Conditions: Surprisingly good. Just a few rough spots.
I skate skied the the whole system this afternoon. The skate deck was firm and provided a good edge. There were just a couple of tiny icy spots. There are, however, some ruts along most of the trail. While the downhills are in pretty good shape and not generally icy, the ruts make some of the always heart-pounding drops real white-knuckle affairs. With the aid of one of these ruts, I added a good sized rut of my own using my left buttock. As noted by others, there is a small amount of dirt and debris in a few spots and a couple of exposed rocks on the final stretch of Razorback. Despite these, I was comfortable on my best skis -- fine skiing this afternoon.

(Jonathan Poppele)

Conditions: Well groomed for skate and classic.
Very good coverage; recently groomed. Amazing what a coating can do. No icy spots. Some big easily visible rocks on one of the uphills. All was going well until I broke my ski in two. Could use A skis. Good classic track on most of trails.

(Scott Engstrom)

Conditions: Good. Hard packed base with 1" of fluff on top. Some debris, but the only rocks are clearly visible in the middle of the trail on the last big climb on the Razorback loop.
The hard packed, verging on icy, base made me a bit cautious, but the fresh cover on top made the trails really good. Only the one area with very obvious large rocks noted above. The tracks also looked as good as any I've see on natural snow in the metro this year. Some oak leaves. Several walkers on the trails including a family with a sled with a child laying in the trail - I was rounding a bend on a downhill at speed and had to resort to the "flying buttocks arrest." Fortunately no damage to me or child.

(Sue Schroeder)

Conditions: Great coverage except the last big uphill on Razorback, where the big rock likes to stick out in the middle of the trail. Recently and nicely groomed. Very fast, fairly hard-packed, but plenty of edge.
Most beautiful, exciting, and fun ski I have had this year and possible in years. Only complaint: I ran out of gas after three tours of Razorback, but that's obviously my own fault.

(Jess Holle)

Conditions: Fair to good, recently groomed skate deck, track looked ok but not re-groomed.
Trail had been groomed again today it appeared, and seems to have improved from previous reports. It was, however, very fast. The grooming left soft 1" balls of snow across the entire trail, though they are hardly noticeable from the skis standpoint as they cut right through. Track was not re-groomed but looked in ok condition, though I was skating. It was great to ski Murphy again!

(Casey Rutherford)

Conditions: Slow, uneven, mostly covered with some rocks/debris showing in parts.
I skated while my mom did classic on razorback. The snow was very slow and the trail was very uneven, making downhills interesting. It really needs to be groomed. Evidence of walkers with dogs on the trails. Props to my mom for skiing it on waxless skis.

Photos:

(Natalie Yarbrough)

Conditions: Icy around 9am. Uneven downhills. First downhill of outer loop was like a mini-mogul course, but without a pattern.
I normally consider myself pretty accepting of conditions and have skied Murphy many times in the past. Unfortunately overall icy conditions (which I'm sure improved later in the day) and a ridiculously bumpy, uneven downhill for the first optional piece of the outer loop convinced me that Razorback would be a bad idea -- and would remain so until it is groomed. I did the inner loop and headed elsewhere. It's really a shame as this is the best trail system in the area in my opinion -- it just needs a lot more grooming attention than it receives. Cleary Lake is really boring and short by comparison, but gets groomed to death. Some balance would be nice.

(Jess Holle)

Conditions: Soft and a little uneven but fun! Good coverage.
I was skate skiing at Murphy today. It was a lot of fun to get out there again. The trail is a little soft, uneven, and bumpy. It wasn't just the warm weather because the trail leading to Razorback was nice and firm. I'm guessing Razorback wasn't groomed today. The downhills are a little interesting and the steeper ones had "snowplow" tracks down them. The uphills were pretty good. Somebody also took their dog around the loop and some of the dog tracks sunk down 6 inches. If they groom again the trail should be awesome.

(Nick Raisanen)

Conditions: Soft packed, tracked and slow. Lots of upholds!
Very soft snow. Pole baskets easily go through the snow. Watch out for the downhills since the trails are uneven and soften on the corners. Great to be back on Razorback.

(Eric Spieler)

Conditions: Soft, uneven and the best ski of my life!
I have waited 2 years to ski at Murphy again and it was heaven. The trail is soft, very uneven and it was pure heaven as I slogged my way around the little loop. A few more days to firm up and some more passes with the groomer and the trail should set up nicely.

(Karen Amundson)