Just skied the manmade loop which is in great shape. The bridge to the outer loops is melted again. Should've gotten there a little earlier so it would've been a little faster as it was getting warm and slowing down. The skins worked pretty good but I wish my Peltonen Zetas hadn't blown out a sidewall...they'd have been great. The season is winding down here in the Metro area.

(Mark Lahtinen)

After the snow stopped this morning I went to Elm Creek for a quick ski, afraid the new snow wasn't going to last. I headed out on Creek which had be packed and tracked, the tracks were in good shape. I split off onto Eagle which had two sets of tracks in good condition. I did the short section of Creek to get to Monarch which started out skied in until I got to Eastman, after Eastman it had not been touched. I skied up to the prairie and on the way down the hill I saw the groomer heading north on the multiuse trail. I skied in the Monarch long loop back to the multiuse trail. From there I was back on Creek which was good until one short spot at the beach which I had to step around. Northern Lights was in fair condition with the tracks more washed out. The skate deck always looked a bit soft but it was warm and had just been just groomed. The icy sections were soft to slushy but skiable. A really big thanks to the groomers, I hadn't thought they would groom again.

(Tom Harris)

While there are icy patches on the outer trails, and a section is melting away just after the bridge at the wading pool, skating is good on all trails, as they've been regroomed today. The classic tracks are another story. Eagle Trail has fresh classic tracks, set at the left and right margins of the trail. There are a couple of spots where there's frozen slush, but otherwise it's ok. The classic tracks on Monarch and Creek have been buried by the groomers, and there's mainly just fresh corduroy. The downhill after the nature center has icy spots across the full width of the trail. Northern lights has great regrooming on the skating deck, but the classic tracks are untouched, and are icy in spots. As usual, conditions on the Valley Trail are excellent. For classic skiing, I'm giving up on the outer trails. Skating should be ok there for a while, with a little caution on the icy spots.

(Ken Tobacman)

Skied most of the system today, including the multi-use trail. The Multi-use was really nice, with what looked like very recent grooming. Best skied clockwise. Don't be fooled by the big ice patch on the first uphill section. After that (which is easy to work around going uphill), the rest is really nice with just a few easily-avoidable ice sections on a few flat areas. Eagle (groomed now only for skate) was also really nice. Monarch, Creek and Lake were OK, again with recent grooming, but were a little rougher. Careful of the usual ice and bad spots on the big downhill on the NE side of Lake, and where the trail joins up with Northern lights. Northern lights was really icy and hard packed, tough to get an edge. Valley was great of course.

(Keith Gilbert)

Valley's artificial snow was frozen corduroy in the sun-exposed sections but okay in the shade, the bridge is once again snow-covered and skiable, other than occasional ice Lake was groomed and the fastest, easiest skiing in the sun-exposed sections and Northern Lights return was groomed and very good. It was 17 degrees and partly sunny. I used FastWax Blue LF, which was okay in the sun-exposed sections but slow in the shade. Teal would have probably been better. I was caught by surprise by how cold it was. There was a pretty stiff NW wind compounding the unusually low temperature for March. Fortunately once I got off of Valley unto Lake I was pretty well protected from the wind. The only time ice was a possible issue was at the start of the downhill coming off the ridge on the north side of Mud Lake where snow melt had refrozen into a couple of glass smooth ice puddles. I got thru with no problem.

(Keith Carlson)

Thank you to the groomers for aggressively grooming at a daily rate on the outer trails. Started from manmade pool at 12 and skied northern, valley, eagle, nature, monarch, and lake. As great as can be expected. Classic tracks are great for the most part and softening if you time the ski. Overall corduroy when the classic tracks are not there was very good. Normal problem spots. Fantastic spring skiing the last three days at Elm. Thank you groomers!!

(Emil Pedersen)

Did Lake and Northern Lights. Tracks are reasonably good throughout, with some shallow sections. Only the little stretch by the picnic area had burnt-through tracks (as well as on the boardwalk). The ice patches are growing, but only a couple are problematic. I used my rock skis, but it wasn't necessary. Very little debris, and only a couple of scratchy ice flies. The tracks were deep enough to keep you from sliding sideways on the slopes parts of the trail. Mostly a really nice ski.

(Laurie Ford)

Skied the Lake and Creek trails and they were recently groomed but soft with some major ice pools that obstruct the entire trail in parts. Could have safely done another loop but was finding it hard to get much glide and switched to the snowmaking loop. Conditions there are good - the deck is very firm and fast but I had no problem getting an edge. If you're classic skiing I'd recommend hopping out of the tracks when you go over the boardwalk to the natural snow trails. Good coverage on the skate deck on that bridge but I could see the wood poking through the tracks.

(Chris Frenier)

Superb conditions. First-class grooming with a combination of natural and man-made snow. A few slightly icy spots, but almost perfect. My wife and I had a blast. Should be great tomorrow.

Photos:

(Julio Ojeda-Zapata)

Lake trail and Northern Lights were fully tracked, with good snow. The only icy patches to watch for were at the start (before the boardwalk) and the last downhill on Lake, where you go down to the lake level. The sunny stretch by the picnic area had some parts where the tracks were melted and ground showing, but you can get around them. The wooded/shady return through Northern Lights was great, though tracks were getting shallow along the road. No tracks on Creek or Eagle, but husband said the deck was excellent. Great grooming job, and a wonderful day to be out.

Photos:

(Laurie Ford)