Lester Park skate lane groomed Thursday. Overall trail is in pretty good shape. Conditions are good for skiing.

(Andy Holak)

Night ski at Lester, covered all of the trails. Skate deck is firm/bordering icy with the cold conditions, just enough to make things exciting. A number of dirt patches scattered around the trails have kept me on the B skis, but you could probably run better skis if you were careful and avoided the playground loop. Still wishing for a big dump of snow in the northland!

(Eric Nordgren)

Lester was groomed around noon today and is in good condition with a few small dirty patches. Tracks are a bit shallow in a few spots. It was 4 degrees and the going was a bit slow. I skied just before sunset and saw only one other skier. I guess there was some game on TV or something.

(Catherine Winter)

I classic skied for almost two hours this afternoon. Temperature was about 3 to 5 degrees. I only skied the trails that are lit at night, and the snow and grooming were very good. There were a very few areas with dirt or grass showing. The chalet was open from 11 AM until 4 PM today (as all weekends) and it was a welcome perk of skiing there today. I changed clothes and took a late lunch break in the chalet midway through my ski session. Thanks for the grooming and the chalet!

(John Bogen)

I skied from the Seven Bridges "main" lot around noon, skipped the playground loop, skipped the G, J, and L side loops. Decent conditions overall. There are dirty/thin spots in the skate lane here and there, and similar issues (though less so I think) in the classic tracks. At 6-12F, the snow was kind of the fast version of hardpack styrofoam--not super-aesthetically pleasing, but manageable--not icy or scary fast, but definitely not slow slogging. [The stretch down from the 7 Bridges Rd lot to the sharp left is the most boilerplate out there--if you can tolerate that, the rest is better.] I rated it as "B" skis because of the periodic dirt, but it happened that my good skis were still waxed for cold so that's what I used, and I had no major anxieties about that. If you skied after dark, you might want to be more cautious about using your bonded spider silk World Cup skis--your call. If you were sitting there wondering "could I stand to ski 20k at Lester?" I'd say yeah, you could.

(Erik Riker-Coleman)

Lester Park groomed. Overall conditions are good, classic tracks are shallow in spots and some dirt showing up on both the skate and classic areas.

(Andy Holak)

Lester was freshly groomed this morning and it's looking beautiful. The snow we got has covered the trail and adhered to the ice below. There are several spots where dirt got churned up but it is mostly to the far edge of the deck and is all avoidable (except for one spot where the leftmost track is full of debris on the last stretch before you get to the main parking lot on Seven Bridges Road). New tracks set as well-- tracks are shallow in spots but totally skiable.

(Annalisa Peterson)

Skate and Classic: Poor to good. Avoid Upper Lester unless you are an expert skier. Yesterday's 45F weather plus today's freeze has made for icy conditions. The bigger hills on the upper section are tough. Skiing classic I was not able to hold the tracks due to speed. Once forced out of the tracks it was impossible to get and edge to turn with classic skis. I fell once on purpose to avoid a fast trip into the woods. Lower Lester is okay because the downhill portion is much more gentle. I enjoyed the luge like classic tracks today and the resulting speed, but this "Wave 3 Birkie" skier will not venture back to Upper Lester till it snows, or the city grooms and chops up the ice.

(Rich Hoeg)

Nice skiing today at Lester in the warmth. Classic track was still quite good, if shallow. I expect it will be very slick by tomorrow once it freezes hard again. Skate deck had been well used, and had some uneven grooming in it, but no deep ruts, despite the warm weather. Both classic track and skate deck have many thin spots, but they are very visible and easy to avoid.

Photos:

(Tjaard Breeuwer)

Upper Lester groomed with a new classic track. Some dirt patches starting to show through. Overall conditions are pretty good.

(Andy Holak)