Skated for an hour in the early afternoon. Better conditions than expected; skied all the trails on the east side (brown/green/yellow/orange) and only came across two rough spots, both avoidable (one of the brown loop uphills and the small uphill when you begin the orange). Still would use rock skis/B skis, but a few more inches and you can bring out A skis. Yellow trail skate deck has good coverage but fairly uneven. No classic tracks yet, but skate deck is very nice on most trails. Best bets are green and yellow trails. Nice to have a natural snow option in the east metro!

(Seth Cattanach)

New snow from yesterday, and today's grooming helped smooth outer loop and made inner loops smooth. Just a couple avoidable dirty patches. It's great to have an option to ski in NE metro.

Photos:

(Ben Creagh)

There is maybe two inches of fluff down in the early afternoon. It stuck. Today was just a short classic trip on wood first, then on modern skis. No track. Use was light. The wood skis tracked solid straight without track but snail slow. The glide zones need attention... The modern skis ran reasonably well on the new snow, near normal speed for the condition. Technique was rusty with several days off repairing damage from a prior crash. Skate marks were about as expected as well; obviously shorter than on a prepped surface but not stubby. The deck will improve with use. Traffic was increasing as I left around 2:30 pm.

(Jeff Bolte)

Bring the rock skis for a few bare patches on the south-facing hills but overall very skiable. They were doing a little re-grooming this afternoon. Red loop not rolled yet but packed down by the fat tire bikes, lots of bare spots there too but also skateable on rock skis if you're really desperate for a few more Ks.

(Tony Hoff)

A novice skier but will do my best to interpret the trails from my point of view :) Skate deck really "fast?" Still learning what "fast" means, but I interpret that has being really slick, not much to grip on to, which leaves a beginner skier like me skiing more cautiously. But enough snow to ski on and get a good workout in. Decent coverage on the open prairie sections, some exposed dirt/gravel on the hills and in the wooded areas, a lot of leaves and twigs in the way. Could use another few inches of fresh snow! We'll get there! But still not a bad ski at Lake Elmo!

(Liz Westerhaus)

1-2" fresh powder. Not groomed yet for either. Good condition. Should be much better once groomed. All trails open, B skis needed. Beautiful morning. Worth the trip out here.

(John Whitt)

Be careful out there, especially at night. Trails were better than expected but still quite variable. Coverage is uneven as expected, given the amount of snow. I took the classic B skis after dark, skiing with Ride and Glide. We saw most of the Brown trail. No track, but no problem for experienced classic skiers. Some or all of us in the group had something drag under the skis on various downhills. We were skiing different lines. The snow was fast. Given the scarcity of ski time here last season, this evening was a really fun time. Beware of the horse manure on the Brown trail.

(Jeff Bolte)

Thanks to Washington County Parks for grooming the trails after two minimal snowfalls. I broke through to the frozen ground on a few occasions during my hour long ski on Monday, so I suggest bringing the rock skis. But there was enough snow to finish a solid interval workout. It felt great to be skiing on natural snowfall so close to home.

Photos:

(Blaze Fugina)

Ski trails at Lake Elmo are being packed as of today. No tracks will be set until we get a more substantial snowfall. Stay tuned for further updates!

(Carolyn Friedrich, Washington County Parks)

No groomed trails. Rock ski conditions, but you can ski all the East trails. Some stretches are nice, some are like skiing on my icy driveway. Expect some scratches, and expect some rewarding stretches. I prefer real snow on wooded trails. The snow is thin.

Photos:

(Ray Johnston)