ABR Trails

This will be one of the hardest trail reports that I have to write this winter….and maybe the longest.
WHAT WE HAD TODAY: We had a morning of early season skiing from 9-12  with a few more thin spots but coverage on the main trails for skiing. It was a bit soft but very skiable. Skiers respected the noon closing to preserve the snow from the 43 degrees.
WHAT HAPPENED TODAY: It started raining pretty steady at noon and it continues to rain at 5 PM. Upon “trail inspection” the water is running from the hills overflowing the drainage ditches, flooding the River and creeks in areas creating small pieces of trail that are skiable separated by bare stretches and flooded portions that may  or may not recede and freeze. The base is diminished to 1 inch of saturated snow.
WHAT WE WILL DO: Since the rain is forecast to stop in the next hour or so and temps are forecast to drop below freezing in the early AM hours, I will again assess the trail at 6 AM and see if it is “groomable” and “skiable”. We will make every effort to make 5-10 km of skiable trail for the 9 AM hr and we will report in at 7 AM with an updated report of what we find.
WHAT I THINK: I am not optimistic that we will be able to create safe and enjoyable skiing for Saturday and Sunday without more snow and cold temps. We scared many skiers away on what would be our busiest weekend of the season with honest and predictive reporting over the last several days to help people plan their weekends and not drive long distances to be disappointed.

IF YOU ARE IN TOWN: We will have the Ski shop open with some good sale prices, many of the stores in town have some good shopping,  The falls would make a nice hike at Black River, the 5 waterfalls are raging I am told and would be pretty awesome to see.

We took a groomer out to test the surface early this morning. The surface did not freeze and is not icy. It is soft down about a half inch so it should still be skiable in the AM. We did not take the groomers on the surface this morning since the are too heavy and would cause more damage.  We are open for skiing 9-12 Friday and our plan is to groom Saturday from 6-9 AM and open for skiing Saturday and Sunday. We will update again this evening.

We had a good day of skiing today with 37 km of trails open and groomed. A few of the uphills are getting a bit chewed up and some of the thin areas are showing signs of wear, but the trails ended the day at 4:30 still very skiable.  We will be open from 9-12 CST Friday and then closing down until Saturday. We will see what the warm temps and rain…. if it rains, does and groom accordingly on Saturday AM

 

We groomed after the snow stopped this morning. We had about 30 km groomed and 10 km have classic tracks for skiing today. We plan to groom another 7 km tonight so we have about 1/2 the 75 km of trails open for Thursday. The base is thin but very skiable, skiers were happy today. We had to use Ginzu knives today to reset the classic track which showed the base is about 2-3 inches. Most areas are frozen down well except the back stretch of Sulos and Highlands entrance.
Friday looks to be warming up at noon and a chance of rain, with temps cooling back down for Saturday. We most likely will close for Friday afternoon based on that forecast and reopen for Saturday.

We picked up another 2 inches of snow and most importantly the temps got cold. We will be re-opening Wednesday at 10 AM. I am not sure how many k or exact conditions until we groom again in the AM but I am guessing about 30 km with some classic tracks. We will be open on the Thanksgiving Holiday as well 9-4:30 and hopefully for the remainder of the season weather permitting.