Our crews are out this morning rolling the fresh 4 inches of new snow we received overnight. We plan to start grooming late morning after we have finished rolling.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

Excellent conditions on the JD River loop, Wirth Lake loops, and Jar Hill! The Eloise Butler loop is in very good condition, with just some forest debris (bark, leaves, etc.) that is easy to dodge. The steepest downhill in Eloise has one patch of dirt/ice, but it's easy to avoid. The Wedding Hill loop is super clean and really fun. Excellent skiing in South Wirth continues!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

Skied from Wirth Beach to 394 sound wall and back. Snow adhered nicely to any ice that was present underneath, downhills super fast and fun. Able to get a decent edge on all uphills. Great job groomers!

(Joseph Altendahl)

Skied The Bog and Eloise Butler segments. Surprisingly good on the loop sections. Groomers had been out this morning, south facing hills a little hard/slightly icy and a couple small spots to make sure you don't put your ski on; and then small debris in many spots, but overall very skiable. No traditional tracks on the trails. The link along 394 however has a couple very icy spots. Thanks groomers for all your hard work - makes enjoyable days like this from all your hard work. Any snow we get will make these trails top rate pretty quickly.

(Carleton Johnson)

Skied from the Chalet down to Eloise Bultler and the Bog and found all to be in very good condition with recent grooming (either today or yesterday). I haven't done those trails in a couple of years and wanted to get them in before warmer weather. I'm glad I did! Just a few thin spots could easily be skied around. There was some debris on the trail in the woods, but it wasn't really a problem yet. The Judy loop off the snowmaking loop was also in good shape.

(Lois Braun)

Superb snow! The Eloise Butler and Quaking Bog trails are in fantastic shape. 95% of the snow is clean, soft snow that feels like the old fashioned mid-January snow that we used to enjoy years ago. There is maybe 5% that is somewhat dirty but easy to avoid. Skating is fantastic; classic tracks are intermittent in Eloise Butler and not present in most of the Bog due to the snow depth. Lots of folks out today enjoying the pristine conditions in the woods. Get it while you can!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

Good conditions. Groomed classic and skate deck. Classic tracks everywhere possible. No classic tracks in the quaking bog area due to the trail not being wide enough.
The past few days we have been cleaning up the course marking left over from the Loppet festival and doing some trail maintenance. That is the reason for there being snowmobile tracks that are not groomed out.

(Jonah Parady, Loppet Foundation)

Skied both sides of the South Wirth trails between 3-4 pm. Coverage was good but the skate lane was at times marginal due to a lot of recent snowmobile tracks and ruts - it seemed odd that they were not grooming, just driving around. It appeared that grooming had occurred post Loppet, no signs of fat bike traffic. Classic tracks were quite shallow or non-existent.

(Genevieve Johnson)

Skied Skyline, Tornado Alley, Elouise Butler and Bog trails. Eloise B and Bog trails are surprisingly in poor condition. The skate deck is dug up and trashed by it seems by grooming snowmobile while the classic track set is too far to the right bringing skier in conflict with bushes, tree branches and soft snow conditions from going off the packed trail. Tornado Alley and JD Gardens a little better. I'd stay off till the trail crew resets it and posts a repair report.

(Greg Klave)

As part of my ski of the whole Loppet race course, I was pleasantly surprised by the excellent coverage and clean snow for the JD Rivers loop as well as Wirth Lake and Jar Hill, which I hadn't skied yet this season. No icy or dirty sections at all! I followed the signs to the newish road crossing at Glenwood and the Wirth Beach House lot, and proceeded over the pond and "back side" path around the pavilion, which was in surprisingly great shape. Eloise Butler was also in great shape, with just enough gentle grooming to get rid of the ice but not expose any dirt or rocks. The Quaking Bog is also in good shape although there are a few stretches with leaves and forest debris. The connection down by the 394 sound wall isn't bad at all, and the sidewalk across the freeway has plenty of snow and no ice. Note that classic tracks are pretty sparse in these areas due to snow depth. See Part 3 of my review under Chain of Lakes for the next segment.

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)