The Hap made snow trail is open and in good condition. Some soft areas where exposed to sun today. Downhills were fast with a little bit of ice. Good skis are fine. The Twin Lake trail has been getting a lot of attention over the last two days with lots of snow hauling. About 2/3 of the trail has been covered with man-made snow, good for 1-2 inches of coverage over the icy snow. Don't head out there yet, it hasn't been groomed, so mostly lumpy snow down the center of the trail until all the work has been completed. After more snow hauling on Tuesday, the trail should be in good shape again. Skyline has bare ground in places, some areas are not too bad. Judy is probably too icy to be skied right now with any skis and there are bare spots.

(Craig Jarvinen)

I stopped by Wirth for an evening skate ski on the man-made loop, after a full day's worth of skier traffic, and I'll echo Margaret's earlier comments: the Hap Lutter 3.6K loop is holding up GREAT! By 5pm there was only one small uphill segment with sugar -- about five ski lengths at most -- and the rest of the course was remarkably firm and super fast. There was only one small patch of ice on an uphill, and it was easily avoidable. Having just gotten back from enjoying the beauty and natural snow of the 31K Noquemanon course in the U.P., I managed to get in another 31K at Wirth on the man-made snow, and I enjoyed every minute of it. There were so many happy faces -- of all ages and ability levels -- out enjoying the awesome skiing and tubing at Wirth on a lovely Sunday afternoon/evening as the sun began to go down. It was truly a festival atmosphere -- a preview of the fun in store for next weekend!!

(Bill Oyler)

With the Loppet Festival coming up next weekend, I took a reconnaissance ski at Wirth to see how trails are holding up. The manmade snow loop was in remarkably good shape, largely flat and firm. Some typical curves are beginning to see berms forming from snowplowing, but I felt these were still quite navigable and nothing a little raking couldn't smooth out. Uphills were also showing typical sugar snow in some areas, but only a few inches in depth - definitely not mashed potato stage just yet. Skiing out toward the Back 40 west of the main snowmaking loop is a bit heartbreaking as you can see how just a little snow gift could really bring those trails back to great condition. What remains from the last warm spell is a mix, with some in pretty fair condition (albeit very thin) and other sections with more underlying ice exposed. The majority of the Back 40 trail is currently closed due to snowmaking efforts on the west side that were being put into good use for trail repair even as I was leaving today. Loppet volunteers were hard at work smoothing out snow by brought in by snowmobile. Volunteer crews from Surly Gives a Damn were also putting up infrastructure for the weekend's festival. All in all, what is currently in place should be in great condition for the upcoming races, and officials are making every effort to extend the skiable distance through sheer willpower and manpower.

Photos:

(Margaret Adelsman)

Skied the man-made loop at about 3-4:30 this evening after the high school meet was over. The trails were in good shape, but the uphills and downhills were blown out/ had a good layer of sugar. However, that was to be expected after a major high school race. It was still a great ski, and nothing some grooming won't fix. One major note of caution: the new downhill that is past the upper stadium and near the big clubhouse was very blown out and frankly a bit scary. A hay bale was put in front of a tree that is on the left side of the trail, and thank goodness it's there, because while I was out there I saw a skier crash into the hay bale- he was fine. That hill was so blown out from snowplowing that it was icy, quick, and difficult to turn, thus making it easy to overshoot left and hit that tree/hay bale instead of accomplishing the right turn. I've skied that hill countless other times and it's been fine otherwise. Just a note to take it easy there if you're going out tonight or any time the hill is icy. A buddy and I decided to try out Twin Lakes Trail to mix it up, but after getting only a couple hundred meters in we turned back and decided it wasn't worth it. Ice with a thin coating of snow on top. We both had our best skis on, so we didn't want to risk it.

(Melissa Berman)

Skied the made snow loop a number of times (skate). There were a few patches of exposed ice (in the middle of the sledding hill connector section, and on the last uphill before the lower stadium). Downhills were shaved, but not actually icy. All of the uphills were very sugary, and required high-stepping near the crest. The snow felt slow, but that could have just been me. No real debris on the trail, just the ice. The classic track looked like it was barely present in most places due to the sugary conditions.

(Dan Boody)

"Good" mashed potato conditions. Great to see the depth of snow. Skied in the morning, and had to contend with the sheer mass of snow, which is an ironic thing to be mad about. Once they groom it later today, presumably after the snowfall, I think it'll be great.

(Paul Larson)

The crew is out rolling the system this morning. The snow is packing nicely in most places, but still needs to bind with the underlying ice in others. Use caution if you ski this morning on the natural snow trails. We have packed the snow, so now we wait for it to firm up and bind to the ice and then will be out to groom.
The Hap Lutter man made loop is groomed and in great shape.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)

Skied the man-made loop as I have most days in the past week. The loop survived the melt down intact! Conditions are rocket-fast soft corn that is drying out nicely with the cooler weather. some areas of snow are discolored but I did not see any actual abrasive material on the course. In the past couple days the crew has been doing the old-fashion job of covering dirty spots with clean snow, one sled load and shovel scoop at a time. Wonderful to see that kind of dedication to the trail! The trail was noticeably whiter today than yesterday. Looks like they have avoided tilling with the pisten bully to preserve snow as well.

(Zach Handler)

Can nearly copy/paste a recent report I read from Hyland: The classic track is torn up in places but still holding up reasonably well. It was slower than usual, sugary (mash potatoes in spots) and a bit of a slog but a good work-out nonetheless... It was freshly groomed this morning with icy-surface, and being more mashed as the day went on.
Still skiable. But more of a workout than a "ski".

(Paul Larson)

Hap man-made loop is soft, but holding up well. We have staff continuing to add snow over dirty areas from reserve piles. They are also raking out some of the soft uphills that can get difficult to navigate as conditions soften.

(Isaac Kasper, Loppet Foundation)