Eagle Point varied from good to poor. It was packed and groomed for skating; no classic track. It was soft with ice on every little rise. A couple of uphills (going counter-clockwise) had lots of dirt or stones. Except for flats on the south and southeast side of the lake where snow was firmer, it was very slow for me with my skis waxed with FastWax Teal LF buffed with fluoro paste.
While it worked to go without my balaclava - so my glasses didn't fog, my attempts to keep my hands warm using my best downhilll gloves with chemical warmers failed. The chemical warmers were apparently too old to work and thus I had to stop three or four times to warm my fingers by balling them into fists within the palm of the gloves until they thawed. As bad was my gloved hands barely fit within my pole straps. Hopefully we will finally have some decent temps and thus decent skiing by Sunday or Monday.

(Keith Carlson)

All cross-country trails packed today. No track set. A few icy spots, and pretty good coverage throughout. Skiers reporting trails in great condition.

(Theresa Young, Washington County Parks)

2" fresh powder over a thin, icy base. Staff was rolling the trails as we skied (late afternoon) and the snow was tapering off. Rocks and debris still present, but hidden underneath thin layer of snow - use B skis or rock skis. Brown and orange trails are in worse shape, especially the south-facing downhill on the brown. Green and yellow are both in pretty good shape (green finger was in fantastic shape for the amount of snow).

(Seth Cattanach)

Lake Elmo Ski trails are being rolled on the east side of the park. Grooming staff says that we have gotten a couple inches at least and that coverage is good. There some rough/bare/thin patches on hills where the wind is blowing the snow.

(Carolyn Friedrich, Washington County Parks)

I've skied here for the last two days and the conditions are very good especially considering the warm weather. The red loop around the lake only has one completely bare spot - otherwise the remainder of the trail is holding up. As for the other trails, the brown/green loops are open with only one section of the brown loop requiring skiers to walk down a small hill that has suffered due to sun exposure. Both brown/green loops have small patches of tree debris in the woods. The yellow loop is in good shape, however the orange loop is deteriorating rapidly. All trails have a sufficiently good base.

(Aubrey Davis)

Lake Elmo trails were better than expected tonight. I skied classic on no wax rock skis. I did bring the waxable A set along and hit the kick wax right. Those were for after the lesson trip. There is no track. There was enough loose snow on top to make classic workable for all abilities. Bare spots were obvious even at night. After the lesson session, there was a short victory sprint on the racers for nailing the kick wax at 34 degrees; Terva Yellow Tar.

(Jeff Bolte)

Eastside report for the evening skiers. Looking out my office window this afternoon, I was expected to find nothing but soft and slow conditions at Lake Elmo this afternoon but I was surprised and delighted to find a hard packed and fast trail, and mostly good coverage. Expect it to be a bit bumpy, and there is some debris and some dirt showing through in spots. There is an inconspicuous rock poking out at the sharp left heading south toward Brown's pond, and as you continue on the brown trail you will come to a downhill with some exposed dirt and gravel at the base of the trail. You will know you are at this sketchy section when you see some telltale snowplow marks in the trail. The campground section is showing some wear as well, but any dirt and gravel you encounter there can be easily avoided. I had on the same wax (whatever it is) that was on my bases this past Saturday and noticed no significant performance difference. I don't know what conclusions can be drawn from that, but I am noticing that the leaves seem grabbier than in past ski seasons.

(Michael Jorgensen)

Skated Eagle Point trail (west side of park) mid-afternoon Sunday and skiing was surprisingly good. A couple of rocks but easily avoided. Too bad so many people were walking on the trail -- there were lots of signs saying "Skiers only." Classic tracks were spotty.

(Karen Weium, WAMXC)

I classic skied this afternoon. That ended quickly with little control on a slippery deck. Tonight, with snow in progress, it was much better. I skied with Ride and Glide. I chose the wood skis based on the flopping around earlier on modern skis. It was fast on the wood and still squirrely at times. The little dusting of snow had bonded. The grip wax (Toko Binder green) bit in well. This was a training session so there was not much distance due to repeats. We were primarily on the Green trail. Back at the Nordic Center, many skiers commented about how well the trails skied tonight. Skaters have a good surface. Classic skiers, it will still be a challenge for you. By not rushing to cut track, the Lake Elmo team has made exactly the right decision.

(Jeff Bolte)

Skate skied all of the trails at Lake Elmo. A tale of two trails systems. The trails on the east side originating at the Nordic Center (brown, green, yellow, orange) were all firm and relatively even. The few spots where the snow coverage was a bit light were easily avoided, and B-skis would probably be okay. Across the road on the west side, the red trail was not well packed and suitable only for true rock skis. The blue multi-use trail on that side, trampled down by fat tire bikes, hikers, snow-shoes and dogs, was far more enjoyable than the red trail. Rock skis for both, and be particularly careful of the scree field that is the short climb to the red trail/blue trail split.

(William Sikorski)