Conditions: Very good. New snow freshly groomed in. A wee bit soft but really easy skiing.
Skated between 4:30 and 5:30pm. Groomed today but so few people skied that I had plenty of fresh cord all to myself. Groomer made a bypass around the very thin and badly beat up spot where pine cones would stop you. Nice! The last little bits of new snow have really improved the conditions for both skate and classic. All is good.

Photos:

(Jenneke Oosterhoff)

Conditions: Pretty good ya bencha.
The grooming gives a nice course but also pulls snow from high spots to low and has left thin spots in the normal places. One was a gravel spot by the tee along Phalen Dr. I covered (shoveled) that with a pretty thick layer, but some of the snow I was using also had a few rocks (damn), probably from tossing rocks off the trail. In the end, I think the cover is thick enough and clean enough to be fine as long as the snow hardens before the next grooming. I also shoveled the NW corner (lots of debris, no rocks) and SE corner (wasn't bad). Hopefully that will hold a while. Feel free to add to my shoveling so we can have some confidence with good skis.

(Jay Wenner)

Conditions: Firm skate deck. Good coverage. Just a few thin spots that are easy to avoid.
I skied Phalen mid morning today. The skate deck had been groomed since the last snow, and has had only modest use. The deck is firm and offers good edging. There are a few thin spots, and a little bit of debris in places--all of which are easily avoided. The trail is laid out a bit shorter this year than typical and measures just under 4 miles per lap. Sadly, at least one person used the skate deck as a foot path leaving tracks along nearly half the trail. As long as others don't follow this lead, the course should be in great shape for several days.

(Jonathan Poppele)

Conditions: Firm and fast, looks like it had been groomed within the last few days.
Had to check Phalen out tonight. Wow, skate deck was perfect, nice and flat. Classic tracks looked good, maybe skied in. Great place to have an evening ski!

(Bill Stuber)

Conditions: Thin cover, a little blow-in, but not a bad trail. Set tracks fairly shallow and almost non-existant in some places, but firm and not at all washed (skied) out. Some grass and a little dirt showing, but you can just step out of the tracks for a few yards. Skate deck good corduroy but somewhat narrow.
Fresh CH4 at -4F wasn't fast but not too bad for glide. Tracks were pretty good in most places, but keep an eye on the track ahead if you're on good skis (B skis recommended). Due to high snow density, despite shallow tracks the skis tracked well even on downhill curves. Nice ski despite the chill.

(Pete Thurmes)

Conditions: Fresh groomed, soft.
Just did 1.5 laps over lunch. Fresh groomed this morning, I was third set of skate tracks. Classic track looked fair, and also freshly groomed. Still a few grassy spots sticking through, but pretty well covered. Thanks to the Phalen team for a fresh grooming!

(Jeff Miersch)

Conditions: Nice snow coverage.
The trail was very nice today, nice soft snow on skate deck and skied in classic track. The classic track is there but washed out in many places from lots of use. I didn't see any danger spots, thanks to Jay for shoveling.

(Bill Stuber)

Conditions: Plenty of coverage, no grooming.
Spoke with park and rec today and was told that grooming was suspended due to lack of snow. Pretty sure that was referring to Phalen exclusively considering other city trails have had attention. Just needs a little TLC.

(Craig Schulz)

Conditions: Ungroomed. Good coverage, but very slow.
Unfortunately, Phalen did not get Tuesday morning grooming as usual. The last time the course was groomed, it was laid out a bit shorter than most years. A few loops were omitted making a 4 mile (instead of the usual 4.5 mile) circuit. There is good coverage, and a firm base, but it is topped with soft, rutted, drifting snow. Very slow for skating. The classic tracks appear to be faring much better. Hopefully the course will be groomed on Thursday.

(Jonathan Poppele)

Conditions: Good coverage, no grooming.
Last week, I did some shoveling to cover four or five low spots, particularly an exposed cart path along Arcade and the corner near Phalen Dr. and Wheelock. After a few inches of snow, the shoveling probably wasn't needed, but maybe it'll help during the next melt down. There is plenty of snow to ski, but the trails have not been groomed. The skate track is about half skied in and the classic tracks were blown in with snow. Don't shoot the walkers on the trails since local law enforcement has meetings in the clubhouse. (Response time would be very short).

(Jay Wenner)