Classic ski this afternoon at Rainbow. Light dusting of fresh snow, about 1/2" by this evening. Classic tracks were icy but skiable for the most part, the skate deck was firm but good for striding compared to the tracks. We used blue covered with N41 for kick wax with mixed results.

(Brian McCollor)

Temp has dropped to teens. Cloudy and no wind. After most of the day of skiing, grooming, snowshoeing, I decided to go out for a late afternoon/early evening ski. Classic tracks are good but a bit icy with quite a bit washouts. Skiers from schools and clubs have been training hard out there! Glad the trails are still holding well and skied in. So, tracks are fast, and I stepped out around a few corners, and I skied the Black Bear, Top of Rainbow, Deer View trails. Some of these trails are generally exposed to the sun, I'm surprised to see most are still okay.

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(Amy Xu)

We had a great ski day. Used mixture of good skis and B skis throughout the day. Solid base most everywhere that they did a good job of breaking up were possible. Skating was excellent. Classic track very firm and icy as expected. Not enough snow to reset. With good skis, needed to jump out half the time but could have stayed in more with B skis. These trails are some of the best in the state. Our group collectively did several hundred K and will be back again. It was our first time here.

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(Matt Mouser)

Great first day of ski camp at Rainbow. Surprisingly good coverage, especially with little to no snow in Park Rapids. Fast, fun trails, nice to be out on natural snow. Skate deck is covered but thin in some spots; classic is tracked but shallow and icy.

(Brian McCollor)

20* F above early am, now 28* F above at noon; trail base spring time conditions after thawing and refreezing past 3 days; have renovated and combed 6k loop, bucks run, rabbits trail, cougars run and ridge run. No reset of track sets do to minimal base depth average of 2". Renovations produced some nice combed surface and granule ice chips in more frozen areas. Existing track set icy and washed out in short areas where exposed to south sun. Recommend B skis due to grass, some thin areas, and twigs. All things considered rate as average ski conditions. After three days of day time temps reaching thawing temps and refreezing overnight I was surprised actually how much was left for snow. Any sections that have south sun exposure and low spots in those areas have frozen ice spots from water migrating there. We are skiable and with sunshine and 28*F above now would suspect the skiing surface will get better. I did not groom any of the big hills on Eagles Run due to icy conditions.

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(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

20F, mostly cloudy, no wind. Went out grooming the trails with Doug on the first pass from trailhead to Top of the Rainbow on Black Bear, 6K easier rollers then down from Top of Rainbow around Wolf trails, and back up to the Top, then down to South Junction, back to East Junction and Deer View, Bottom of Rainbow and back to trail head. The hard packed base is well covered with loose layer on the top. The base makes the skate fast! Grooming plans: Doug is still out there after a short break and will report the second part of the grooming later. Glad to see ski teams and guest skiers are out there skiing.

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(Amy Xu)

Cloudy, 36F for high, 26 F for low. No wind. I took out my classic skis (fish scale waxless skis) and skied about 10+ km at Rainbow Resort xc ski system! The tracks are very fast and fun! While we definitely can use more snow, the trails are covered with a solid base of packed snow. The highest temp of 36F thinned the base a bit compared to yesterday, particularly on the southwest side of the 23km trail system. I removed a few sticks and noticed a few thin spots and one bare spot which I easily skied around. Up to the Top of Rainbow, there are a few icy spots but very manageable. It was very quiet and beautiful in the woods, and it felt like I was the only life on earth! All in all, it was a very gorgeous day of xc skiing!

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(Amy Xu)

Sunny, no wind, 36F. I Classic skied at about 1:30pm-3pm today at the Rainbow Resort trails. Trails are holding very well for skate skiing and the tracksets are very nice. I am very surprised by how good the trails are after the warmup the last few days! Plan to ski more as the temps drop! Big kudos to Doug, the magic groomer of Rainbow Resort! Thank you!

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(Amy Xu)

Trails are looking good for the weather! Doug has taken great care of them. Very soft and slow today. Some spots of the trail do have debris/grass sticking up. Great hospitality (free cookies) and great people.

(Caleb Osterberg)

First time to Rainbow and won't be the last! Skied Black Bear, Brush Cat, and Deer View trails. The classic tracks are pretty skied in, but holding up well considering the limited snowfall. Very minimal debris on trails - you can easily use good skis, maybe dodge a stick here and there but easy to avoid. Overall a beautiful place to ski, worth the drive.

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(Amber Glawe)