Trails remain closed today. The rain and warm weather did a number on the trails. We will be using today and tomorrow to get some snow pushed into some bare spots and rebuild some trail bases. The immediate plan is to get an access and a return from the upper loops where there is still good snow. We will be making some snow when temperatures allow. Thanks again for your patience.

(Rob Adams, Ramsey County Parks)

With the warm weather and current rain, the trails are closed. We will evaluate the state of the trails when the rain ends and make a decision then as to whether we can reasonably repair the trails or not. Thank you all so much!

(Joshua Wickert)

At an 11:00 am start with a temperature of at least 36 degrees (maybe 38 according to Google), trail conditions were good to very good, varying from frozen corduroy to light sugar to deeper corn at the climb out of the end of the North Tree Loop. At the right-hand curve at the middle of the Horseshoe Trail downhill, I think enough snert had bled thru to slow me a lot on my first lap, not as much on the second one when I kept tighter to the inside of the curve. Cowabunga was in superb condition. There was occasional bark litter at scattered spots along the tree-lined portions of the trail. This was my first time here since early in the season back in December and probably only my third time since snowmaking was added. Can't overstate how impressive a trail system it is given its small footprint and how great a job the groomers do.

(Keith Carlson)

What a beautiful morning at Battlecreek. I am amazed at the magic the groomers have pulled off this season. Snow was firm and fast this morning, 8:30 -10am. A few icy patches and spots of debris but easily avoidable. Not much sugar at the bottom of the hills.
Heartfelt thanks to the groomers! I've had such a fun season thanks to you. Good luck to the kids in sections this week!

(Kimmie Sandberg)

Battle Creek was in awesome condition with a firm skate deck throughout and even a little snow flying. That was as good of conditions I've had there all year fast but not icy so even cowbunga was fun! Thanks to Ramsey County and the crew for making snow to get the trail through the section 3 and 4 meets the next two days!

Photos:

(Kevin Ousdigian)

Scheduled for this week are the section meets on Tuesday, Feb 6, and Wednesday, Feb 7 from 8am - 5pm. As these events are exclusive use, the trails will be closed to the public throughout the entire day, both before and after the section final meets. This decision is made in an effort to preserve the snow, especially considering the challenging weather conditions and consistently high lows at night forecast for this week. There is a possibility that the closure may extend for the remainder of the week, but we'll conduct a thorough evaluation on Wednesday to determine the appropriate course of action.

(Thony Thao)

It was a beautiful ski this morning at Battle Creek, the overnight temperature allowed for the skate deck to firm up once again, to provide fast conditions, but still plenty of control. The grooming crew had a couple of snow guns going this morning, to improve the downhill to the Horseshoe, for Tuesday and Wednesday Sectional meets. Thanks once again goes to the groomers and Ramsey County for this wonderful area to ski, I have skied over 200K in the last eight days at BC, in this snowless winter.

(Bruce Fiedler)

Skied 7:30-9:30am. I think 7:30-9 is the sweet spot during these hot days. One guy who was finishing at 7:30 said it was pretty icy, but I didn't find it so. Also daylight is nice, IMO. At about 9 am it started to soften and the moisture started to move the corn snow in the mashed potato direction. But it turns out finely ground ice is a pretty fast ski surface - who knew? At 7:30 there was not more than maybe an inch of loose snow on top of a nice firm deck, except on the short, steep hill at the north end of Tree Loop and the hairpin turn at the bottom of it. But that was changing by 9am, the loose stuff just got a little deeper each trip around the loop. Darn good skiing, considering what Mother Nature has presented lately. We're fortunate to have this resource.

(Jay Lyons)

Started skiing at 9:30 am. The trail was firm and a few spots icy, but overall very nice. The up hills were a little sugary as well. By 11:30 am the trail was getting very soft and less enjoyable.

(Ethan Knuti)

Started skiing at 8:20 AM, which was probably about two hours later than I should have in order to catch the best conditions. Battle Creek is taking a beating, but is holding up fairly well. There's quite a bit of dirt in some areas (easy to avoid), and there is plenty of ice showing in the classic track. The wooded loop up top had two turns (NE and SE corners) that were chewed up -- saw a number of folks fall in the NE corner, but the snow provided a soft landing. Used Rex Red Klister, which shockingly kept its grip the entire time we were skiing. Get while the getting is good, folks.

(Michael Kuhne)