Trail Detail
Notes
Some of the best ski trails in the metro area. Fantastic night skiing on their lighted trails! New in 2003, a 2.5K man-made snow loop.Trail Reports
2021-2022 season
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Morning
posted: 2022-03-24 05:25:55
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: Partial, ]
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Don't come out for skate skiing unless you confirm it's been groomed or the temperature warms up. Currently just has the aftermath of soft snow deep tracks that have now frozen. Fell down 3 times between parking lot and bridge before giving up and walking back. Was hopeful based on the reports yesterday.
(Ben Fuller)
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Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Morning
posted: 2022-03-23 14:13:42
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: Partial, ]
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Valley trail (man made) is the only one open. It was groomed for both skate and classic and good conditions - no bare spots or ice. Classic was fast but not icy, skate was very good. Snow is a little dirty, but definitely worth it. Thank you, groomers.
(Karen Peters)
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Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Morning
posted: 2022-03-15 18:33:34
Firsthand: Classic [
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Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Morning
posted: 2022-03-15 15:03:01
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: All, ]
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I skied the valley and northern lights. Plenty of coverage on all. The Valley was great as usual. I was surprised at how good the natural snow was on NLs. The skate lane was in good shape and not frozen. The tracks looked to be reset and generally fair to good but getting icy in many places.
(Mark Basiletti)
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Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Morning
posted: 2022-03-15 14:03:41
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: Most, ]
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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)
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Monday, March 14, 2022
Morning
posted: 2022-03-14 14:25:32
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: All, ]
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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)
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Friday, March 11, 2022
Morning
posted: 2022-03-11 14:54:10
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: All, ]
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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)
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Thursday, March 10, 2022
Afternoon
posted: 2022-03-10 14:55:53
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: Most, ]
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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)
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Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Afternoon
posted: 2022-03-09 23:03:15
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: All, ]
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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)
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Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Afternoon
posted: 2022-03-09 19:36:16
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: All, ]
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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)
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