I made a couple more passes around some of the trail segments Friday evening. I decided I would come by again in the morning to set some tracks since I could see better during the day how well they were looking. I tracked the non-snowmaking part of the biathlon trails, service road, and Bittersweet/Magview. I was seeing enough debris and stuff that I was pulling up that I decided to skip the lower portion of the Grant-In-Aid trails. I came back and skied what I had groomed, and the tracks were not as bad as I had earlier thought. Perhaps I could have tracked the rest. Maybe next time. A light dusting, at this point, would make the tracks quite skiable. Some are pretty shallow, though. Scheduling: For next weekend, we will have our CXC races, so the trails will be closed during those races.

Photos:

(Bob Conzemius)

Yesterday afternoon I tried to skate in two inches fluffy snow over thin base. Since then some wonderful groomer flat packed all of the trails except Vlad's Revenge and Otter Slide. The tracks set by skiers have been erased. If it weren't getting cold, skating would have been good. But it was barely 10 degrees with the sun shining, so I did classic. No track set and a few spots of gravel showing on Service Road. Lower loops hard packed from high school race yesterday.

(Catherine McLynn)

Biathlon loops were groomed for big high school race today so we ventured onto lower and upper Grant in Aid trails. Four inches of deep fluffy snow over thin base made skate skiing more work but still enjoyable. Wonderful classic skiing in tracks set by skiers on Bittersweet! Caution on steep downhills (which I avoided) until more snow.

(Catherine McLynn)

Skied the biathlon and Grant in aid trails. Fantastic coverage on biathlon trails and Grant in aid were better than expected- rolled but soft. I used my good skis but there were very few areas with sticks and debris.

(Jacquelyn Bacigalupi)

Packed the remaining biathlon trails and the Grant-in-Aid trails. A couple more inches of snow, and we should be able to set a track. Hopefully, we get that this upcoming week. Will have biathlon training on Sunday plus MyXC (youth skiing) 1:30 to 3:00. The new snow came just in time. The trails will not be as crowded as they would be otherwise. Caution is advised for rough areas in swamps and for some rocks on Exit Ramp. Note, also, the changed route around the snow tubing run.

Photos:

(Bob Conzemius)

Man made snow is fast but tilled corduroy ensured reasonable control. Tracks set tonight on sections of the lower loops and range. High school race scheduled for Tuesday.

(Catherine McLynn)

My Itasca hosted day 2 of the Junior National Biathlon qualifying races today. Great racing and good trail conditions. Final races on Sunday.

Photos:

(Joe Muller)

Groomed for US Biathlon World Team Trials taking place this weekend, Dec 29-31. Trails will be closed in the morning until around 1:00 PM for competitions and then open after that. The course is repaired, and we have about 1.65 km of trails with machine-made snow. Coverage is somewhat minimal in some areas but good enough for biathlon competition, and the snow groomed out quite well for skating this evening.

(Bob Conzemius)

Groomers report: The trails mostly survived, much of it quite well, but with patchy spots. We shored it up today with extra snow (moving, not making; still too warm). Grooming tonight. Praying that it looks good in the morning. We plan to run it on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Trails are closed to the public until January 1st due to the USBA JY Trials; we are conserving all snow mass for the race only.

(Bruce Adelsman)

Trails remain closed secondary to historic December warm and rain. They will remain closed throughout Monday and Tuesday, Dec 26th, with further assessment taken at that time. Mt. Itasca is hosting the US Biathlon Jr and Youth Trials this coming weekend, and we are working hard to ensure that we are able to have a skiable race course.

(Jon Arntson)