Birds Hill Provincial Park

BHP was again busy today. Wow, it got warmer than was forecast this afternoon. Shoulda gone in the a.m. But Esker trail still had more good-enough-to-keep-going spirit than my kids did. We gave it 5/10. A mix of sticky and slushy with a bit of slippery and occasional grass etc. No ponds or big muck though. Lift a ski here, swing off the trail a…[Read more]

Skied Lime Kiln and Esker on skier set tracks today along with a bunch of other people enjoying the day. The tracks are fair with some dirt and slush showing so recommend rock skis. Should be good for the rest of the day and tomorrow morning. It was worth the trip. Just nice to get out 🙂

There are skier-made tracks on all the classic trails, and they will likely still be good tomorrow morning. The Chickadee parking lot was busy.

From Joanne Podolchuk, Park District Manager, Birds Hill Provincial Park on Friday morning:
There has been a few inquiries about grooming with the recent snowfall. The District will not be grooming at this time, equipment is down for post season maintenance. The Park remains open, the ski community can continue to ski, please continue to practise…[Read more]

I skied late in days Sunday 3-6-pm-ish and only hit lime kiln. The ski to the cabin was near perfect for spring skiing conditions. The flooded parking lot and rough conditions At start (lots of pine tree debris, melted track) almost had us turning around but we plowed on and we’re shocked at how wonderful the trail conditions were! No boot p…[Read more]

Sunday morning 7:15 to 10:00, -2° to 0°, sunny.
The Group Use Road has a gazillion footprints. It was icy the entire time I was skiing on it. You just adapt after awhile.
The snow is still contiguous, although one very short section on the SW internal bay will be completely bare (impassible) by the end of today. Other than that, it should still b…[Read more]

Friday morning 7:15 to 9:30, -1° to +1°. Fortunately, clouds didn’t fully clear until 9:30.
Classic: Bluestem and Aspen are still fairly good. Icy-fast, but “soft-icy” at this temperature. There are a few places where the track has melted away, but it was a minor inconvenience. Very enjoyable ski.
Skate: The Group Use Road was very good. Like c…[Read more]

Thursday 11:30-1:00 – it was snowing when I started, and a light layer had settled in the tracks, but it was still a fast ski. Aside from evergreen debris on the return stretch east of Chickadee, Bluestem was in very good condition, and well skied in by the time I finished.

Classic trails (Esker, Lime Kiln, Chickadee, Aspen), Wednesday 11:15 to 1:30, -5° to -3° and bright sun.
All classic tracks are still fairly well-defined, but they are widening. I encountered two bare spots of less than 1 metre long and only one track wide — on Lime Kiln and on Aspen. For the first hour, the tracks were ice/icy and of course e…[Read more]

Monday morning – the north portion of Spruce trail was hard and fast for skating, with many footprints (human and dog). Hope the afternoon walkers stayed closer to the edge to keep it skiable for the days ahead. Thanks to everyone for posting helpful reports, to park staff for the wonderful grooming, and especially Kevin for all his hard work!…[Read more]

Skied lime kiln Sunday afternoon and wow, so happy to see so many skiers out enjoying the trails. No walkers on line kiln so tracks looked perfectly set. Kudos to the staff and management at BHP for all their efforts this year keeping the trails beautifully groomed and managing trail use conflicts. I hope to take advantage of these amazing…[Read more]

Further to what Allan H posted skating on GUR.. ran into a group of 4 people walking on GUR who were also pushing large baby strollers, walking 4 across the skate lane… ran into them twice while doing this… finishing I ran into a group of 15-20 walking down the trail including a bunch of kids.. with the soft conditions its gonna leave alot of…[Read more]

Sunday afternoon, temp 0C The GUR is starting to get a little soft and imagine it will be icy in the mornings.
Counted over 20 hikers on the GUR

Ed is right. The Lime Kiln trail, and likely the other classic trails, are in great shape! Pristine groomed tracks with almost no debris. Very fast at the end of the afternoon.

Friday afternoon skated the GUR, it was harder than I expected but had no problem getting an edge. It was my fastest lap time of the season.
Many family members with children getting out to ski the classic trails.

Birds Hill Park, all classic trails, Friday late morning to early afternoon, -14° to -9°, sunny, calm: A+.
Some of tracks have started to become a bit glazed, so consider using a grip wax that is one can warmer than the temperature.