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)

Due to the historic warming over Xmas, coupled with over an inch of forecasted rain, we are closing all trails at Mt. Itasca for Sunday and Monday, Dec 24-25. We hope to resume "normal" operations next week. Let's hope for a Xmas miracle of snow>rain.

(Jonathan Arntson)

Lower biathlon course loops plus Triple Twister and Roller Coaster have been Pisten Bulley groomed. Track set for high school race Thurs Dec. 21 from about 10 to 2:30. Very fast and slick.

(Catherine McLynn)

Upcoming events that will affect public skiing: Biathlon races on Dec 16 from 11:45-1 pm, on Dec 17 from 10:45-noon. HS Races on Dec 19 and 21, with course closure from 10-2:30. Grooming plans: We anticipate getting through the rain without much damage to our base, Pisten Bully should rejuvenate trails when it freezes down again.

(Jonathan Arntson)

Groomed with the snowmobile and Ginzu groomer to freshen things up after the warm weather. Just over 1 km of trail. Set a couple tracks, but left most of the old ones as-is (tracks will be former that way). Grooming plans: Snowmaking will resume tonight, and we will make snow when it is cold enough.

Photos:

(Bob Conzemius)

They have a loop that is just under 1k open. It was hard packed, man-made snow, but very ski-able. There is a decent hill as part of the loop too. There was also a classic track set well. Just a small amount of debris on the trail. Hopefully it got cold overnight so they could run the groomer over it again. All in all a great alternative to running!

(Amy Lelwica)

Nice and deep tracks set tonight on 1.5 k of man made snow with plenty of room for skating, too. A dusting of snow tonight added texture to the firm set up.

(Catherine McLynn)