The trails had not been re-groomed this morning, but the inch of new snow resulted in good conditions for both skating and classic skiing. There was enough snow to get a good edge for skating without so much loose snow that it interfered with glide. The new snow provided excellent kick with classic skis.

(Jim Lasch)

Meets for the week: Tuesday, 2/4, MSHSL Section 3, 8am-5:30pm and Thursday, 2/6, MSHSL Section 3, 8am-5:30pm. Both section meets will be closed course during the timeframe. There is a small race with Minnesota Youth Ski League on Wednesday 6:30pm-8pm. This race will be an open course.

(Thony Thao)

Another busy day a BC! The classic tracks looked shallow and worn out, especially around turns. The skate deck had an inch to two inches of grainy snow on top of ice. There were a few icy sections. The shorter up hills and corners were heavy with the grainy snow.

(Ethan Knuti)

Manmade Snow pack is holding up. Lots of loose wet snow on the skate deck. Tracks holding up but sometimes icy.

(Jane Bukacek)

All of the snowmaking, lit trails are open and in good condition, but none of the natural snow trails are open (as expected given recent weather.) Soft, but pretty fast snow on skate deck in mostly solid, good condition today, but a few spots are a bit icy.

Photos:

(Megan Evans)

Got to BC about 11:30, and had the trails practically to myself for an hour and a half. Skate deck was still decently firm and fast to begin but felt it softening and slowing a little bit more each loop as it went from partly cloudy to full sun. Classic tracks were still mostly there, except on the downhill curves. Can't say it's unpleasant skiing at 35 and sunny, if only the snow had a melting point of 45! In case you missed it - trails closed to the public for HS racing Thursday from 8am to 4pm.

(Jay Lyons)

The snowmaking trail is holding up remarkably well, both classic (which I skied) and skate (others observed, seemed to be getting adequate ski set and glide). A very small number of spots in the track exposed to the most direct sun are starting to glaze slightly.

(Bob Cattanach)

Battle Creek was a very nice ski this morning. The groomers had the trails in good shape with a firm skate deck topped with edgeable snow. It was almost 30° when I got there with the wind straight out of the west at 5 - 7 knots, so I spent most of the time up on the ridge skiing laps around the South Tree and North Tree loops (out of the wind). The short downhill at the south end of South Tree had an equipment track down the middle of the trail just before the left-hand turn, but it was avoidable. The bottom of the hill at the north end of North Tree was developing a "trough and wake" around the left-hand curve, but it was navigable. The snow was fast enough to be fun, but still controllable on the descents. All in all, the skiing was very good.

(David Sonnenberg)

Meets for the week: Wednesday, 1/29, Suburban East Conference 3:30pm-5:30pm, Thursday, 1/30, Suburban East Conference: 8am-4pm (Closed course), and Friday, 1/31 Metro East Conference: 3:45pm-5:15pm. The trails will remain open to the public during Wednesday and Friday meets, but please be mindful of the high volume of skiers expected during these times. Thursday meet will be a closed course during the timeframe.

(Thony Thao)

Skied all the snowmaking trails yesterday. Great conditions. It was busy with MYSL skiers but they were courteous and left room to ski around. The classic tracks were a little beat up but the sun and the snow made for a great ski.

(Kris Gerber)