Pig Heart and Snowcross were out this early morning doing touch up grooming and shoveling in on on some of the low spots that were icy. We put up a few signs, clipped some brush and had a great morning watching the sunrise on pit point. The trails are holding up well and skiing great. The PistenBully groomed combination trails are very level and flat and have rock solid classic tracks with good pole plants. The narrow, classic only have a few thin areas under the pines and pole plants are softer. We are open with about 51 km of trails for the weekend. Pig Heart and Wide Track are heading out Thanksgiving early morning. Full groom crew of 4 for Friday morning. Thanksgiving we are open at 9 am as always but we will close the ski shop and chalet early at 3 pm and the trails an hour early at 4 pm so we can have Thanksgiving dinner with family. Please respect being off the trails at 4 pm so we can do that. Happy Thanksgiving!

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Just coming in from checking the trails. The trails are holding up well and the cold night temps have been freezing down the base. Grooming plans: Looks we will be touch up grooming on the skate lanes early in the morning. A few days above freezing during the day may make it tricky for waxing the classics during the afternoon but should not melt much snow on the trail; skiing should remain very good for the next week. We are open every day until late March. Trails open at 9 AM.

(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

What a fun day of packing and grooming more trails today. We hit the dog trails and then off to Woodward trails for the SISU. We did a bit of trail touch up and the trails are looking pretty good wet spots are frozen in the lowlands, and hills seem well covered. The 27 inches of snow helped smooth out the trail because we could run the PB for 2-3 groom cycles. I see warm temps forecast but with the firm base and nighttime temps freezing, I do not expect any issues with providing good quality ski conditions on 40-50 km of the trail system. If you did not notice, I am not the youngest groomer anymore! The two new guys still don't add up to my age but are doing great. Grooming plans: We are heading out to the south to pack more trails in the early morning.

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(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Epic early season conditions. Skied about 28 km this morning. Conditions are consistent and fabulous on the 30 km of trails open. Tracks are firm yet giving and grippy. Skate deck is firm with some give as well. Hill climbs were excellent, only icy on a few sections of blueberry bluffs that I noticed. I'm in awe. November 21st and these conditions are awesome! Thank you groomers! I'll be back tomorrow and Wednesday.

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(Kevin Grand)

I was in such a hurry to get to ABR today I forgot my ski boots. Thanks to Eric I was able to get another pair and had the best skiing I have had at ABR before Thanksgiving. Except for a few icy spots in low sections of the trail the conditions, snow and temps(27 F) were close to perfect. It seemed more like early March then late November.

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(Gene Karwoski)

Mid winter conditions. Race skis suitable for 95 percent of the open trails. The only thin areas are where there was recent open water.

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(Luke Wyzlic)

I cannot say how fun it was to see all our skier friends on the trail and in the ski cabin. I got an earlier start this morning with the larger Pisten Bully and groomed up a few k before 6 AM when the crew came in. The cold temps last night (single digits) froze up many of the wet spots. I was able to widen and blade in snow in the low areas. I groomed basically all of old ABR combo trails with the PB again today. The rest of the grooming crew focused on the classics and tracked most of them. After coffee break we went back out as a team of four and packed the Highlands, which are closed. Lots of great comments on the new White Pine Classic loop and the new Popple Flats mods and Popple Climb and the revised Peltonen Pass out to Peltonen Pass - much more friendly except the last head wall which can remind you of the old Peltonen Pass out. Tomorow we are working on grooming the dog trails which are virgin two feet of snow.

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(Eric Anderson, ABR Trails)

Great skiing at ABR again today. Skate deck remarkably firm considering the amount of snow that has fallen in the last few days. Tracks deep and firm. Some rough, icy spots in low lying areas. Mostly picture perfect skiing.

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(Sue Schroeder)

Classic trails were awesome. Hemlock, Tamarack, Jack pine and white pine were all tracked and in good condition. Skating deck was a little soft. Everything was super pretty. You will not be disappointed!

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(Eric Koch)

Eric and the crew did an amazing job getting 30k+ of trails ready after over 2' of fresh snow Thursday. My daughter and I enjoyed classic skiing on the single track trails including Tamarack, Hemlock, White, and Jack pine. We also skated the River, Memory Lane, Meadow Ridge, Blueberry, Popple. Classic tracks and pole plants were firm with great kick. Skate lanes were nice in some areas and soft in others. Occasional wet spots which should freeze up tonight. Some sun and then more lake effect snow kicked in during afternoon. Great opener thanks to many hours of grooming!

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(Kevin Ousdigian)