I skated most of the freshly groomed trails this morning. It was beautiful and fun skiing with most of the deck staying firm until at least noon, when I left. March is often some of our best skiing as the cool nights, warm and sunny days and the return of many of our forest creatures creates quite an enjoyable outdoors experience. Timing is important on warm days as trails often soften in the afternoons. There will be plenty of ski and snowshoe trails available away from our race course loop, so there will be enjoyable spaces for all. Come out and enjoy a beautiful outdoor experience. There are smiles all over our trails!

(Bill Kopanda)

Skate skied lake Marie trail that was rolled, not groomed. Was intermittently soft but was worth it to get out in the sun all by myself. The other trails were mixture of groomed and rolled. Skiing slowed down quickly with rising temps. I strongly suggest skiing as early as possible. Great cover with no dirt anywhere.

Photos:

(Brian Ciske)

Beautiful day of spring skiing today! Even though the snow was "talkative" later in the day, the conditions were fantastic! Wolf Tracks and River Run looked just about perfect with solid tracks and good skate decks. Skiing before noon is your best bet as the sun sure heats up parts of the trail fast. But, not to fear, there's a very solid base on all the trails! Looks like there's going to more grooming tonight too!

Photos:

(Erin Blow)

Skied classic . recent 6-8 inch snowfall. Outer loops (River run, wolf's tracks, Lake Marie, not groomed, did not see anyone tracking) did all inner loops. Most very well groomed, no debris. Nutcracker was not groomed, I tracked it. very slow going - snow too deep. Temps rising rapidly from 19-20 at 10 am to max 42 at around 2-3 PM, then sun went behind clouds and cooled to about 35-37. Snow in the sun very mushy, sticky, esp in ungroomed area. (had yellow Toyo wax on, despite rated up to 38 deg air temp still stuck to snow in sunny spots). Highly variable snow surface on groomed tracks depending if sunlit or in shade. Ended up waxing with 2 waxes bands next to each other, not mixing. ( blue swix and yellow toyo -- all I had on me). It actually helped both in terms of good grip and less sticking comp to yellow alone, go figure.

(Michael Heifets)

We skied MWP today. It was great fun: freshly groomed, plenty of snow, a firm skate deck and deep, solid, classic tracks. The snow that fell this week had a higher moisture content so it made for faster skiing with great control. It was virtually effortless skiing. Headed to Hayward? Consider stopping by to experience our beautiful trails.

(Bill Kopanda)

Received 2 inches of new snow plus a helping of freezing drizzle today. Very pleased and surprised by the result. The pine needles and cones mentioned on sunday are now covered. The ski skating was easy and fast, but with great edging also.

(Brian Ciske)

I skied the entire Lake Marie trail. The wind was pushing me on the way out but I had to fight it on the way back. It snowed lightly the whole time I was out so glide was better earlier with less snow in the tracks than it was later with more snow. I love the long out and back trails at MWP including Lake Marie, Wolf Tracks, and River Run. Overall, I would say conditions were good to very good.

Photos:

(Jim Gantz)

Very windy today brought down more pine needles, pine cones and some bark chips. The trails remain in very good shape, however. Very good glide. Still no dirt to worry about. Personal record number of K's in one day for me at MWP since I am unable to Birkie this year. Stringing together the hardest and longest MWP trails gave me a total of 54K.

(Brian Ciske)

Classic skied on well groomed tracks in good condition. Some leaves on the trail, however it was not a concern for damaging skis. Well worth the trip from Milwaukee!

(Michelle Eul)

Skied about 25 km of fresh Pisten Bullied trails today and the conditions were amazing! Groomers did an excellent job breaking up the old crusty bases left over from the warm spell. Tracks were fast and solid but not icy and the skate deck was firm but had perfect edge control. It was the perfect day for some last minute Birkie training. I'm looking forward to more skiing this weekend!

Photos:

(Erin Blow)