally skate trails tonight or tomorrow.

Photos:

(Robert Polic)

As of today, Razorback trails are open, but I would personally consider them closed and strongly urge skiers to stay off them. They have not been groomed since last weekend. They are now extremely icy and in very poor condition. It would be dangerous to attempt several of the steeper, faster hills with curves at the bottom. Resumption of grooming will depend on the weather in coming days.

(Will Maines)

Skied long rider and mary's frolic which were ungroomed but very skiable with a one inch layer of snow on top of a firm base. Roller coaster and wills crossing were fully groomed and in excellent condition. Overall great skating conditions, very fun. Classic tracks looked good but didn't spend any time in them.

(David Schauer)

Good news and bad news. The good news is that all trails were groomed on Friday. I groomed and tracked all classic loops which did much to clean up litter. Talking to skiers on the trail after I groomed the word was that tracks were deep set and super good. Justin groomed skate trails Friday night and had them in good shape until disaster struck. The bad news is that a rear axle broke about one mile from finishing the job. He limped in on three tracks but had to drop the Ginzu about 1k out from the ski building. While most everything was fine, that final k has some stretches of track wiped out entirely or in part. Rubber track marks mar the skate side in that stretch, but talking today with a couple skiers it is still tolerable. Still awaiting word on when our John Deere dealer can get the parts and repair the axle. Also bad news, because we cannot groom until repairs are made, we are forced to cancel our opposites day grooming which would have seen all skate loops groomed classic and all classic loops groomed skate for the next two weeks. I'll post when we are back in grooming business.

(Will Maines)