Skied witih some friends on the man-made snow for most likely the last ski of the season. I used my rock and B skis but it really didn't matter as the snow was icy and sharp. We had to take off our skis a couple times to avoid going downhill on ice and on skiing on bare ground. I am sure the conditions "softened" up in the afternoon. We saw a Three Rivers employee walking on the trail and he told us he wasn't going to bother checking our passes because the trail was closed anyway. Thanks to Three Rivers Staff for great conditions in a not-so-great ski season. See you Next year! Pray for snow!

(Bjorn Cummings)

Fair to poor. Came here after Lake Elmo showed way too much bare ground to even attempt. Ungroomed but fortunately none of the recent snowfall had melted so no frozen ridges to skate through; just a couple inches of light snow where it was not already packed down by other skiers. I did not go all the way to the top of Scenic Foothills because of the extent of bare ground showing. However other than that I only had to dodge a few bare spots. It was 28 degrees and still sunny at my 6:30 start. Did a slow two miles in a little over 30 minutes. Not sure it was worth it to get in one more ski but I had to try.

(Keith Carlson)

Summary: Better than nothing, but sometimes not much. Trails are officially closed so there was no grooming of the new snow. We actually skied on the man-made trails only. (On natural snow trails, we observed that ski track edges often revealed the ground underneath.) The Scenic foothills and Boulder ridge were blocked off. The Frog Town loop had the best skied-in tracks. Otherwise the trails were haphazard with some snowmobile and vehicle tracks. In some places, the snow could be very thick on one side of the trail and have bare spots showing thru on the other. Many bare spots on uphill portion of Willow creek loop.

Photos:

(Tom Pitchford)

Hyland Cross Country Ski Trails are now closed for the Season. Thank you to everyone who skied on Hyland XC Ski Trails. We do have the best groomers ever! See you next winter or see you biking, skating or running the paved trails!

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

Only two other people out, and the trail is clearly fading fast. That said, the track was still imminently skiable. They've blocked off the back half of the loop, so it was down to a little under 3K per loop. Was fun to get out there one last time. Thanks again to the Hyland groomers! You all did a fantastic job making the best of a very challenging season, and I for one can not thank you enough! See you all next season!

(Bill McKinney)

Skied early this morning and found mostly good skiing. Some icy spots and some sugary spots. My wife and son went out in the afternoon and found mostly sugar. They talked to groomer who said tomorrow would be the last day of grooming, so this will be the last chance to get out and enjoy Hyland at its best till next season. [ Three Rivers has previously announced that Sunday night will be the last grooming -- Ed. ]

(Kevin Wendland)

Caught the end of the window for good skiing this morning with a 11:30 am start when weather app indicated it was 36 degrees. Brilliant sunshine and mild south wind. Groomers deserve credit for creating this durable of a base. Snow varied from wet corn in a few locations to very skiable, dryer corn on most of the trail to harder base in the really shaded portion of the snowmaking loop. The wet corn did catch me or cause a rapid deceleration at the start of the descent from the top of Scenic Foothills. Snow was predictably really churned up or loose on the uphills. I used FastWax Yellow LF. Given recent temperature it was very decent skiing. Averaged 5.9 mph over 5.6 miles.

(Keith Carlson)

Slept in and skied starting around 8-ish. Quite outstanding skiing on the manufactured snow. An hour later you could make a point that it was starting to trend towards a little sugary in parts, but just delighted to be out on a nice morning, with good skiing. Skate deck was in good shape, the irregular bits from a couple days ago (occasional groomer track marks, for example) were groomed. Classic track looked good, sounds like waxing was simple for the couple people I talked to, but of course, they were on skin-skis. Too bad that it's closing down, but so it goes. Great job by the groomers all season.

(Luke Smith)

Perfect conditions this morning at 7:00 am. My birkie wax was spot on. Fast but not icy. Kudos to the Three Rivers for keeping us skiing this year. See you next year.

(Mike Krumholz)

Manufactured Snow Trails which include Star, Willow Creek, Frog Town, Scenic Foothills, and Boulder Ridge are Packed, Tracked, and in FAIR condition for both skate and classic. Visitor Center is OPEN Sat./Sun 8am-9pm; and beginning Monday; Daily 9 AM - 5 PM. Rentals are available. Trail Lights are on from 5 AM - 10 PM. The Last Grooming On the Trails Will Be Sunday night, March 5.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)