It seems they are done grooming the lakes for the winter. I skied out the door intending on going up Cedar/Brownie Lakes to Quaking Bog and continue towards Theo, and none of the trails were set, groomed or tracked. Bummer.

(Steve Booth)

Talked with ski chalet attendant at Wirth Park this afternoon. Due to slushy conditions on the lakes under the snow, they do not plan on grooming the lakes any more this season. Thanks to the groomers for the great skiing on Brownie, Cedar, and Lake of the Isles this year!

(John Traul)

Just skate skied Lake of the Isles and the groomers passed by me. Classic tracks appear to be in good condition.

(Nicole Reynolds)

Ran into neighbor who skate skied the lakes and he said they were in good shape and he'd had a good ski. Groomers had been out this morning. Trail over 394 to the woods are ice to double pole through along with the link along 394, but trails in the woods were pretty good (skied those myself).

(Carleton Johnson)

The lakes were all groomed again today and are in good shape. The skate deck is in excellent shape in most areas and new tracks were set on Cedar and most of Isles. The lakes held up very well through the warm days this week.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

Chain of Lakes were packed today with folks enjoying the sunshine and warm temps (20ish)! Classic striders, skaters, skijourers, walkers, and fat bikers. Chain of Lakes are in good shape - clean, plentiful snow - although they could use one more grooming to get a little more compacted and erase some of the zig-zag fat bike tracks. But overall, fantastic to be enjoying all this snow and grooming in mid-February on the lakes!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

Skied Brownie, Cedar, the woods east of Cedar and Lake of the Isles. Trail is a firm and a little bumpy, but still fast and good skate conditions overall. Very few parts had traditional tracks, and particularly Brownie and the woods had the fat tire bike rut from yesterdays race. Great way to enjoy the city!

(Carleton Johnson)

It will be a lovely race tomorrow and Luminary tonight for everyone. Snow was quite nice and minimal thin spots. Had skied from Chalet to JD, Wirth Lake (had snow blindness), Rose Garden, Bog, Brownie, Cedar, Isles and Calhoun. Go ski.

Photos:

(Peter Leugers)

As part of my ski of the whole Loppet race course, the new route down to Brownie Lake was awesome - wide, clean, and not icy at all. Brownie Lake was in great shape, the tunnel had plenty of snow, and Cedar Lake was in very good shape as well. The Cedar land trails (east and west) were both in the best shape I've seen in many years. There is one huge rock in the middle of the Cedar land trail before the outlet to Hidden Beach, but I suspect it will be flagged for the race. The channel to Lake of the Isles was surprisingly good, and Lake of the Isles was skiing really fast for me given the low temps. (Also - the Luminary Loppet preparations are looking great!) I ventured across the Lagoon to Bde Maka Ska but I couldn't find much grooming yet so I headed back to the Chalet. I'm sure Bde Maka Ska preparations will be underway eventually for a grand finish in Uptown. Should be a great race!!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

Received about 1" of new snow which they rolled earlier today. Very soft for most of the lakes and some places it's icy and sometimes iced classic tracks under the skate lane that'll throw you off. With more grooming and cold temps it should become pretty good. Loppet finish area looked all ready. Some icy spots under bridges. Land trail on NE Cedar wasn't freshly groomed. Slight change in path on Brownie from previous years. Butler and Bog were good coverage with a few icy places. Went up Tornado Alley and did the MWC course also. Excited to have a full Loppet Course!

Photos:

(Clayton Keim)