Believe the hype! Trail conditions are excellent with no ice found, even after the sun went down and it dropped below freezing. Fast but still lots of control.

(Tim Bontrager)

Skied all the trails besides the connection between Lake and Frog Town, other than one slightly icy spot on Lake everything was great. I was surprised to see Three Rivers trail report about everything being in good condition, but it was for sure accurate. Impressive work by the groomers. I only skate skied but tracks looked really good most places.

(Ben Fuller)

Snowmaking loop tracks were excellent for classic. Deck appeared excellent for skating too. Natural snow tracks on Lake and Hill were very good for classic, with just a few short wavering sections and some leaves. Skate deck appeared good...definitely better than Thursday.

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Great skiing at Hyland on all trails, including natural snow trails. Groomers have done a good job breaking up the hard packed base on natural trails to make it very skiable. Skate deck is on the soft side but tracks are firm. Tracks are a bit zig-zaggy in spots but still great skiing.

Photos:

(Tyler Thompson)

Pretty fast conditions. Somewhat icy in places, especially on the Lake Trail natural snow. Grooming on the snowmaking loop was excellent everywhere. The big downhill from Boulder Ridge was in great, shape with minimal iciness and no pushed piles of snow. Lake trail was a bit lumpy, but otherwise ok and good for balance development. No bare spots.

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Absolutely incredible what the groomers have accomplished. I never would have imagined the man made snow trails could be this fantastic after a full day of rain. Firm and fast, but not super icy. Never felt like I was out of control and could always find an edge on the climbs. Huge thank you to all the groomers who make this possible!

(Park Walter)

Skate-skied natural and manufactured snow trails. Very fast conditions, but skiable. Able to get edge for skate skiing. Groomer Pisten Bully did wonderful job. Very surprised trails the trails, especially natural trails, are so good. Skate deck on natural trails is a little wavy, uneven in sections as it looks like groomer tried to roughen up base on right-hand side of trail. Classic track in most sections is shallow. There are a few very short ice areas you can maneuver around easily.

Photos:

(Ken Kuznia)

Skied the manmade trails and Lake Trail. The manmade trails I'd say were in good condition, very good maybe even; the Lake trail I would say is in fair to poor condition, because of iciness and unevenness. I was able to get an edge everywhere on the Lake trail, so in that sense the trail was decent, but it ultimately felt like skating on ground ice, and there was a lot of washboarding and general unevenness in the trail. There were some areas that were pure ice, dimpled from the groomer while soft, with a light dusting of snow on top, but you could ski around these and they were infrequent. There was also some larger tree debris in a couple of spots, and a spot before the last uphill at the visitor center is melted down to a sort of frozen rivulet bed; it's skiable now but if it were to melt you'd probably have to walk it, and I wasn't sure what to make of it until I was right on top of it. I didn't try the Hill trail, but might have if I had more time. Overall I think if you went with B skis, and with some expectation of taking extra time and care, it's a fun ski.

(Kristian Markon)

Trails were amazingly good for the most part, 10-11AM. Exceptions would be the squiggly tracks and the "shifty" tracks (track suddenly ends and starts anew shifted 6 inches to the side) on the natural snow spur trail between Richardson and Hyland. Also a large icy spot at the intersection of North/Richardson Spur/and walking trails. I skied the manmade snow trails at Hyland, and they were excellent. Some climbs were a little icy, but I felt lucky to even be able to ski after so much rain and warm weather. Thanks, Hyland! ( A skate skiing friend went from 1145-1245 and said it was fabulous on the manmade snow trails.).

(Jennifer Kraut)

Not surprisingly: icy. Very hard skate deck. Not absolutely horrendous: can get an edge on flats and uphills. Going downhill was not my favorite with some frozen corduroy. Left early. But if you're good on the downhills and have bones that bend instead of break in case of a fall: could be worth it. Only tried the man-made snow loop.

(Adam Bock)