Battle Creek

Could be worse.

The first 100 yards are pretty, uh, grassy. Once you get on to the prairie it's better, and the climbs have enough of an edge to ski up, especially if you use good skis and not your rock skis with no edges. The top loop is pretty good, even without lights, but I didn't attempt any non-lit hills.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Battle Creek

Fair before the Big Hill, excellent up the hill and in the woods.

The first 100m at Battle Creek is the worst, and it gets progressively better from there. The section on the prairie looping around and descending has some windblown areas where it is down to hardpack. However, once you get on the big hill it is in excellent shape up in to the woods. I skied the rest of the 5k as it was being rolled (good to see the groomers out) and it was in fine shape; the new snow was skiing in to the base well. Being dark and ungroomed, I didn't ski the big hills out back.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Como Race

I will not make much of a race report here. It was icy and nasty, and not really worth racing. But I'd paid, so I raced. Icy and nasty. With rock skis with no edges, I stopped caring pretty quickly. Not fun.

Woodland

Good coverage but slow.

I left my skate poles in Elk River, and had to get them for a "race" at Como tomorrow. The trails at Elk River are still in good shape despite the meltdown but were quite slow in the tropical heat. With the fog it was an interesting ski at night, but I only caught enough of an edge to gain myself a faceful of snow once, and that was on the edge of the trail.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Murphy Hanrahan.

Fantastic.

It is such a pleasure to ski at Murphy. Coverage is full and the skate lane is well packed, and it got rather fast with the warming temperatures (yes, 20 is warm). When coverage is as good as it is and it's not icy, it is the best skiing in the cities.

This Jewthiest even got some Christmas dinner, too, after skiing three laps. Mmm.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Lebanon hills

Excellent.

The tracks and snow at Lebanon are great. I skied all around and about, hitting most of the trails (and not freezing to death, either). There are a couple sections where the tracks are getting a bit washed out but definitely nothing to complain about. Coverage is complete.

I even hit some traffic on the way back by a mega-church, but it was mostly going the other direction.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Battle Creek

Excellent.

Thanks to the groomers and the parks board for the wonderful grooming at Battle Creek. It's amazing what some TLC will do. All of the loops are in tip-top shape, with a few areas where the classic track is a wee bit soft. The Ski Games trail is great, as well, and worth crossing the road. With the cold temperatures the track should freeze solid tonight; it kicked very well on Rode Multigrade -2 to -6 this evening. Nice to be out without a scarf across my face, too! I don't think we could ask for better conditions.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Battle Creek

Excellent, although the classic tracks are showing some wear.

The grooming at BC are fantastic—great classic tracks all the way around, and with a headlamp the 7.5k was skiable in the dark (although you better know the trails; particularly the two big downhills which I skied by feel). It seems that with the temperatures most folks are striding, and the classic tracks are, in a few places, are getting washed out. With temperatures right around zero kick was fantastic but the tracks were actually pretty fast. With one noticeable but small bare spot in the tracks (on the middle of the hill to the south of the lighted section behind the pines).

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

City of Lakes Loppet

Great coverage, good for skating, no classic track.

The Bog and Butler (I stayed off the open areas) have been rolled but not corduroy'd or track-set. There seemed to be enough snow for both, however, hopefully they will do it so it sets up. The trail was firm, so it was in good shape. The new climb up the hill along the parkway is nice, although they lopped off the top of the last big climb in the Bog. Nice to be skiing Wirth on good skis, though!

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Woodland

Conditions:

The race today at Woodland was on very good conditions, although the skiers chewed up the new snow, especially on the hills, so they were slow and choppy. As we left the groomer was pulling the roller. Also, the new Stoney Rollers trail at the end of Terminal Moraine at Woodland is fantastic. The hills are well graded and well banked, the curves are perfect and the ups and downs quite fun. It seems to be well graded so far, so even without a ton of snow the conditions were great.

With new snow falling, the drive to Elk River was interesting. I was doing about 50 on 280 but when we got on to 35W there was a car, upright, facing the wrong direction, about fifteen feet up an embankment on the side of the road. We didn't go much faster than 50 the rest of the way, without incident (except thinking we missed the turnoff to Highway 10).

The race itself was nice, slow and suited for my soft RCSes. I didn't go out particularly hard and was fine with letting the pack drop me on the first uphill. (We used the Prairie Loop backwards start, for which I take credit from last year's MLK short notice race. It works great to thin the field.) I skied in and out of a couple packs for most of the first lap and then found my way in to leading a pack for the second lap. My sunglasses had been on for, oh, all of 4k before they were hopelessly fogged up and pretty much useless. Oh, well.

Around the end of Stony Rollers I started to let someone else lead, saying they might be able to go faster, but they told me that they liked my pace. With no wind, I didn't really mind leading on. With a few K to go—we dropped off Wash Pond, so around Scouring, we saw a group ahead, and worked to reel them in by North Mickey. Hitting the little hill before Prairie, I was about fifth in a pack of seven and realised that no one else in the pack knew the course—it was 700 flat meters to the end. I made my move and jumped in to third place and started sprinting, catching up to the top two racers. One beat me legit. The other beat me according to results but I'd protest that if I cared. It was a good finish.

We went and skied a half a lap before deciding that it was cold and we were done. The slaves were headed out to pack the new snow when we left. With the snow it was a long drive back to Saint Paul.

And the best part of the race? I got girled, but except for Bjorn Batdorf (who is a pretty good skier), so did everyone else. And he only beat Caitlin by four seconds.

Results: skinnyski.com/racing/results/2008/elkriverrace.pdf

Oh look, Bruce took lots of pictures (thanks to skinnyski.com):

Oh hey look it was snowing.

Despite the fact that 16k we'd be in the exact same position, I didn't ski right behind Mary Beth the whole way.

The race leaders. Seriously, Caitlin is leading the race, and came within 4 seconds of winning.

Jakob finishes, all alone. The next picture in the photoset shows him looking at his watch, or something.

I get ready to spring. I think I won. But I am not an objective opinion.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Como

Good, but ready for snow, too.

I have to give a major shout out to the groomers. The formerly off-camber hill climbing out of the back bowl has taken a jog to left and the a right so that the whole thing is generally well-graded. It, IMHO, dramatically improves the flow of the trail; no longer is there a long, steep hill where the whole trail is tilted to one side. I've had my issues with grooming at Como in the past, but so far this year it has been beyond excellent. Kudos, groomers!

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Battle Creek

Good, but rock skis still a good idea.

Battle Creek has full coverage on the 5k (I didn't ski the 7.5) with a few thin spots and icy spots. The trail is very well, maybe too well, skied in, so much that the snow has been skied off in a couple places. At 0F it was okay for skating (slow) but there is not much of a classic track. The little loop back on to the prairie has great corduroy on the flats but the sled seems to have skidded out on the ice up the steep hill.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Terrace Oaks

Excellent conditions (with a caveat).

The caveat is that my headlamp needs new batteries so I may well have not seen some dirt. The trails, however, are in very nice shape. They've firmed up well so the boots' imprints are negligible, and the classic tracks, set on all but the steeper uphills, are solid. A little more snow to cover the sticks and the manhole will move it towards perfection.

It was darned cold, the clear, calm conditions and fresh snow cover radiated the temperature down to about -10, so I was definitely glad to be striding. When I finished I had frosted between my fleece and shell. Yum!

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Como

Good for skate, good for classic, excellent for telemark.

Telemark? Yes, telemark! After striding around most of the trail (generally good conditions, a few thin spots, and not too much kick in the skied in trail) I found that the hill up alongside the snowboard hill was skied in well, but the snowboard slope was two inches of powder over a solid, manmade, not-icy base. I spent the better part of an hour running up the hill and reminding myself how one tele-skis. Several dozen turns and two wipe outs later, my thighs told me it was time to go in. I double-poled the glacier (good coverage under the bridge) and arrived at the parking lot satiated and quite warm (+3 feels warm the day after -8).

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Wirth Park

Variable conditions.

Skiing at Wirth was very wind-dependent, although the whole course had been rolled. In lee areas, the snow over the icy base was pretty good (I skied the back 9 and par 3). Some places, however, on the windward side (the last k, the Mound) were decidedly treacherous. I got halfway up the Mound, got scared, and came down. The snowmaking area was in very good shape, although I was on my rocks skis so I was unconcerned. The sliding hill, leeward in its nature to westerlies, was also good. The striding was great all around in the -8F temperatures.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Wirth Park

Not wirth it.

The freeze turned the whole trail in to an icy mess. Anything off the man-made snow was ice with a few drifts of new snow, and the man-made base was frozen solid. It, at least, should groom up well. The rest of the course needs a couple inches of non-blown snow to establish a base.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Hyland

Full coverage, save a bit of avoidable asphalt and some grass and dirt.

It's definitely rock skiing out there, but even with the temperatures topping 35F the snow is holding up pretty well. The cover is thin, but it is there, and the whole course is skiable. Hopefully it will survive this mini-thaw and be rejuvenated by some wrap-around snow.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Como

Good "grass ski" conditions.

The folks at Como have done a good job of grooming with what they have and except for a few grassy sections it is all good.
The one thing, which could definitely be fixed, are two kind of nasty off-camber hills. The one off the back bowl should be groomed straight and then right to avoid the steep hill, and the other is right at the end where the trail is on an angle. Otherwise, it's pretty great for early December!

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Terrace Oaks

Definitely not as good as yesterday.

A lot more sticks, leaves, dirt and other detritus on the trail. I skied classic and the track is in good shape on the non-uphills except for areas with lots of oak leaves the winds took down today. It should firm up with cooler temperatures.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Terrace Oaks

Conditions: Pretty much perfect.

Don't bother with anything else. The trails at Terrace Oaks are all but perfect. The inner loop (black) is spectacular, despite almost no skier traffic. The outer loop (blue) has two minor and completely avoidable obstacles: 1) an exposed water bar and 2) the area with the manhole covers. Both could benefit from five minutes of shoveling. There is a good, deep, hard classic track set the whole way but because the trail is so narrow it is skated out on most of the hills. The skate lanes were firm and smooth and level. We could not ask for anything more. I skied under the light of a headlamp and the almost-full moon, so I may have missed something, but I did ski each loop twice. With the current state of the moon, there is no light needed on a clear night.

This is at B-of-not-A race ski, midwinter conditions. The groomers have done a great job, starting with a good base from that first snow, and the trails have benefited from being in the exact right location to catch some good snow. I would have skied longer if I hadn't not had dinner.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com

Hoigaards/Breadsmith race

I am not a morning person. I'll start with that. Especially for racing. It's a miracle that I can get up and ski the Birkie in any shape since it goes off before 9:00. By 10 I am usually more lucid, but never really good if I have to get up wicked early.

So the ungodly start time for Hoigaards was not pleasing to me. Jakob wanted a race partner, and he billed the race as a good interval workout. Quite. And surprisingly, none of the Macalester skiers, in the midst of finals, wanted to wake up at 5-something for a race. I wonder why.

The new snow was nice for the race, but I wasn't feeling it. Jakob went hard and came back with the lead, and I quickly relinquished it. I felt, uh, pretty bad, but it was before 7 a.m., so there. The second lap was slightly better, and after the race we skied up and down the hill a few times, went to see the high school kids crash (and none did!) and then made for home. There was a raffle which we stayed around for for all of three minutes. In which time I won a free scraper. Which was great for scraping my car windows.

With the race and gravity skiing soon to open, the lot was filled with people, with SUVs (gravity skiers) circling. I wanted to sell off our spot for $5 (to avoid having to take the shuttle from overflow) but Jakob objected. Oh, Spotscout, how we need ye (if ye hadn't been so poorly managed).

Results: http://skinnyski.com/racing/results/2008/hoigaardsrelays.pdf My times are not a thing of beauty. Then again, I'm not a morning sprinter.

Terrace Oaks — Real Skiing!

I was near Terrace Oaks this afternoon for work and decided to sneak over and see if the trails had been touched. The city was there and the sled was out, and the trail looked packed. It will be sketchy—definitely rock ski conditions—but it should be skiable! Winter is here, and only a couple days later than last year. Let's hope it lasts as long.

I hit the trails this evening (report as follows)

It's not great, but it sure is skiing.

No one had hit the trails since they were groomed this afternoon, and with the temperatures dropping towards 10 the snow set up quite well. The snow is thin, so it is definitely rock ski conditions, but there is good glide on the whole system. Some sections are a bit bumpy, some are narrow and some are leafy, but the whole thing is skiable.

I can only get to two trails at most, on a good day! Check out all the trail reports at skinnyski.com