I don't believe in miracles but something miraculous happened at Hyland. I arrived at 8:30am and found that tons of sugar from the weekend onslaught had been transformed into a firm and fast skate deck even though the overnight temp was not much below freezing. Great job groomers.

(Jack Stech)

Arrived at 5:30 am and found the skate deck perfectly groomed. Two words described it: blazing fast!

(Dave Hunt)

At my 11:30 start, the trail was crowded but in good condition. Lots of sugar except on the outbound leg of Boulder before the climb, the inbound Scenic downhill and inbound from the top Frog Town thru the end of inbound Willow. Despite the more widespread sugar and the much bigger crowd, my pace was identical to yesterday.

(Keith Carlson)

Conditions are as expected at Hyland given the recent conditions. Slushy in some spots, icy in others, sugary just about everywhere else, but it's definitely skiable and that's pretty incredible for this winter! Thank you Hyland Groomers!

(Tim Bontrager)

At my 12:15 pm start, the trail was in good to very good condition. It was 32 degrees and cloudy. There was a build-up of sugar on the downhill portion of the outbound leg of Willow, the outbound leg of Frog Town, towards the top of the Boulder climb, the first half of the Scenic inbound climb and the NW climb on Star. The rest of the inbound legs ran pretty fast. The inner channel of the Boulder downhill was scrapped clean of loose snow at the first curve but the runout was okay. The crowd was starting to thin out when I arrived so traffic on the trail was surprisingly light. Thanks again groomers for maintaining such good conditions.

(Keith Carlson)

Had a fun time skiing with the majority of the Twin Cities metropolitan area this morning after the VasaBeiner race. At 10am it looked like "Where's Waldo?" Really outstanding conditions considering the beating we've had from the weather and skier traffic. The crowds disappeared around 11:45 or so. Snow was still skiing nicely at 12:30pm when I left. Kudos to the Three Rivers grooming crew!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

What a nice surprise to find such skiable conditions this morning. Yes, I encountered a bit of ice, but very little brown snow, no rocks, and far less debris than I expected. Honestly, exceptional conditions all things considered. Most difficult was the large crowd, but people were respectful and enjoying the trails. A great morning.

(Glenn Hansen)

I was pleasantly surprised at the classic tracks this morning pre race. Firm and fast. Stuck mainly to foothills and frog but there were plenty of people skiing Boulder. Not too many leaves on the outer tracks.

(Scott Greymont)

I skied the full manmade loop at Hyland this afternoon. The trail is overall icy, but you can get an edge on most of it except for the Willow climb, which was complete glare ice (can't get an edge). Lot of dirt and leaf litter everywhere. While going full speed down Willow towards the bottom, I hit a good-sized rock in the middle of the trail that stopped me dead in my tracks and I hit the ground hard. We picked up the rock and threw it off the course - it left a 5 inch-long deep scratch in the bottom of my ski.

(Melissa Berman)

What a fast, fun ski on the hard, icy tracks. Good kick with skins. Skate lane was roughed up enough to get an edge to snow plow when going down the hills. Pleasantly surprised. A couple friends were even striding in the skate lane. Tons of leaves in tracks out of chalet and up Willow, seemed to disappear on the rest of the trail. I hear there is a race tomorrow at 7:30 am.

(Diane Pattridge)