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)

Snow got a bit warm yesterday I am guessing and it softened up. A bit spring like snow today but still nice snow. Good amount of skiers must be coming out. The shoulders of the trails are getting pretty tracked. Best place to ski in southwestern Wisconsin right now, I think.

(Christopher Quandt)

I had a quick ski on the green loop. It looks like a few folks on fat tire bikes have ridden on the the ski trails (at least on the north/east side of the mound) and very nicely packed down the snow. I was hoping to use some of the tracks that had been laid the other day, but skiing on the packed snow was arguably an even better experience. The trails looked and felt pretty great. There are still some rocks and now some icy spots, thus the rock skis rating, but honestly they're pretty easy to avoid. You could probably skate the trails at this point if you really wanted to.

(Kyle Richard)

Great to be out skiing on natural snow. Trails haven't been groomed but compacted by hikers and skiers. Pretty good coverage in the wooded areas of the green, yellow, and orange loops. The trail sections along asphalt by the campground were mostly a thin layer of ice with some bare spots but I was able to ski along side the trail.

Photos:

(Carter Green)

Wow, I love the mounds getting more snow than say Verona or Middleton. I live on west side of Madison and we had about 2" of snow on ground after the last snow event. Now its down to a bit over an inch. But the mounds, man, they had 4 to 5" of snow in areas still on the ground today on the trails and in the woods. Trails were well traveled but not showing rocks or dirt other than a very few areas. No machine groomed tracks out there, just skier groomed trails. One downhill was dicey for me but other than that I skied the entire outside loop and it was sweet. This snow has never been warmed by sun in many places. It's like the real thing -- cold snow.

Photos:

(Christopher Quandt)

I didn't believe it but it's true: they got about 10x more snow than Madison, right within Dane County. You can ski! And easily. I took wider skis to deal with non-grooming. Not strictly necessary. But helped to flatten as much loose snow as possible into a base that might endure. I encourage more skier so when it freezes up, it'll be a flatter base, and less pocked up from hikers. Pleasure Valley: The first downhill, right at the start, has you dodging rocks. Rest is good. Parts of many routes go over roads/pavement with barely any snow on it, that's the only real issue. So you can't really do the complete perimeter.

(Paul Blichmann)

Conditions were significantly better than I expected, especially after the additional 1 - 2" of snow the mound got in the last 24 hours. Very controllable with great kick and glide in the morning, though the snow was starting to get a bit sticky towards the end of my ski. The north/east sides of the mound were in pretty good condition, although there is still the occasional rock sticking out of the snow. So I would still recommend rock skis. Do not try skiing the campground roads. They had plowed the roads after the last big snowfall, so there's only an inch or so on top of the asphalt. I did not try skiing Pleasant Valley, but I noticed a few folks on Strava had given it a shot at some point today. Nothing is groomed yet, but this snow should make an excellent base.

(Kyle Richard)

They say the Mound rarely disappoints and what a treat to find 4-5 inches of dense snow on the trails. No grooming but a decent skied-in track including the flat grassy hill top. Probably best to avoid any downhills with possible rocks or sticks hidden but all in all worth the trip. El Niño has been tough on the Midwest XC scene so grab it where you can.

Photos:

(Mike Ivey)