It was a slog on the 5k loop - I heeded an earlier posters advice about boulder ridge and I avoided that hill. Lots of deep mushy snow. Tried to go on sections that were smooth and they were incredibly slow. The mush was better for speed. Not certain what it will be like when the weather turns cold - may be hard crusty snow. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

(Scott Greymont)

Quite a shift from the conditions over the last few days. After last night's freezing rain combined with fresh grooming, sugary sections were fairly rare; most of the man-made trail looked like corduroy, felt more like corrugated steel. A little focus on keeping the skis flat on the snow, and it was actually quite fun. I didn't brave the Ridge, although a few other skiers seemed to be navigating the downhill just fine. I suspect with the temps climing, and more traffic, it'll be back to sugar bowl conditions pretty quickly. I didn't ski the natural snow trails, but what I could see looked pretty awful - lots of ice.

(Tom Kunau)

Hyland HS Meet Schedule; week of Jan. 30; Tues/Thurs/Fri 3:30- 5pm and Wed. 9:30 - 3:30; break from noon-1 pm.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

I hit the man-made sections this morning. Pleasantly surprised after the crowd scene this weekend - the surface had evened out a bit, the sugary areas weren't nearly as deep, glide was decent, and with the snow falling, an overall enjoyable experience. And I saw only a handful of other skiers in the hour I was there.

(Tom Kunau)

Yes, early afternoon on the snow-making loop was a lot of slow deep sugar on the uphills, really not too bad on the downhills. I took the advice from an earlier report and stayed to the far left on the uphills and that helped. After asking a few skiers, I ventured out on the Lake Trail for the rest of the afternoon and it was actually fair to almost good for skating (no tracks). It was hard packed and there were some icy spots, especially crossing the picnic area south of the chalet, but good snow coverage and much more fun than dealing with the sugar and the crowds. Beware of a fairly long very icy patch on Oak Knob going north if you try that trail.

(Dave Carlson)

Sugar Sunday. I arrived at Hyland right as the sun came up around 7:30. Arguably too late as 100 people were already getting in their Ks on the man made loop. While there was evidence of beautiful corduroy an hour earlier on the boulder ridge cutoff, sugar was reappearing on all the uphills - more like sand traps on anything remotely steep. I fear if you are reading this now it will be deep sugar on the flats as well. That said, the classic tracks looked great. Really, we all should be up in the UP right now.

(John Holton)

The artificial snow trails are a bust--way too much sugar snow, even on most of the flats. I did ski the outer trails today and the last few days. There is a very thin layer of snow over a hard pack of ice, so you can still use the A skis. However, this natural snow is very slow, as it has been all week. Oh how I pine for even an inch of new snow! I did ski the small pond off the Nature Center Loop and it was quite fast if you keep a flat ski.

(Scott Engstrom)

Manufactured snow trails which include Star, Willow Creek, Frog Town, Scenic Foothills, and Boulder Ridge are packed, tracked, and in good condition for both skate and classic. Natural snow trails are in fair condition for skate and not tracked. Visitor Center is open Monday - Friday 9 AM - 9 PM and Saturday - Sunday 8 AM - 9 PM. Rentals are available. Trail lights are on from 5 AM - 10 PM.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

Saw people coming in on the side trails - so they must be skiable - but I stayed on the 5k loop. Started this morning with a few other hearty souls being out before sunrise - it was beautiful corduroy early on - but by 8am the up hills were getting mushy and sugary.
Hyland / Three Rivers is doing a great job of grooming and giving us something to train on since mother nature doesn't seem to want to cooperate.

(Scott Greymont)

Skate skied the full man-made snow loop once and again skipping the climb of Boulder Ridge the second time. it was sunny (great sunset) and 30 degrees. Great snow conditions; it was coarse sugar snow over a firm base; there was a consistent classic track except on some of the uphills. The loose snow got deeper on the uphills; moving to the left got you out of the deepest snow. I used salmon (old color scheme) FastWax HF. This is tough, strenuous course for 64 year old me. Nevertheless I was glad I resisted my aversion to artificial snow courses. (Didn't have lot of choice if I wanted to ski) I did 5.6 miles in just under an hour, a surprising 5.9 mph pace for me given the 150 ft. elevation gain.

(Keith Carlson)