We received 10-12 inches of snow last night and this morning. Both Pisten Bullies were out on combi trails and two snowmobiles on single tracks... back to winter winter wonderland conditions. We groomed all 101 km of ski trails. The same crew is heading back out in the morning to regroom.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

It almost goes with out saying that skiing at ABR is excellent. I was there with the Northstar Ski Touring Club on both Saturday and Sunday. I skated in the morning and did classic in the afternoon on Saturday and just the opposite on Sunday. Although classic was getting a little icy on Saturday afternoon, a dusting of fresh snow overnight, cooler temps and new grooming fixed the problem on Sunday. ABR never fails to please! Thanks to Eric and Angela for their years of hard work building ABR into a premier ski destination! If you go, don't forget to slow down enough on Otter Slide to find out the reason for the trail's name. You can see the same on the Tamarack Two Way trail as well!

(Lois C Braun)

The trails were very good today! The new snow groomed up well. The Pisten Bullies don't have a problem with the mixing in the new snow and the old snow. Saturday we plan to have Wide Track or Partner regroom Hemlock, Jack Pine, White Pine single tracks and Crasher Pisten Bully groom Blueberry to the Highlands and Ridge Runner. Pig Heart will Pisten Bully the other trails on the north end. Recreational skiers have been very pleased with conditions.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Four inches of snow yesterday and another two inches today! We had a full crew of groomers in this morning. Crasher ran a Pisten Bully on some of the flatter trails and did a great job of mixing up the new 4 inches of new snow with the old snow. The rest of used lighter equipment to regroom the rest of the trail system. The classic tracks set were OK, not perfect like we are used to, but after the two inches of snow after 9 AM it seemed fine. Skating was highly rated even this afternoon with 1-2 inches of fluff on top of the groomed surface. We groomed 95 km this morning. Grooming plans: We will back out with a groomer team of four again early morning and will have at least one Pisten Bully out, maybe both depending on conditions. I expect excellent mid winter ski conditions for the weekend. Beginner recreational skiers will be happy thanks to the new 6 inches of snow.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Just coming in from grooming with Snow Cross. We groomed up 20-25 km this morning including setting new tracks. The new 3 inches of snow changed us back to mid winter conditions. Grooming plans: Full crew scheduled to groom in the early morning.

Photos:

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Wow! What a difference 24 hour can make! At 8 am today the rain stopped and the snow started. A total of 4 inches fell. Groomers were able to groom the combi trails. Single track classic trails were skied in by skiers. Additional snow fell after grooming, but no one was complaining. It was a beautiful day at ABR!

Photos:

(Ron Fabrizius)

Arrived at trails at 9am. Only the skate deck had been groomed on all combi trails due to the impending rain. Classic tracks were fast and a little icy, but it was easy enough to jump out of tracks onto groomed skate deck to reduce speed, if needed. Ended up going a lot of double poling while in tracks. Overall a very enjoyable ski. Many thanks to groomers for their hard work!

(Ron Fabrizius)

Fantastic conditions in the morning at ABR: fast reconditioned snow with corduroy offering nice edging everywhere. The classic tracks were solid and very fast, but I was only on skating trails. Around 11:30 the air temp finally started affecting the snow, making it softer and slower, but still very skiable and enjoyable.

(Charlie Dee)

I had fun grooming with wully bully this morning. We hit all the skate lanes except Ridge Runner and Peltonen. The skate lanes groomed up well. The track set by the Pisten Bully three days ago was still firm and well formed but a bit glazed. The classic tracks on the single tracks was hit and miss and was more glazed, borderline icy. The shaded trails are better than the sunny trails for glazing. Classic tracks became more skiable about 11 am skating was great until about 2 pm and it started to slow way down. Two of us plan to groom with light equipment in the morning and I expect the same ski conditions for Tuesday. Tuesday night looks like rain and changing to snow Wednesday morning....grooming will be interesting. I will keep the reports updated but I do not see any major issues other than Wednesday morning skiing may be tricky until we get the grooming going...timing and temperature is everything.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

With the weather we've been having and the Birkie so close today I needed to ski at an area with the sure thing, beautiful, fun, and inspirational. This ski was it! Classic skied that same 40 km Birkie trainer of trails the morning, with double Highlands. Conditions were so good. I'd say better than Thanksgiving dinner. Snow was just softening from icy. Tracks were solid: kick was good, but you didn't need it for anything but some hillclimbs, glide was like butter on a hot biscuit- so fast, downhills in the tracks was super fast and reliably groomed. Skate deck was firm, with soften give from the rising temperatures. The fastest I have ever ski that 40 km. I'm enormously thankful for this grooming team! Wow.

Photos:

(Kevin Grand)