Tower Ridge Ski Area
Great trails--hills and flats--for all levels. Groomed for both classical and skating. There are about 3km of lighted trails.
Reports 1 to 10 of 28 Month: Jan | Dec
Firsthand: Both Secondhand
Excellent conditions for both skating and classic. Both groomers were out this morning. The Track Truck groomed the skating deck and left a nice, uniform, firm corduroy. The Polaris came along behind and set new tracks on all the trails, including the hills and intersections. A light dusting of snow kept falling and put a skim of snow over the few oak leaves in the tracks, making for smooth glide. I'm told there will be no grooming tomorrow due to the holiday.
(Mark Blaskey, Eau Claire Ski Striders)
Fresh corduroy was set on most all of the upper trails this morning. The deck is wide and firm. The skating is excellent. The lower loop (the "I Loop) was not re-groomed but is still in very good condition. Same classic tracks as yesterday.
Firm, well-groomed skating deck on all the trails. Classic tracks have been set on all the trails except for the steeper hills and at trail intersections. The tracks are deep and firm with the usual smattering of oak leaves.
[ Trails Open: Most, Good skis ]
The groomer (using the old track truck) was working this morning. As of 10:30 about 3/4ths of the trails had been groomed for skating. Where the deck was groomed yesterday it is firm. Where it wasn't groomed yesterday and groomed today the deck is soft but setting up as time goes on. The best skating is down on "I Loop". Very few classic tracks had been set, but when there is a track it's nice.
As of 10:30 this morning the groomer had made a few passes on about 2/3rds of the trails and had left. The groomed skating deck is firm underneath but the skis carve in an inch or more. It was 33 degrees and a light mist falling at 10:30. About 1K of new classic tracks had been set and they were fast and firm. The grooming equipment appeared to be leaking transmission fluid; there were green blotches in many areas.
Two inches of light snow made a huge difference. It was not groomed in but covered the oak leaves and icey snow below it. There were hundreds of skiers out there for Kickin Kids weekly ski program and adult lessons. The track was easy to ski in. The extended lighted section makes evening skiing more fun.
(Karen Possley)
The groomer spent a lot of time on the trails yesterday. On trails where it appears he made one or two passes (Lillehammer, Serenity Now, Lookout, Cardiac, Ying Yang, Big Falls, Donut) the skating deck is scratched up some but still hard in the center, with some corduroy along the edges, and icy on the downhills. On trails where he made multiple passes (Flyway, Tempo, Forget-Me-Not) the skating deck is a wide, fairly even corduroy with a lot of speed in the snow. Many trails had new classic tracks set (Tempo, Flyway) and they are relatively free of leaves (by Tower Ridge standards) and they are deep and fast without being icy.
On most of the trails the skating lane was groomed one groomer-width wide two days ago. The skating lane is hard-packed in the center with sketchy edge control, but the edges have some lightly used corduroy. Overall the skating is fast even with the widespread oak leaves littering the trail. The downhills are icy. No new tracks have been set.
Trail was re-groomed this morning. The skate deck was groomed one lane in some spots and full width in others; the groomer was still out there when I left. It looked like tracks were at least partially/mostly reset and appeared in good condition except for the plethora of oak leaves.
(Colleen Duffy)
By 11:00 this morning the groomer had already left. The skate lane was groomed on most, but not all, of the the trails. The skating lane on trails that weren't groomed is hard-packed snow. The snow machine's tracks leave behind a trail that the groomer can't entirely cover, so there is 2' of corduroy in the middle, flanked by 12" wide remnants of the tracks, and outside of that another 2' of corduroy on each side. The snow turned up by the tracks is granular. On "Cardiac Climb" only the sides of the trail were groomed. "Donut", "Nice and Easy" and a few others were not groomed. No new classic tracks were set and the existing tracks alternate between glazed sections and oak-leaved sections.