Trails had not been groomed since Friday night/Saturday morning snowfall. There were lots of trees and limbs that had fallen down and blocked the trail, so this was more of a backcountry experience. Plenty of snow for skiing all the trails, but because it was so wet and heavy I got almost no glide. Plenty of kick going up the hills with the skin skis though. I skied all of Razorback and the parts of the other trails closest to the trail head. There had been lots of hiker and snowshoe traffic on the trails within a mile of the trail head, but almost no foot traffic on the outer portions of Razorback.

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Good spring conditions, skied the outer perimeter (razorback). Snow was soft and slow but this tamed the difficulty of the downhills. A few bumps in the skate lane snow but still good coverage.

(Mark Bushinski)

I went back to Murphy-Hanrehan in the early afternoon today because I had so much fun there yesterday morning. There are tracks set now, which looked pretty good although I didn't use them. The skate deck still has great coverage, and is also still a bit uneven. There are tread marks down the center of the trail from the groomer throughout most of the trail, and some folks have started to walk and fat bike on the ski trail. The overall unevenness gave me more technical trouble today, but maybe I was just more lethargic. Saw an owl, lots of deer, and lots of evidence of coyotes. Don't expect perfection, but do expect fun trails and great scenery. I still highly recommend.

(Andrew Poppick)

I resolved to finally make it out to Murphy-Hanrehan this morning and do what conditions would allow. The conditions were highly rewarding and this was one of the most enjoyable skis I've had this season. When I was there, all the trails had just been rolled but there were no classic tracks set yet. The skate deck was of course a little soft, and it was slightly uneven in spots if I had to nitpick, but it's hard to complain. The sunshine didn't hurt, and there were lots of interesting birds to see too. If you are seeking quiet trails with thrilling hills in the metro area, I recommend you make it over here asap!

Photos:

(Andrew Poppick)

Excellent conditions for classic skiing even though the trails have not been groomed since the most recent 2-3 inches of snow. Enough people have been in the classic tracks to keep them open and pretty well defined over most of the trail. I skied all of Razorback. No ice. No debris. All hills in great condition. Skate deck is not packed at all, and though there have been people skating on it, it looks like it would be pretty slow for skating.

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Trails have been freshly groomed and are in great shape for both classic and skate. Get out and enjoy some of the best trail this winter. Little debris.

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(Jim Smith)

I classic skied all of the trails. The trails were generally in good condition except for some ridges left on some hills by snowmobile grooming, and some snowplow troughs and fall holes on some downhills. The worst big hardened ridges of snow had been in the middle of the dogleg turn on the biggest downhill on the Razorback Trail (also noted by another reporter). But having seen this on Saturday, I brought my avalanche shovel Sunday afternoon and did my best to fix it. Then I took one test run down that section and it was much better! The last mile or of trail past the new bridge still has no set tracks, but it wasn't bad for classic because the snow was still soft enough to keep the skis tracking. Very little debris on the trails. One mountain biker and a couple hikers had left tracks on the ski trail but hadn't done much damage.

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Yesterday was the best classic conditions I can remember in 15 years of skiing at Murphy because thanks to the groomers there were excellent tracks covering about 90% of the trails. Today was almost as good but because of the narrow trails on Razorback, there was some washout on turns and climbs. Amazingly, even with all the snow, pole plants were solid everywhere. The biggest safety issue was some weird ridges perpendicular to the trail at the turn on the biggest curving downhill on Razorback. I stayed in the track all the way down to there and was a bit shocked the first time down since normally there's not much loose snow there; especially not a ridge or pile of snow you have to go over while making the turn. The other issue is from the top of the climb after the new bridge to the trailhead (maybe 10% of the trail) the grooming is pretty messed up. It appears it just needs more passes by the groomer to smooth it out and add tracks. Kettle trail was also in great shape up to that point. I did two Razorback and one Kettle loop on both days. Also had fox run across right in front of me carrying lunch.

(Dan Zenk)

Skied Razorback twice and Knob loop once. Mediocre and highly variable grooming. Some portions of Knob were smooth, even and solid with ungroomed fluff on top. A short portion near the end had two crazy deep tire ruts down the middle of the trail! And some fat tire biker left their own rut through much of the trail. That said, with all the new snow conditions were all quite safe, if sometimes annoying. This is still the best terrain and "back woods feel" in the metro area, so I was glad to see an (altogether too rare) report of safe skating conditions here and take advantage of them.

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(Jess Holle)

Excellent conditions for classic on most of the trails. We skied all of Razorback and the connecting trails. Tracks were deeply set most of the way and there was very little leaf or stick debris. The exceptions were some of the downhills on the second half of Razorback, where gulleys and ridges left from grooming and some pits left by falling skiers made it a bit treacherous! But overall great to have so much fresh snow there and a glorious sunny day with sparkling snow and little wind!

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)