Skate-skied River, Memory Lane, Popple Flats, and Pit Point combo trails. Used my good skate skis on the wider combo trails. Good snow coverage. Good skiing where it was rolled with fresh corduroy. Getting warm and slow at end of ski with temps in upper 30s.

Photos:

(Ken Kuznia)

Classic skied Wolf Tracks, Otter Slide, Tamarack Two Track, Bard's Bump, and part of Sunrise. New snow from a couple days ago and grooming/tracking thereafter helped make trails much more skiable. There are many tracks that are good skis worthy, but there are some tracks that are still thin like under pine trees or some single track, so I would use B skis for classic.

Photos:

(Ken Kuznia)

Just a few flakes of new snow today, however with the temps and humidity, skiing was rated very favorably. I plan to do some touch up grooming in the early morning and maybe a bit of shoveling on the Highlands exit hill. Lots of kilometers open for skiing, most is quite good. A few disappointed customers this week bringing coolers in the ski shop. The lunchroom is not open, the heated change room building is open (please check our web site for COVID plans for more details). Sorry if we are erroring on the conservative side with our COVID rules. You need a face mask to enter our ski shop, three people at a time. You need a mask to enter the rental shop, three people at a time. The heated wax room is closed but there is a wax bench in the unheated barn with porta potties and cabin supplies. Drinking water faucet is on the wax barn labeled with reflective sign. If you have a season pass or the driveway ticket booth is open, stay in your car and drive by at the drive thru. Purchase your ticket, show your multi day pass or season pass and go enjoy 85-95 km of trails!

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

The new snow groomed up well this morning. We groomed all 95 km and have 87 km open for skiing. We were able to set new tracks on all trails except we elected to not set classic track on the combo Highlands Trails until we finish shoveling in the exit hill and we did not set track on Darla’s Diversion. There are a few spots here and there where the groomer brought up some leaves or grass (under the conifers) but skiers were quite happy with the conditions. We are open 9-4 in the ski shop Christmas day and New Years day; ski trails open 9-dark every day. A few cancellations on Rustics and Houses rentals. For the busy Holidays, check our website or call for dates.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Four inches of snow made a huge difference. Not 100% sure all trails are open. But the snow filled in low and bumpy areas and covered nearly all of the fallen debris. Good skis are very do-able. Tracks appear to be a bit wind-blown on hilltops and bumps. Skied on Tuesday, photo is from Wednesday morning.

Photos:

(Will Andresen)

Great grooming today with fresh snow. We did pick up about 4-5 inches and it is still snowing. Four roomers were out from 8 AM when it started snowing until 2 pm. The new snow has really made skiing back to great conditions. The offer is still open for skiers to shovel in the exit hill, it is thin. Recreational skiers will be happy. Grooming plans: We are planning on opening the Highlands up in the morning. I hope to have 80 km open for skiing tomorrow, 95 km for the weekend.

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(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

It was pretty good, much better than Saturday. The 3" they got Saturday night made a difference. It was a beautiful day out there. There were a few bare spots. One had some gravel that caught my wife's ski and stopped it cold. She went down. Another grass spot caught mine and sent me sprawling. As long as you are careful, it is definitely worthwhile.

(Stephen Smith)

We had a groomer team of three this morning at 6 AM. I was lucky enough to be included. Wully Bully and Honey Badger took care of Blueberry and Bards and to the south and then the Highlands. Pig Heart took care of the old ABR. We concentrated on texturizing the skate lanes and shoveling thin areas and picking sticks (no new classic tracks today). We all met up on Turkey Hill and the Highlands exit hill and shoveled for an hour to beef up the base to get it skiable -- this is the weak link for 20 km of great trails on the southlands. We left a snow rake and a shovel for any “overly” ambitious skiers to enhance the snow cover with moving additional future snowfall on to the trails. Due to the usage and hills these two hills make the Highlands bottle neck and they are closed now for that reason. Wully Bully and Honey Badger cut in and shoveled in a connector for the #2 River Trail bypass. This by-pass is very similar to Pit Point by-pass it bypasses the steep climb descent on River Trail “High Rock” the scenic overlook to Wisconsin. It is a better by-pass for those that want the mild terrain from River Trail by-pass #1 by Sulos. to by-pass #2 and the steep climb descent is avoided using Tamarack 2 track backwards for a short distance. Ski trails groomed up ok but there still are many thin areas where you can damage a good ski if you are not careful. We are getting steady skier use and we are trying to keep up on weak areas with shoveling and daily grooming. Best classic skiing is on the “Trees” Tamarack Hemlock and parts of Jack Pine and White Pine and all the combo trails. Grooming plans: With snow in the forecast, a full groomer team coming is in. We are excited for any new snow!

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

We had a great morning of grooming: just three of us out on lighter equipment, but we groomed 72 km in an early morning 3 hour shift. Yesterday's snow groomed up quite well and conditions were much better today from yesterday. "Widetrack" set some pretty good classic tracks on Tamarack 2 track, we left the other tracks alone since the two day old tracks were firm with a few washouts; the new snow skied in well and covered some thin areas under the conifers. We groomed the Highlands and the black diamonds but we kept them ribboned off and closed until we get more snow to make them safe. It won't take much new snow to reopen that 40 km, but meanwhile we are enjoying 55 k of trails. We just completed the new map draft and it should be online soon.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Skated a good portion of the trails today, the lake effect yesterday evening seemed to have freshened up the skate deck in most places, it was certainly better than the classic tracks yesterday. Some places were becoming boilerplate by the end of the day, and there are icy spots, but overall not bad. I used rock skis and hit a few things that I didn't see coming on some of the steeper climbs, but would have used B skis if I had them with me, and been a little more careful.

Photos:

(Paul Belknap)