Northern Lights Nordic Ski Club

As the groomer previously reported, varying snow depths resulted in inconsistent track conditions that were a little scary on the downhills with turns. There are bare spots on the first steep climb uphill and along the windswept, sun-beaten flat trail by Lawrence Lake. Northwest winds brought down leaves and needles to catch wax skis. A few thrills and only one spill made for a great spring ski.
(Catherine McLynn)

County groomer reported challenging conditions trying to groom 6 inches of wind drifted snow. He may not have groomed every loop or connector trail, but the main ones are done.
(Catherine McLynn)

County groomer reported grooming in 6 inches of snow and setting track only on the new trail aka Sandwich Trail. White bread beginner skiing at beginning and end. Exciting part is the middle. Varying conditions and rough in some areas.
(Catherine McLynn)

Classic tracks fresh groomed. Great shape. Blue extra multiple layer great kick. Track not icy so enjoyed 10k ski. Service road to bittersweet then widow to main. Loop 2x. Return thru roller coaster. Skate deck looked great also.
(Tim Hasbargen)

Groomed and tracked this morning. A little less fresh snow than I thought. The lake side of the outer loop is a little rough up the hill due to the layer of ice under the snow. There is a tree across the trail, but it wont sneak up on you since it is at the top of a hill. My saw was too small to cut it. Overall the trail is fine. I wouldn't recommend good skis though.
(Jeff Love)

Double tracked out and back to Joyce Estate, but north trail not groomed. Varying conditions but overall fantastic spring skiing! Extra blue worked well at 10 degrees when I started and still worked great at 30 degrees when I finished. Sun on the first two or three uphills had bared rocks so on the return trip we took off skis and walked down. You could tell grooming was a challenge to get it as good as it was today! Otter tracks by the open flowing creek!
(Catherine McLynn)

We recieved 6" of new snow on Thursday. I packed on Friday and then we groomed Long Lake, Thunders and Rajala trails both Classic and Skate this morning. The trails look great but they are going to be soft. Where I packed yesterday, that has firmed up well enough and by tomorrow the skiing should be pretty good. The classic track looked really good and classic is the style I would pick in the near term. Get out and enjoy. Side note, the parking lot has not been plowed so your vehicle should be able to navigate 6" of snow.
(Tony Carter)

Tracked Amen and south Suomi trails. Two to four inches of fresh snow. Full track in the heavier areas and shallower track in the light areas. All skiable.
(Randy Zupan)

Trail was crusty due to recent thaw/freeze cycles, with a fair bit of debris on the skate lane due to recent winds. Temps were rising through low 20's. Skied two Portage Park/Main/Spur Loops from Lake St. The best skiing was on the ball fields at Portage Pk, as the snow was smooth and solid enough to support me, and afforded a little more bite for the ski inner edges. I avoided the Portage Pk river edge approach on the second loop because there were iced-in boot prints there.
(Brad Bensen)

Lots of branches, leaves, pine needles etc on trails. Also a large pine tree fell over a trail. Hasn't been groomed in a while. Icy in spots but seems like plenty of snow for grooming?
(James Moe)

Yesterday's warm and windy conditions had a big impact on the trails. On the positive side, the transformed corn snow offered great glide on polar wax. The negative was that the beautifully groomed deck was sporadically covered with branches and debris. I cleared much of the classic tracks, but there is still a lot left. Moose have made several new crossings.
(Jeff Pesta)

Boomer blue was is very nice condition and the tracks on the rest of cowhorn appear to be recently set. Gusty winds today knocked down a few limbs and one tree near the hill by the outhouse. Snow was soft in the sun today, but no bare spots yet!
(David Kooda)

Glorious ski on soft quiet snow as more big white snowflakes were falling. Tracks were set shallow and inconsistent. Recent two inches of snowfall and wind caused them to indiscernible on the advanced loop. Up to that junction we followed other skier tracks on the beginner and intermediate loops. Trails are packed wide enough to herringbone up and snowplow downhills as needed. Great conditions to take the one steep downhill instead of the bypass on the intermediate loop. It was about 20 degrees when we finished at 9:30. Extra blue worked perfectly to climb most hills in the tracks and still plenty of glide down.
(Catherine McLynn)

Recent grooming with minimal debris worked into the deck. Some needles and leaves in a few spots. Some damaging boot traffic near the river on both mixed use and designated ski trails. Overall the trails were in very good shape for late February. Although the trail system has a relatively small footprint, I had two hours of fun mixing up routes.
(Jeff Pesta)

For the 2025/2026 ski season, we will not be grooming our ski trails. This is due to a construction project which is blocking all through-access to our trails. Our hope is that we'll be grooming again for the 2026/2027 ski season.
(Bryan French)

State groomer reported trails have been packed but not tracked. With recent new snow, should be fun to make your own tracks.
(Catherine McLynn)