Eagle Point multiuse trail (on the west side) was in fair condition for skating. Obviously, there were lots of boot prints and on the north side, snow cat or snowmobile tracks, roughening up the surface but, with last night's freeze, it was skateable. On portions where the walkers didn't spread out and followed one narrow track instead, there was a reasonably smooth skate deck particularly after the right turn before the bridge on the climb up to the north ridge. However, getting too close to the edge resulted in my pole breaking through and sinking into the softer snow on a few occasions. Despite the fact that I was taking it easy and I actually took time to look around a bit, I was able to maintain a 6.8 mph pace, which is pretty fast for me. It was about 34 degrees with a moderate overcast. I used FastWax LF. It was nice to revisit a trail I loved (before it was converted to multi use) and have great memories of - like fording the first stream on far western end with several well targeted jumps and then leaping across the second stream now channeled through the big culvert after throwing my skis across to the other side during the thaw at the end of one season.

(Keith Carlson)

Clearly not groomed since last snow. In the very few places where you can find portions of the trail that have seen little traffic since that snow, the skiing is good. Most of the rest of the trail consists of hard, somewhat icy ruts. The orange trail just hard not icy and is not rutted -- but it's rather uneven, giving the appearance that a vehicle was driven down it and not enough grooming done after that to smooth things out. I suggest B skis due to debris on a few sections, but this is also pretty easy to avoid and there is plenty of coverage throughout. Overall, I'm waiting until this is groomed before returning for skate skiing, though I will note that I was skiing with my rock skis (having broken my newer pair), so bad edging was really the final straw.

(Jess Holle)

Took my old classic skis to Lake Elmo and as expected, the ski deck and tracks were really icy. I skied Brown's Pond to the Flats, through the woods on green, then to the yellow prairie loop, and then decided to do the Savanna loop to finish my afternoon. Just a caution for any classic skiers doing the Savanna loop today, the machine came through to pack down the ski deck and erased the classic tracks for about 2/3 of the way around the loop. Definitely could have used metal edges on my old classic skis for some of the downhill sections, my inner thighs are going to be barking at me tomorrow. But as always, good to get outside to ski and looking forward to some new snow to keep this season going.

Photos:

(Harlan Jones)

All the trails remain open. They did try rolling on the East side this morning but as expected the trails were really soft. Minor ice in some of the more open areas of the trail.

(Jen Garcia)

Skied Lake Elmo from noon to 1pm today. Skied on my classic skis on green to brown to pink to green to yellow and back to the trailhead, approx. 3.5 mi. The tracks were still in place, not sure if grooming was done this morning. A bit icy in spots and when you hit the sunny areas the snow was starting to soften. Beautiful day, with the south breeze blowing almost felt like an early spring day. The skate deck still looked firm, and observing the skate skiers passing me by they looked to be moving along just fine.

Photos:

(Harlan Jones)

Somebody give that snowman a cowbell!! He's cheering skiers on at the top of those couple little hills on the Prairie Loop. Great conditions here this morning. Mostly firm, deep, fast tracks and skate deck had nice loose snow on it and some corduroy that hadn't been skied over yet. Sure a couple track sections washed out and a few leaves, but who cares! It was wonderful! Only thing I wish the especially nice groomer would do is continue the track on the uphills and downhills. Lake Elmo's trails are so nice for kicking the hills if there's tracks and riding the downhills in the tracks. So fun! Thank you especially nice groomer!

Photos:

(Carol Fitzgerald)

My first night ski under the lights this season, and it was stellar. Skate deck was fast and firm, but not icy. I'm a new skater, so getting used to it, and I crashed only one time. Conditions were excellent, and the classic tracks looked good and clean, hardly any leaf debris.

(Glenn Hansen)

Freakin fast. It was my fastest skate of the season! Despite 4:36 PM start, I was able to finish the 4.8 mile, Figure 8 loop formed by Hills, Browns Pond, Hills (again), Prairie, Savanna and Hills (again) in less than 40 minutes, just after dusk. Firmly packed with lots of corduroy. My narrow Fischers, which previously challenged my balance/smoothness, tracked perfectly allowing me to skate rather than snowplow the faster turns. It was about 20 degrees and overcast. I used FastWax Blue LF. Kudos to the groomers.

(Keith Carlson)

After seeing a groomer's report on SkinnySki this morning, I brushed out and waxed my skis, heading out to Lake Elmo this afternoon. I stuck to the Savannah, North, and Prairie loops to give my old legs a break after taking on the Battle Creek hills yesterday. By the time I got to Lake Elmo, the trails weren't pristine any more, just very good. The skate deck was solid with a good corduroy top (somewhat skated out in places), and the diagonal tracks ran fairly fast, as far as using them to run down some of the hills. I found the deck to provide good push, good glide, and good control uphill, downhill, and on the flats. All in all, a wonderful ski this afternoon.

(David Sonnenberg)

Started about 1 p.m. the track was mostly really good, hard and full depth. Just a couple of places where it was partially filled in from wind blown snow. Unfortunately, oak leaves and Amur maple seed is beginning to accumulate, which is disruptive to striding. For my tastes, in several places I wish the track had been pulled further up the climbs to provide for more striding. Skate deck looked really good.

(Stan Hokanson)