Man made loop was perfect. Northern lights hadn't been groomed today, but was skiable except for being hard packed and icy. Creek trail had bare ground in one place (see photo) and it looks like there will be more exposed sections by sunset if it stays sunny. The parts that were good were great, but there were several icy or thin patchs.

Photos:

(Andor Langski)

They were in surprisingly good condition this morning. I came across the grooming crew, working on the Lake Trail, and they had dumped some snow on the bare spots just before the downhill at the lake. The classic tracks on the outer trails haven't been re-groomed, but they're in good shape just the same. The skating deck was firm and fast, and not at all icy. The man-made loop was, as always, in pristine condition, and also very fast. The Northern Lights trail had good tracks and also had a fast, firm skate deck. You could glide down Cowabunga Hill, and make it over the rise at the end without striding. Great to have all this snow to ski on, after such a long snow drought. Hope it lasts!

(Ken Tobacman)

Skied almost all the natural snow trails (including Multi Use, Lake, Creek and Northern Lights trails), and skating conditions were near perfect. A few, very isolated areas where pavement and some grass was exposed, probably about 10 feet all total, but good skis worked just fine. Very few people out skiing today. I think I saw more deer than skiers on the natural snow trails. Man made snow trails were excellent also. Warmer temperatures may damage some natural snow trails, so get out early.

(Jon Clark)

I did both skate and classic skiing today. The deck is firm and fast on Valley and NL. I skied Lake also which had a pretty fresh groom on it, but not a deep corduroy. There are a couple of thin spots between the big downhill and the swimming pond which may not survive warmer weather. The classic tracks were set previously on Lake, but looked to be in decent shape. The track on Valley is pristine, minus a few leaves that were blowing around. NL has previously set tracks also, but are still in good shape. Get out and enjoy the conditions before warmer weather!

Photos:

(Brad Johnson)

Skied the lighted trails. Manmade was great - fast and solid tracks. Northern lights was very good. A few twigs in the track on the way up Cowabunga (got one in my kick wax last week...good kick...noisy glide). About 1/2 way down Cowabunga the tracks have a case of the squigglies from weekend use and a light pole is right there. Maybe get out of the tracks on the way down. Glide was fast and I made it over the rise below without poling. The skate deck was fast also.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Classic skied the far outer loop at Elm Creek. Some of the best conditions in the past couple years! Nice tracks for 95% of the loop. (No tracks around the perimeter of the summer swimming hole.) Kicked up 2 deer and a rooster pheasant.

(Mark Skinner)

Ventured out to the Dark Side for the first time this year. The boardwalk had been thin or not snow covered but it looks like they snowed it in. Classic tracks start after the boardwalk on the first uphill. They were a little soft and skied in after last night's little bit of snow but the glide was better than the manmade today. Took the Monarch classic only trail which was the same. The track disappeared on the north part of the Lake Trail along the edge of the woods where snow was windblown away there and it was also a bit thin. Saw a deer run across the trail in front of me after along the gradual climb after the long climb (saw 3 deer yesterday on the Northern Lights Trail). Trail was windblown along the hill above the north side of Mud Lake. A little sand showing after the little bridge before the swimming hole. No track there to the connection with the lighted loop as it is thin. Groomers were headed back out when I was coming in. Thanks.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Glorious conditions at Elm Creek this morning! I was the second set of skate tracks on the deck, and it was surprisingly fast despite the cold snow. The "man-made" loop (which has been since covered in natural snow) is in perfect shape of course, and the Northern Lights loop is also in excellent shape -- safe for good skis! It's been a long time since we've had such good natural snow, so get out there and enjoy it!

(Bill Oyler)

Started with classic at Elm at around 11:00 am. Classic tracks on the man-made loop were in excellent condition except for getting filled in with some blowing snow in places and some giant prints from some very large hoofed animal through the keyhole (does Minnesota have moose? Maybe just a big deer...). Tried the Valley/Northern Lights loop and found classic tracks there to be highly variable. Soft, uneven, washed out and thin in spots, etc. So, after a lap of that I switched to skate to explore the outer trails. I ran across groomers twice and correspondingly spent much of the outer loop on fresh, soft corduroy. Those trails were also somewhat variable with pole plants going in several inches in some places but being able to see signs of the bike path underneath in others. The thinnest spot was that long uphill on the multi-use path heading north towards the nature. I suspect that area suffers from wind blown issues thinning the snowfall, but even that was still quite skiable with some less-than-forceful pole plants. All in all, conditions were very good for skate, albeit a bit slow. The only spot that spooked me was the steep downhill into that sweeping right-hand turn on the Lake Trail. A lot of grass was showing coming out of the exit of the turn. Seems a groomer hit bottom through there. I saw intermittent classic tracks set on the outer ski trails with the classic only trails looking like they had been groomed yesterday afternoon before the second round of snow last night.

(Leif Irgens)

Classic skied the outer loop. Valley, Eagle, Nature Center, Creek, Northern Lights. There was an old, shallow track most places. I was the first person to ski in about 20% of the track since the recent snow. There were several bare spots as I approached the summer swimming pond on the way back. Overall it was slow going but worth it to get off the Valley trail man-made snow loop. Wish we could get a little more snow!

(Mark Skinner)