We were back out grooming this morning. We finished out the A-loop. Trails groomed this morning were - Overlook, Highlands, Northstar and Upper West End. All of the trails were groomed with a skate deck and a classic track. The swamp on Northstar by the Loon Lake public landing needs more snow, but it is easy to avoid that stretch by following the public landing road. We are planning on wrapping up the B-loop later today.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

With the fresh 3" to 4" of fresh snow we got out this evening to groom some of the trails. The new snow mixed nicely with the solid base we have been enjoying. We groomed Big Pine, Little Pine (our lighted trail), Lonely Lake and Amperage. All of these trails were groomed with a classic track and a skate deck. As you can see on the photos, they turned out very good. The swamps on amperage have frozen so it is getting better. We need more snow to fill in low spots still on that trail. It is skiable, but not in as good of shape as the rest of the system. Grooming plans: We are planning on gett my an early start tomorrow to groom the rest of the system tomorrow. We hope you can come up to enjoy the trails this weekend!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Went back today to ski the major trails I did not get to yesterday. It looked like most trails were groomed overnight. The soft fluff was groomed in, which made the cold snow more abrasive but my polar wax managed to hold up for most of the afternoon. I skied Lonely Lake, Amperage, Big and Little Pine, Overlook, Rabbit Run, Aspen Alley, and Highlands. Grooming was excellent on all except Amperage where low snow was an issue. Deck firm, tracks solid. Classic skiers however should where protective eyewear as the face whippers were an issue everywhere.

(Tim Nelson)

The groomer was out early again this morning to make sure the whole system is freshly groomed for the weekend. All of the trails were groomed with a skate deck and classic tracks including Little Pine, Highlands, Ham Lake, Northstar, Upper West End, Lonely Lake, Amperage. Amperage is in most need of snow with the swamps that still aren't fully frozen and the rocks on that trail. Hopefully we will get more snow some time soon!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

A nice coating of new snow up to an inch in places took the edge off cold abrasive snow and polar wax worked great. It was so nice to ski on natural and fresh snow. All trails were well groomed with a firm deck and well formed tracks. It was very cold (about 3 below) but the forest kept the wind impact to a minimum. I think I skied the Big and Little Pine, Overlook, West End, River, Ham Lake and North Star trails. Many more left unskied so I will be back tomorrow. My only issue is that there are very few trail signs and many junctions and it was too cold to take off my mittens to check my map. Felt lost most of the time, but all trails lead somewhere and usually back to the trailhead.

(Tim Nelson)

We were back out grooming the basin trails. The following runs were groomed this afternoon: Overlook, Rabbit Run, Aspen Alley, Warrens Road, Cut Across, Power Line, River Trail, Rabbit Run Extension, Short Cut, Lower West End, Little Pine. All were groomed with a classic track and a skate deck. Most of the trails have good early season conditions. Grooming plans: We plan to get out again tomorrow morning to groom the rest of the system.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

We got back out to groom a couple of more trails. We are getting a light snow this morning that we weren't expecting to start out the New Year. We cleared the large white pine log that was blocking the Lonely Lake trail so that trail is now groomed and open. Amperage was also groomed today. Both runs were groomed with a skate deck and a classic track. The trails are in good early season conditions. There are some places where rocks are close to the surface, but overall conditions are pretty good. We hope you can come up and enjoy our trail system this year!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

We got out and groomed the remaining trails this morning. The temps are staying cool and both the skate lanes and the classic tracks are setting up well. Trails groomed today - Big Pine, Little Pine, Ham Lake, Highlands, Northstar, Upper West End, Overlook. All were tracked with a classic Track and a skate lane. We hope you can come up and start the New Year exploring our trails!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Our group skied many of the trails that were groomed overnight/this morning. They were in pretty good shape with decent coverage, though there were some thin spots under the conifers and a couple other places where it looked like the groomer drug up a little dirt. The groomed trails definitely were brought back to life - briefly tried one of the ungroomed trails and it was rutted and icy underneath the new snow. Unfortunately there were a good handful of places on groomed downhills where skis had punched through before the trail froze up which left gashes in the deck. There were also places with similar deep hole punching boot prints straight down the skate deck.

Photos:

(Ketzel Levens)

With the cooler temperatures we got out early today to groom the ski trails. We were fortunate that the trails held up well to the warmer temperatures and we didn't loose much of the base. The snow we got on Saturday mixed well with the existing base to set up a nice firm, skate deck and classic track. The trails groomed this morning were – Big Pine, Little Pine (our lighted trail), Overlook, Rabbit Run, Aspen Alley, Warrens Road, Cut Across, River Run, Power Line, short Cut, lower West End and Amperage. All of the trails were tracked with a skate deck and a classic track.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)