Trail Detail

Rochester, MN
12K
Skating/Classic
No
Yes
1 Primary 1 45th St Lot
(507) 328-2525
[ NWS ]
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Notes

Trails mostly through fairly open terrain, with both flat and challenging areas. There is a 3.7K man-made snow loop, groomed and track by a PistenBully, and a large parking lot, but no chalet. There is a second lot off 45th St.

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Trail Reports

Reports 45 to 53 of 53    Month: Feb | Jan | Dec
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Morning
Firsthand: Freestyle 
[ Trails Open: Most, Bare ground ]
Skied The Pipe, Meander, and machine made snow on Rattler. Required quick avoidance skills to miss grass and dirt on the natural snow trails. This is probably the end of the natural trails for now. The City has not tilled the machine made snow for a few days now so it is a big sheet of ice, and thus not great to ski.
FYI: The main entrance to the park is on 50th St SE; rough address is 1301, (upper lot), not the old, lower lot off of 45th street. Neither Google or Apple Maps seems to be able to find the main entrance, which seems to cause a lot of confusion for skiers and shedders. Plus, some get sent to Gamehaven Scout Reservation, which has no grooming or sledding. Best to just look for 50th St SE off of St. Bridget RD SE.
(Jim Bennett)
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Afternoon
Observation 
[ Trails Open: Partial ]
The only areas with adequate snow and grooming are the base of the sled hill and the sled hill itself. (Lots of kids having fun on the sled hill, which is great!) Snow makers sit dormant despite perfect snowmaking weather. Other trails in the lower end of the park appear to have adequate snow, but no effort to groom. This is really disappointing.
(David Sas)
Friday, December 20, 2024
Morning
Firsthand: Freestyle 
[ Trails Open: Most, B skis ]
The Pipe, Meander, and the .7 km section of machine made snow on Rattler are groomed for freestyle. There are a few thin spots but quite good skiing overall. Hammer and lower Rattler are not groomed, total groomed is about 7 km. If you want to avoid going up and down Storebakken (Norwegian for The Big Hill) use the upper parking lot, not the lower.
Photos:
(Jim Bennett)
Friday, December 20, 2024
Morning
Firsthand: Classic 
[ B skis ]
Freshly groomed this morning, great skiing for the snow we have! Snowmaking was happening in the lower area. Skied the upper area and there are some areas with grass coming through. Not deep enough for classic tracks. Hopefully this snow stays!
Photos:
(Jennifer Dens Higano)
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Morning
Firsthand: Freestyle Secondhand 
[ Trails Open: Partial, Good skis ]
The machine-made snow trail was tilled and combed this morning, but there was a couple of inches of new snow on top so it was hard to tell. Currently 0.7Km of the Rattler trail has machine made snow (out and back) though there is another section to the right from the bottom of the sledding hill that makes the total out and back ski almost exactly 1 Km. Watch out for the water hose crossing the trail in that section. Grooming plans: Plan is to groom again tomorrow morning.
(Jim Bennett)
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Morning
Observation 
Stopped at GH to see the snowmaking progress. The good news: snow was being spread at the bottom of the big by the piston bully at 8:30 am. The bad news: both snow guns were sitting idle, temp 28F.
Photos:
(Stephen Broski)
Friday, December 13, 2024
Morning
Observation 
[ Trails: Closed ]
Snow now covers the Rattler hill by the lot and snowmaking appears to have been moved down to the lower section. Looks to be a while before the trails could be open.
Photos:
(Lars Carlson)
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Morning
Observation 
[ Trails: Closed ]
Snowmaking has started, covering the hill east of the trailhead and looks like now they are working on the lower section. Hopefully the Park and Rec or the groomers will be able to provide an update on projected opening date.
Photos:
(Ian Chang)
Sunday, December 1, 2024
Morning
Observation 
[ Trails: Closed ]
The second largest metro in Minnesota unfortunately remains far behind on snowmaking. Took my excited junior skier to check the trail this morning. The snow guns are in place, but not active. There may be trace evidence of test snowmaking on the grass, but no progress.
Photos:
(Ian Chang)

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