We had 61 km of the 95 km skiable today, We are working on grooming and brushing the other 30+ k after our 50 year "Epic Ice Storm" last week. We had a good brush cutting crew today. 5 of us worked 4 hours clearing Deer Trail, Blue Berry Cold Feet, Meadow Ridge and back. Skiing was very good. Friday, we are clearing the end of Blueberry, Bards, and Rascals on the combination trails. We have a two person crew grooming tracksetting and clearing Sunset, Wolf tracks, Puumala and Otter Slide. We are grooming all the skate lanes on the combi trails except dog trails and Pelty and the back/North end of Memory. Crews are working 6-8 AM and then 8:15 to 11 ish cutting brush from the ice storm. Discount Season Passes are on sale until April 1. Saturday we plan to take both Pisten Bullies out early morning and groom most of the combi trails. 80 k are looking good for the weekend.

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(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

The only time I skied on these trails was the SISU 10 years ago so I never paid attention to what trails I was on. I had a very hard time finding my way around. The maps are worn out, hard to read without glasses (and who brings reading glasses skiing!), and I could find no arrows saying "you are here". There is a lot of snow in the woods and the grooming was good but not that many trails were open, and what was open was pretty much flat.

(David Statz)

Wonderful skiing at Active Backwoods Retreat. Ski-skated The River, Cherry Dairy, Sulo's, and parts of Memory Lane and Blueberry Bluffs. Trees coated with ice and snow and weighing limbs down. Winter wonderland. Some tree debris falling down from melting ice on trail, but not at all bothersome to ski around. Skate deck excellent, not icy at all.

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(Ken Kuznia)

We had a great morning of trimming iced branches. Six of us grouped into three teams of two. It was fun to see the beauty of the ice covered branches in the sun... but they need to be cut for our trail system to be open for skiing. I am very thankful to our grooming crew to coming in to help this morning. Wully Bully groomed 12 km of skating after we completed our brushing. Grooming plans: I am heading out to groom about 20-30 km in the early morning with the bigger PB.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Wow just, wow! Best fast and skiable tracks I've seen in years and I've been skiing a lot of years.

(Dennis Isely)

Over 30k groomed up beautifully even after our rain turned to ice. Eric and crew did it again, fantastic skiing out there!

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(Will Andresen)

We had a full crew of 6 out this early morning getting the combination trails in order. The new 4 inches of snow groomed up well. We had many branches to cut and pick up from the Saturday "Epic Ice Storm". There are still a few branches here and there that need attention, but we were able to groom 36 km of combination trails with both Pisten Bullies. Grooming plans: We will be back out in the morning with a full crew working on them again and on the single Track Trails.

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(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

I am used to typing "great skiing.... groomed....". Tonight I am posting groomers called in "I can not get out of my driveway! It is pure ice.." Never heard that before and never experienced a day like today. After living here for 52 years off and on, I have never seen an ice storm here like today. With all the Kings Knights and one of the Kings Men we could not put Humpty together today. However we broke out 32 pair of snow shoes we sent potential skiers down the ski trails with snowshoes. Lodging guests and tourists seemed happy. We made Lemonade from the Lemons! Grooming plans: Sunday early morning we have the full crew of groomers, sanders, plowers coming in to make for the best possible skiing. Our trail base is 12-18 inches, we should have plenty of snow to make March 20th.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We received some rain this morning and the roads, parking areas and trails are currently very icy. Skiing is not recommended today except for expert skiers on flat trails. We plan to regroom Sunday early morning.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Crasher and Pig Heart ran both Pisten Bullies for a full shift this morning. All trails except Pelty and Rudy's have been groomed in the last two days. Skiing is awesome. Warmer temps, sun and great snow. Forecast is calling for snow early Saturday morning changing to a wintry mix and then to rain in the afternoon. Our grooming plans are to let the snow absorb the rain and regroom Sunday morning. We believe this will provide the best skiing for Saturday and Sunday. We may groom some of the flatter trails Saturday AM depending on what happens tonight and early morning. Ski Shop sale started today 20-30% off many items, Season Passes on sale at discount rates $125 and $145 (jr/sr and adult). Newbie pass at $100 good for all of the rest of this season and all of next season. We do plan to close March 20th Sunday at 4 PM.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)