Conditions: Mixed bag, but overall, decent!
Skated almost entire system at 11 AM. No grooming on multi-use, but the light fluff over the pack seemed faster than the rolled trails, which were getting a little warm and sticky--thin/icy by the open prairie near Nature Center, though. Heard a rumor Eagle was rolled but not tracked, so went and took a look--tracker had just been through and tracks looked in great shape; not much track elsewhere aside form man-made. Cowabunga was amazingly good both up and down (but not recommended for beginners, given the usual slight washboard with thin snow). Not too much debris, overall. Try to enjoy it before the warm temps kill it (again...).

(Andrea Ochmann)

Conditions: Valley and Northern lights excellent conditions.
Valley loop: in great shape as usual with this weather. Northern lights: Skating was great! While I was out after the quick inch we recieved they groomed the whole loop. They did not set tracks while I was there. With the fresh snow and grooming, ice wasn't an issue. You could tell at the very end where it connects back to the valley trail that there was ice below but got an edge just fine. Outer loop: Saw the groomer go off the valley towards the outer loop, but alas didn't have a headlamp to explore. The crew out there does such a great job on the trails. Kudos to them.

Photos:

(Josh Bydlon)

Conditions: Afternoon ski found man-made loop excellent skate and classic, Northern Lights loop acceptable but not as "perfect".
Skiing on the man-made loop with it's ultimate groomability makes one expect perfection. And they deliver at Elm Creek for Valley loop. The Northern Lights snow cover is adequate but there are a few icy patches to avoid. Very skiable though. The bridge to outer loops looked pretty melted off so not easy to get out there to explore.

(Dean Kleinhans)

Conditions: Excellent on the man-made loop.
Classic skied and the classic tracks were the best they've been this year. Solid and very fast. I used hard wax. The tracks were very abrasive though as 2 coats of wax started to wear off after 10K. Skate deck was very good and fast too. I didn't venture off the man-made although the outer loops (not Northern Lights) were closed.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Conditions: Perfect on Valley, getting better on Northern Lights.
The groomer was making loops on the Northern Lights trail around noon, making good progress on turning it back into snow.

(Adam Himes)

Conditions: Valley trail is excellent for skate, good for classic. Northern Lights is fair. Manmade trail freshly groomed with corduroy throughout. Tracks on manmade loop are filling with blown snow. Northern lights has 1/2 inch snow on top of ice, but still skiable. Connector between Valley and Northern lights is quite icy.
Not crowded at noon with subzero wind chills. Northern lights was more pleasant even with uneven surface, as you can get out of the wind.

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(Mark Oswood)

Conditions: Valley is perfect, Lake, Creek and NL are very good for skating.
Some debris and a few leaves on the deck on Lake and Creek with a few thin spots but easily avoidable. However with the warmer temps and sunshine peaking through today and possibly tomorrow, the thin spots could get bigger. The classic track I saw on Lake and Creek were mixed, with some sections which looked pretty good, some dirt and even some gone completely (grass).

Photos:

(Brad Johnson)

Conditions: Classic tracks perfect on man made loop, thin, washed out, or non-existent elsewhere.
I skied classic mid-morning. The classic tracks on the man made loop were as perfect as they could be, firm and fast with good kick (using my skintec classic skis - no time to fool with wax today). I took a few strides on the skate deck and found it to also be basically perfect. I took one lap around the Northern Lights loop and found it to be pretty sketchy for classic. The tracks were very thin and washed out in several places; I came out of them several times. The skate deck looked OK around Northern Lights but there were some thin spots and one big patch of exposed ground off to the right near the big uphill/downhill. I didn't go out across the board walk but I could not see classic tracks on that section from any vantage point on the man made loop.

(Leif Irgens)

Conditions: Skate deck is excellent.
I did not ski any of the classic tracks. I only skated this morning. However, the conditions on the skate deck were perfect. Well done grooming crew. I was the only one out here at 6:30. What an amazing ski.

(Paul Pasko)

Conditions: Pretty good conditions on the outer loops.
Skied the outer loops today, conditions for skate were pretty good. You could tell on the blacktop sections there was only a couple inches of base. Hills were holding snow well. Would not recommend striding the outer loops till more snow comes - lots of grass showing in the tracks.

(Scott Greymont)