Race cancelled

Unfortunately, due to poor trail conditions, this Saturday's Pilot Knob Ski Race is cancelled.  Because of the roller coaster weather pattern with warm ups and rains, plus it being a low snow year there is not enough snow to race on.

I did roll the lake after getting about an inch of snow Saturday night just to keep some desperate skate skiing alive here.  There are no classic tracks remaining.

This is a very tough year for skiing!
Jeff

Pilot Knob Lake thin spot.  

If only it was like this all the way around.

Iowa Winter Games Update - Races Rescheduled to Feb. 17

Iowa Winter Games Cross Country Ski Races have been rescheduled to February 17, 2018 because of current trail conditions. Stay tuned for trail updates. As of now, trails are not skiable. See previous posts on ice and water issues.  Check the Iowa Ski Trail Update or Ski Cresco Facebook for trail and race updates.

Prairie Springs Skit Trails - Prairies Edge Nature Center - Cresco

Beautiful day for skiing today. Skiers I spoke with seemed happy with the conditions all things considered. Temperature at 3 PM was 30 degrees, so I don't think we will lose a lot of snow today or get an icy crust for tomorrow. Dry Creek Trail was much better after rolling a second time last night. All trails and loops should be skiable tomorrow (no diagonal track has been set because of snow depth) at least until 2 PM when temps are predicted to get quite warm. There are areas like Minears Field that are open and subject to a lot of direct sun and two inches of packed base will melt off in those areas quickly.

Hope you can get here and get some time in on the trails tomorrow! After Friday, all bets are off!  Skiers from several counties enjoyed the trails today.

Prairie Springs Cross Country Ski Trails - Prairie's Edge Nature Center - Cresco

Skiing is very good in areas and fair in others. Bike Trail, Campground Road, Campground Trail and Campground are very good. The Meadow Loop is good and Minears Field (except for one stretch of 10-20 yards which can be double poled) are good. The Hill Trail is fair on the uphill and good on the flat stretch. The Dry Creek Trail is fair.

I will be going out to roll the River Trail and River Loop, and the Nature Center Trail shortly, but I don't expect either of these areas to be very good because of terrain and/or wind exposure.

See photos for more info. If you are going to ski these trails, better do it before Friday afternoon as it is supposed to get near 40 degrees and some stretches will melt and expose bare ground.

Prairie Springs, Cresco 1-16-2018

Prairie Springs, Cresco...

Rolled most of the trails this afternoon and early evening.  We have had 5-6 inches since the rain and melt last week.  Because of the wind, we still have some bare spots in the Nature Center, but the Campground Road, Campground, Campground Trail and Bike Trail should be in good shape.  Minears Field, Hill Trail, Dry Creek Trail are fair to really good in spots.  I will ski tomorrow and finish rolling the other trails and give a report.

South Hills Golf Course Waterloo

Skied South Hills Golf Course this afternoon.   It was packed on Thursday and the skating skiing was good today.   The base is thin with grass sticking through in places (too thin to set classical tracks).   The main loop is 1 mi around with a 60 ft climb between the ridge and valley so providing somewhat of a hill workout.

Pilot Knob State Park

The 1.5 km loop on the lake was groomed this morning for both skate and classic style skiing. Snow was again pulled in from the sides to build up the depth a little more and to help us survive a bit of a warm up this week.  The classic tracks were in very good shape.  The skate lane was good but there were some small chunks in the old snow that will hopefully come out in the next grooming.  With the sun shining and other skiers out, it was a great day to ski the knob!

Irv Warren Golf Course - Waterloo

Skied Irv Warren this afternoon.   As Brett noted below the ski trail was packed on Tuesday.    The base is very thin with grass sticking through in many places.   It skied (skating) quite well today.   A complete loop is approximately 2.2 miles.

Ashton CCC, Iowa City

Ashton CCC, Iowa City, 1-4-18 9:00AM
Ashton has been rolled and groomed this Thursday AM, surface should set up quickly with cold temps. Beware gopher mounds on the north and east sides.
No Classic groove yet, not enough snow depth.
Thanks to Greg, Paul, and Matt for working in the cold temps!

Irv Warren GC, Waterloo IA

Irv Warren GC, Waterloo IA.
Irv Warren trail was compacted and groomed on 1/2/18 at 3:30pm.

Morgan Creek Park and Wickiup Hill Learning Center

Trails at both areas have been groomed. Ranger Shaun said the conditions were not good and he would give it a grade of C.

Pilot Knob Lake

The 1.5 km loop around the lake in Pilot Knob State Park has been groomed today for both skating and classic skiing.  No other packing or grooming has been done on the road or on the golf course as of yet.