SEELEY CREEK NORDIC TRAIL SYSTEM
ABOUT
The Seeley Creek Nordic Ski Trails offers a well-balanced 26-kilometer blend of relaxed, rolling beginner and intermediate terrain, mixed with steeper, sinuous, more challenging expert trails. The ski trails at Seeley Creek offer something for everyone, from families with small kids, to seniors, to the most demanding cross-country ski racers.
From December through March, as snow conditions allow, the Seeley Lake Nordic Ski Club grooms all, or at least a substantial part of, the Seeley Creek original trail system on an almost-daily basis. The new Skyline Addition, to the north, is groomed on a weekly basis when sufficient snow depth exists.
Most of the club’s volunteer groomers are also dedicated skiers who, over the years, have grown to be perfectionists when it comes to trail grooming. Consequently, we won’t settle for less and you can expect to find the best grooming possible for any given snow condition.
Please visit our Grooming Report page or https://nordic-pulse.com/ski-areas/US/MT/Seeley-Creek for current trail conditions.
(Click on map for larger image)
More About GROOMING
In the recent past, grooming equipment has consisted of a fleet of four state-of-the-art snowmobiles pulling rollers, drags or Ginzu’s, depending on conditions. In 2021 our wildest dream was realized when a PistenBully 100 was made available to the club. The owner-operator of this machine has grooming experience at the highest levels of cross-country ski racing and his expertise, combined with the club’s 30-year grooming history, means that trail conditions at Seeley Creek will be among the best you will find in Montana.
If we get a foot and a half of snow overnight, we can now have it in shape for both skating and classic that morning. If conditions are settled, we park the PB 100 and fire up a couple of snowmobiles pulling Ginzu’s to freshen the skate lane.
When the groomers are done they post the conditions on the Grooming page.
SKIERS ONLY FROM DECEMBER 1st THRU MARCH 31st
During the grooming season (December 1 thru March 31) the ski trails are intended for skiers only in order to reduce damage to the groomed surface and to minimize conflicts with other users. Winter recreationists interested in dog walking, hiking, snowshoeing, or biking can find multiple opportunities on the groomed snowmobile trails in the area. Check www.driftriders.org to learn more.
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HISTORY
The Seeley Creek Nordic Ski Trails were originally built in 1978. In the beginning the trails were narrow with challenging technical turns and hills. Typically, the turns came in the middle of the hills, the bottoms of which were usually bombed into craters by falling bodies. Rarely groomed, the trails were most often opened by local enthusiasts making tracks in the freshly fallen snow. It was truly a time of “get good or eat wood” with plenty of wood being eaten.
In 1990, the USFS contracted with Olympian Jon Elliott to refine and expand the design of the Seeley Creek Nordic Ski Trails. Work was done to widen the trails to their current 12 ft width and modify loops and routes in 1991. By 1993 the modifications were in place and being groomed. Jon Elliott’s 18-kilometer course is the basis of what we ski today, with an additional 8-kilometer section to the north of the main trail system, which was added to accommodate a 25K racecourse.
In the early 90’s our grooming equipment was limited to one snowmobile pulling a drag. That evolved over time to a fleet of state-of-the-art snowmobiles pulling rollers, drags and Ginzu’s.