Impeccable conditions on the man-made 5K snow loop. Corduroy was just soft enough to get an edge, and classic tracks are bulletproof. And the snow seems to be warming up just a tad to make gliding a bit easier. Should be an excellent weekend for the free Winter Play Day at Hyland!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

The snowmaking loop was in very good condition at my 3:30 start. It was around 20 degrees and sunny. While there was little loose snow on the skate deck, I had no trouble getting bite or negotiating the Boulder Ridge downhill with almost no snowplowing. The snow was dry and, with my skis newly waxed with Opti-Wax in the -4 to 32 degree temperature range, I found it a little slow and tiring on the climbs, being .5 mph off my recent usual pace. The skier traffic was very light, with the front parking lot being the least crowded I've seen it all season.

(Keith Carlson)

Early morning skate ski on snowmaking trail. Only two other skiers out at 5:45AM....everyone must already be up at Birkie or tapering :). Conditions of the skate deck were excellent but a bit slow due to the morning temps (around zero). Groomers as always get a huge shout out for maintaining excellent skate deck and classic tracks. Thank you to the groomers and everyone else who's makes it possible for us to cross country ski each winter!

(John Nealon)

The trails have been groomed beautifully this season, and I love Hyland. But sadly, when I skied classic last night there was a groomed squiggle at the bottom of the last Frogtown hill. The track bulges out as the trail curves to join oak knoll/willow creek so you can't see the squiggle until it's too late and you're flying right at it. :( Now headed to urgent care for a shoulder injury after a high-speed fall.

(Alex Haglin)

Slow but nice. Corduroy was much more forgiving than yesterday. Over dressed yesterday. Today was just pants with no long johns, mittens, warm skin. and buff. No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.

Photos:

(Kevin Wendland)

As usual, manmade snow trails were in good shape with a firm skate deck and tracks. Also skied the lake trail with natural snow. Of the total 2.0 mi / 3.3 km of the lake trail, about 1.2 mi / 1.9 km is the causeway and woods. In general this portion started with noticeable wood chips, then trended to leaves poking through the snow. It was usually easy to avoid the worst spots, and there was no scraping of bottoming out of skis. Once out of the woods, snow cover was sufficient but not enough for groomed tracks. Bundle up and enjoy the outdoors!

(Tom Pitchford)

Trail conditions were fair on the east side trails at my 3:30 start. There was a fair amount of generally avoidable snert. Snow was soft with some "soft" rutting that was easily skated thru. Skate deck was occassionally uneven or roller coaster-like in spots. Hopefully will set after being rolled again. It was low 20's with sun just breaking out as dusk approached. Skier traffic was light after Kids League ended for the day.

(Keith Carlson)

The man made loop is absolutely perfect this morning. Nice deep tracks. Nice skate deck. New snow was a bit staticy. Natural trails were rolled and there were a handful of people braving them. They looked thin but skiable.

Photos:

(Scott Greymont)

The snowmaking loop was in good condition at my 3:00 pm start. Only thing detracting from a better rating was one inch of new snow that slowed me, cutting my usual pace by 15 to 20%. Snow itself was fast but the resistance pushing through it on the climbs was simply too much for me to overcome. It was in the low 20's. At least I got to experience seeing the snow flow through the holes in the shovels of my Fisher RCS skis as I skated. Skier traffic was predictably light with the unusual phenomena of classic skiers outnumbering skaters, who were either trying to miss the snow-storm-slowed car traffic or the same on the ski trail.

(Keith Carlson)

I skied late morning and it looks like everyone (like me) skipped the early skiing because of the cold. Everything looked like it had just been groomed with firm and fast snow. The classic tracks were perfect with no ice in the bottom.

(Kenneth Kooistra)