Enjoyed some of the classic-only trails today, including the wonderful Puumala Trails. Very good most places. Tamarack 2-track excellent. Puumala also great except vegetation exposed in open area heading out to Jasper and Cliff House loops. Wolf Tracks has serious undulations and a few bare spots so needs more snow. I used good skis and was able to skirt problem areas.

Photos:

(Sue Schroeder)

Temp at my start at 10am was -4F under blue skies. All the combination trails were groomed and track set. Classic only trails were not groomed and a couple of inches of snow on them. Ended up classic skiing River Trail, Sulos loop and most of Blueberry. Tracks were solid and level. Rare brown spot which was easily seen and avoided. Very good conditions made for a great day despite the cold temperatures!

Photos:

(Ron Fabrizius)

We received another 2-3 inches of snow since yesterday morning's grooming. It was welcome -- we groomed all the combi trails and reset tracks, except historic trail. The classic only trails were groomed yesterday and skiers enjoyed a bit of powder in the tracks today. We packed the Puumala trails today and they will be ready for grooming in the late morning tommorow. Grooming plans: We plan to regroom classic only trails in the morning and touch up skate lanes, and if it snows more than an inch or so we will do more grooming on the combi trails.

Photos:

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

A busy weekend, topped of with 4 inches of new snow Sunday! Saturday there were 285 SISU racers that stopped by to pick up racer packs and most skied afterwards. Sunday we woke up to new snow and took one of the Pisten Bullies out on "old ABR" main trails, all the classics were regroomed and are open except Puumala. Ridge Runner is open and groomed but there are five areas with exposed bedrock or thinly covered in snow, The Anderson Bluffs and River Trails Foundation had a campfire with s'mores as part of "Project Connect". The 4-H had a youth ski outing with 28 youth. 83 km are open for skiing. Grooming plans: Tomorrow we have three groomers heading out and we will check out opening the Puumala Trails.

Photos:

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

This report is only on Ridge Runner. Woke up to about 4 inches of snow and saw Ridge Runner was groomed, headed out to check some things out. Found soft conditions with a couple of thin spots and some rock showing. It is open but I recommend caution and rock skis until we get more snow.

(Ken Hazel)

Piston bully was out setting tracks this morning. Tracks on combi-trails are very good, mostly good skis skiing but some dirt here and there, so would still recommend B skis. Skate deck looked good too.

Photos:

(Will Andresen)

Popple Flats and Popple Climb, Blueberry Bluffs, Memory Lane, Jack Pine and Cherry Derry skied well. Tamarack Two Track and White Pine were groomed for skate and skied the best - really enjoyed skating both those trails. Hautanen Highlands had treacherous sections where the deck was scraped to ice on some downhill turns and was uneven in low wetland spots. River Run was good overall but looked like it had a lot of traffic and some spots were thin. I recommend rock skis because the ice made it hard to avoid debris and it was more enjoyable to ski without planning out every maneuver. Photos are of White Pine and River Run. Hope to be back for the Sisu in 2026.

Photos:

(Karen Katz)

The new snow groomed up well this morning; we groomed up 64k. We had a busy day today and many happy skiers. Grooming plans: We plan to set some or many of the classic tracks in the morning and I am planning on taking out my Pisten Bully to groom the closer combi trails with the powertiller and set tracks. Highlands and tamarack and ridge runner are not quite ready for Crasher with his smaller Pisten Bully.

Photos:

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We are skiing on 71 km of trails. Pig Heart groomed with Crasher this morning, we groomed 47 km of trails -- mainly the main combi trails and a few connectors. The skate lanes are skiing quite well. We are bypassing three of the big hills and using bypasses. The classic tracks on the side of the combi trails are now skiing decently. It is an older track with hard, well formed, sidewalls and has several inches of powder compressed from skier traffic. There are portions where we wiped out the classic track but in general 75-80% of the combi trails have decent track. A hard wax works in this condition and temperature. There are some thin areas and some areas with bare spots, mostly due to the conifers blocking snow and groomers being aggressive, but easy to ski around them. Classic trails have been skiing ok, tamarack close up and jack pine white pine are groomed flat but have decent coverage. Hemlock return, jacks flats, tamarack after. The crossover is skiing ok, sunset is rated up a notch with its hills. We closed Wolf tracks, ridge runner and puumala until we get more snow; they are a bit rough with bedrock outcroppings and are more hilly. Grooming plans: Groomers heading out in the early morning to regroom.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We have been out grooming the skate trails daily, the dustings of snow have helped maintain a skiable surface. We have not been able to set new tracks for quite a while. There are some old tracks on most of the combi trails and most of Tamarack in the back portion and hemlock. The quality of the classic track is poor to fair. We are keeping Wolf Tracks, ridge runner and puumala trails closed until we get more snow.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)