It seems to have been a long winter with no fire tower; however, today I got there - from P12 -> #40 -> #24 -> #1 and back. I went classic and was glad that I did - to skate would have been unpleasant. The classic tracks were soft but firm and, although not fast, were enjoyable and comfortable. The tracksetting on #24 has been done as if it was a classic trail (the same as #40) which meant poor skating and cut classic tracks. In terms of classic, #1 blue was in great shape; in terms of skating it was extremely poor. On #1 blue, from #24 to McKinstry, the skating track had deep gouges from the runners of a maintenance snowmobile. Throughout the track was soft particularly from McKinstry to the tower. Perhaps I should now proclaim that at long last Ridge Road has its very own ridge - for the entire distance there was a ridge that meandered from the side to almost the centre. Up to McKinstry it was pushed down somewhat by the snowmobile; from McKinstry to the tower it was quite evident. My judgment is that the tracksetter was too small for the job.