Good news is that we are white again and the bad news is that we had just over an inch of fresh snow along with the gusty winds yesterday. We have roll packed the new 7K course for the Rainbow Rendezvous event on Saturday. We only have about a 3/4" packed base, with areas of leaves, some spots very thin do to wind. Bring your hiking poles; bike; running shoes; and some rock skis just in case the weatherman is wrong about the mild temps coming yet this week. We thought it would be fun to end the very poor season with a fun time outdoor get together.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

14F, sunny, little wind, hiked the 3k loop trails and 6k/10k trails. 1/2" more new snow overnight on top of yesterday ski trails. Ski trails are open for rock skis. Wish I could stay longer to ski more. Hope to be back soon!

Photos:

(Amy Xu)

20F, no wind, cloudy, classic skied the 6k and part of 10k loop with skiers from the Twin Cities and Boston area. We were very surprised by how much we could glide and balance on the 1" of new snow. Very happy to ski. We skied side by side and up the hills and were careful downhill in case of thin spots. Doug the groomer was really happy and showed us the new toy. I used my new skin skis. But, to be on the conservative side, use the rock skis or the backup skis, or rental skis!

Photos:

(Amy Xu)

We took the newest member of the Rainbow Grooming Team out this morning with cloudy skies and 33F to inspect and do a little brush trimming along the way. The past couple days with the foggy/cloudy skies temps did not get as high as forecast so we have pretty much stayed the same. We currently have spring time conditions on 1K of the Deer View Trail. With the marginal base of 1 1/2", I am unable to renovate the skate lane or tracks so bring your rock skis. The balance of the trail system is closed and we advise caution when skiing.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

Last week's mild sunny days were not good for us. Our snow base groomed trails took a hit. We now have a 1k ski-able section of Deer view trail with track sets deformed from thaw freeze. Skate lane is fair at best. Snow conditions are in sprint conditions; base is icy hard in the am hours and soft wet snow during above freeze temps. Rock skis and caution advised. Depending on next few days the temps we receive we will updated further.

Photos:

(Douglas Schumann, Rainbow Resort)

Great conditions given the low snowfall this year. Did classic and skate both. Awesome morning. Thanks Doug for the excellent grooming. Worth the trip! Great variety of terrain for all abilities.

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(John Pfund)

Temp was right around 30 and foggy/cloudy so the snow is not deteriorating. I had an absolute delightful afternoon skiing. The snow is lightning fast because of the humidity. All trails have been groomed for skate and classic. The classic tracks do have a little debris in them but the skate deck was pretty clean with some skate grooves to deal with. Only skied the flatter trails. I used my good skis with no worries. I'm ecstatic with how nice and fast it was.

Photos:

(Jeffrey Quam)

Icy this morning-too icy so held off till 1pm. Temps hanging right at the freezing mark. Snow base looked same as yesterday but snow looks dirtier with the warmup. No sun today means the base is holding. Trails were so icy and fast that classic skin skis were not working out. I switched to our Fischer Revolutions (love these indestructible 20+ year old wax less skis). Ended up doing a little treasure of a classic only loop (2 miles exactly for a complete loop) on the resort side a few times. I tried to be hard core and do some skate intervals on the reverse of the 10k loop (the wall that is Badger Hill) but my second time down I didn't make the corner and almost hit a tree. So 20 minutes of V2 skate drills on the flats of Black Bear trail were a better idea. Fast, icy conditions so be careful! Snow is getting thinner in places but still B ski conditions with bad patches still being few and far between. As far as kick wax, skins could be tricky and track conditions could degrade too much for skin skis. My waxless Revolution where awesome but if you are gonna kick wax, these are the temps and conditions where it is just yucky. The snow is getting dirtier with the moisture and any winds create more tree and needle debris. So I got nothing to recommend on grip - I spend too much time in my wax room as it is since I wax hubby's skis too. Time of day and temp range are making it tricky, fun but not worth hitting a tree.

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(Jill Troutner)

Conditions holding up, morning ski was fast spring ski conditions. Snow temp at -2 at 10:15 am. Blue/green glide was still running well. I would discourage afternoon skiing except for on the lake. Trail should hold up to longer usage with a morning ski conditions. Overcast conditions make it hopeful that the base will hold. We added a classic today since the classic tracks were set on the resort side -a gorgeous classic only trail that we keep forgetting about. A few bad spots but easily avoided and we will be making the switch to classic tomorrow with a few skate intervals on the hills near the main trailhead. Probably switch glide wax to blue/violet tomorrow.

Photos:

(Jill Troutner)

A more relaxing ski without the windchill. Base holding despite the warm up. I would stick with B skis. The classic track is holding up as well but since the lake has great snow I am taking advantage of the opportunity for good skating terrain and classic ski on the lake in the evenings when it is low light and I don't need to be vigilant about thin snow areas. Hawks Hill was thin and I won't do that section tomorrow-the only rock skis section we encountered today. The NE trails with the bigger terrain are more wind and sun protected and the base there on the 10k section is really holding so will to keep skating there through the week on B skis.

Photos:

(Jill Troutner)