Beautiful conditions. Lots of snow. Quite a few vehicles in parking lot but didn't see too many folks on trail. Correct gear was important in the cold but once you warm up, all good. Very slow skiing due to cold snow. I had glide wax on which helped a bit and I did not stick at all but definitely slow moving today.

Photos:

(Christopher Quandt)

They finished up grooming late this morning. Trails are in excellent condition, groomed for skate in the campground and classic everywhere. Things are a bit soft given the sheer amount of snow received in the last several days (somewhere around 2 feet I would guess), but honestly much firmer than expected. Use wider baskets. The road to the top of the mound was inaccessible while we were there, so I'm not sure if they groomed the top of the mound for skate yet. Be careful on the downhills, it's really easy to get stuck in someone else's deep rut.

Photos:

(Kyle Richard)

The trails were rolled but not tracked Wednesday evening. Then a few more inches of snow fell on top on Wednesday night, and it was not rolled or tracked. Some morning skiers had broken the trail, so there are some of their tracks to ski in. It's slow but still enjoyable. A couple people were out there skate skiing, and there were some hikers as well, such that the tracks weren't great. It was still nice to get out and way better than the barely skiable thin base from last week. I skied pretty much all the trails, and even the campground was skiable.

(Matt Raboin)

I called and they said they rolled all trails yesterday and it's partially corduroyed. It sounds like they'll do at least another pass on Friday or Saturday. Some great news: park staff told me they've deferred the tree removal efforts in the park due to the snow, so the campground loop should be skiable. I am not sure how far out they're deferring this effort, but it sounds like skiing at the mound will be excellent for the near future.

(Kyle Richard)

Trails are ungroomed. I skied Ridgeview Trail (backwards) and Walnut Hollow Trail, including the cutoff (part of the blue loop). I included Military Ridge to make a little loop, since there is a narrow path to the Walnut Hollow Trail towards the road. There are spots where coverage is good (pic included), but there are also tons of bare and dirty spots you'll need to ski around. The worst was at the bottom of the steep and narrow hill that connects the Military Ridge Trail Access to Ridgeview Trail (pic included). The hill itself is okay (I skied up it instead of down), but you'll really need to put on the brakes on that downhill if you don't want to muck up your skis.

Photos:

(Kyle Richard)

First ski of the year which felt good. Blue Mounds received only a dusting overnight. A rare occurrence where Madison got more snow. Ski was frustrating. You could have 30 seconds of good followed by a minute of bad. Skis went backwards, sideways, and sometimes the right way. There are few roots, sticks, and rocks. You will likely hit at least one each loop. The park has not signed the trails so hikers are mucking the trails up. We did not try campground loop as we were told from other skiers that the road was plowed and there was logging or tree removal in progress.

(Michael Engel)

Stay out of the campground! Everything else is good. I tried to bushwhack thru campsites to avoid the pavement. It didn't work. In my opinion, the hills are not icy. The segment by the park entrance to the lower part of the campground, where all the good hills are, is way under used. There are still mini-moguls I made from turning on BC skis. I tried to stem-christie that path on full XC skis and fell. Anyone who can do it, high-five. But really, I feel you can straightline all the hills -- I found there is nothing to be afraid of. The heavily trafficed parts are so firm and wide you can skate. New snow wasn't much here.

(Paul Blichmann)

Skied the entire red loop and also the yellow loop (John Minix Trail). Trails are ungroomed and the snow is hard packed from use, but overall snow coverage is still decent in the woods. The diciest place, as usual, was the hill leading down to the campground, which had small vegetation sticking out through the snow. The snow was soft, though, and I was able to snowplow down without issue. The campground road itself is plowed down to the asphalt, so I had to ski along the snowy road shoulder for a short bit to get back to the woods portion of the trail, but it was doable. The road crossing is bare, so taking off skis to walk across the road is recommended. I brought B skis but probably would have done fine with my better pair.

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(Susan Parsons)

Ventured onto the Green/Yellow/Red loops from the shelter. Trail has been very packed down and have a lot of craters from all the foot traffic that has made its way onto the trails. Went out using using my waxless fiishscales. Wouldn't use anything more until we get snow and grooming on the trails as it was a challenge to keep a rhythm going.

Photos:

(Josh Heurung)

It's getting thinner. Thin, and very compact. More rocks are showing through, and they're getting tougher to avoid. I nicked my skis a couple of times. I was maybe being a bit conservative in previous trail reports, but I can definitively say that we've entered rock skiing territory now. Do not use your good skis. The yellow and green loops were okay. The snow on asphalt at the trailhead is getting extremely thin, but once you get going on the initial downhill it's mostly okay. There is a thin/icy patch on the left at one of the righthand curves about halfway down, so watch out for that. When I got to the first main trail intersection and took a left (finishing up the yellow loop), I noticed the snow was less compact, and near the top of the hill there were actually some tracks! However, there are also a bunch of dirty, rocky, and chewed up spots, so watch out for those. The green past the yellow loop probably has the best conditions that I skied on today. Still some rocks sticking out, but once you make that left at the intersection, the conditions were mostly good. Both the cutoff downhill and the downhill into the parking lot were both still in good shape, with only one dirty spot on the latter. I skied the red loop until the steep hill, and then I turned around. It's definitely skiable, but there are lot of rocks sticking out as well as some ledges that can be tricky to ski around on the way back down. You'll have to take it somewhat slow. The orange loop was mostly a disaster. The false flat from the trail intersection to Mounds Park Rd. was okay. But after you cross the road, do not try to ski down that steep hill on the left. There are tons of roots and rocks sticking out of the snow. If you try to go the other direction, it's alright for a little bit, but there's a large patch of needles/bare ground extending the entire width of the trail in the pine grove. I was hoping for good conditions after that, but maybe another quarter of a mile later, I encountered some thin/icy patch spanning the entire width of the trail. So I just gave up and turned around. I did see and talk to someone skiing part of the blue loop (Walnut Hollow and Ridgeview trails) on my drive back down the mound. But I couldn't tell you what the conditions are there. Maybe I'll take a peak tomorrow.

(Kyle Richard)