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
2022-2023 season
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Morning
posted: 2023-01-15 14:10:12
Firsthand: Classic [
] |
Did the northern bit - Monarch and the multiuser trail. Morning conditions were good, with good firm tracks on Monarch, but by noon the snow was getting soft in the sunny areas. The multiuse surface was a little choppy, but very skiable. Some skate skiers and skijourers were out, seemed to have no problems.
(Laurie Ford)
|
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Afternoon
posted: 2023-01-14 17:11:21
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
Parked at the beach lot (very full at the main lots), and skied the outer loop, snowmaking loop, and Northern Lights. Generally very good conditions. The natural snow trails were a little rutted but very skiable (always hard to compare against the artificial snow), had plenty of coverage and wasn't icy. Downhills were just fine, good control and smooth. Surprised to run into three groups of walkers out on the outer loop, haven't had that happen before. Lots of skiers out, including kids classes, but never crowded.
(Bruce Adelsman)
|
Friday, January 13, 2023
Afternoon
posted: 2023-01-14 08:55:08
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
The Valley trail was groomed and the tracks were good. The Northern Lights trail was groomed but the track were in very bad shape. Snow was icy and hard and in some places too slippery to ski on outside the tracks.
(Alex Van Dyke)
|
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Morning
posted: 2023-01-11 08:44:23
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
The groomers were still out when I was there and in fact were just setting the classic tracks. Skate deck was soft but by time people are reading this it should have setup some. Northern Lights had been groomed earlier and with the freezing rain was glaze ice so I turned back.
(Don Callander)
|
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Morning
posted: 2023-01-10 13:02:04
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
Skied Monarch late this morning with classic skis. Must have been groomed and tracked this morning because it was perfect, with nice deep tracks and no footprints from hikers or snowshoers. Met very few skiers, had good and glide with my skin techs.
(Earl Stabenow)
|
Monday, January 9, 2023
Morning
posted: 2023-01-09 10:45:38
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
I skated the outer loops from 8:30 to 9:30 this morning. Trail conditions were quite varied. Valley was near perfect for skate and classic. Lake Trail (and the shortcut) had been freshly dragged for mostly fine skating, but with a good-sized groove in the middle in many sections that tried to catch my skis; classic tracks were mediocre at best, and often had been dragged over today by the groomer. Creek Trail hadn't been dragged today, and was getting hard-packed, with a firm groomer-created mid-ridge in places. Creek had nice-looking classic tracks, the best on the outer loops! (But I didn't get a good look at Eagle or Monarch.) Northern Lights (return leg at least) had been dragged this morning, and skating was fine; the classic tracks were better looking than they had been on Friday, better than on Lake.
(Ron Refsnider)
|
Sunday, January 8, 2023
Morning
posted: 2023-01-08 17:49:33
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
Skated the outer loop trails around 11am. Hard deck, slowish in some spots. 80% good tracks for classic. Very few people out. There were tracks and ridges in some spots that appear leftover from grooming equipment.
(Scott Kee)
|
Saturday, January 7, 2023
Afternoon
posted: 2023-01-07 19:36:45
Firsthand: Classic [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
Family and I went for a classic ski on the monarch trail by the nature center (the trails by the main parking area was insanely busy). Trail could use a little touch up grooming but was otherwise in decent enough shape for a pleasant ski.
(Cody Oaks)
|
Friday, January 6, 2023
Afternoon
posted: 2023-01-06 19:56:29
Firsthand: Freestyle [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
Skied the manmade snow loop to the lake and creek trail back to the chalet. It was the first time I skied the creek trail and it was absolutely stunning with the snow! It was a bummer that even with all the fresh snow there is still a large rut down the center of it that makes skating difficult. Given that, the grooming on Northern Lights and the manmade trail is perfect, I don't understand why the grooming is so poor on the lake and creek trails.
(Harry Rothberg)
|
Friday, January 6, 2023
Afternoon
posted: 2023-01-06 14:24:14
Firsthand: Classic Observation Secondhand [ Trails Open: All, ]
|
Today was one of the most beautiful days of skiing I remember in 55 years of skiing which is about the last time we had this much snow (16 inches) on the ground on this date (1969-70). Lots of snow on the ground and in the trees...calm wind...lingering freezing fog...magical. The manmade snow was great. I looked at the Lake/Creek start and end and there was a classic track that looked pretty good. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to venture out to the Dark Side. The Northern Lights classic track was fair to poor to non-existent...maybe it was just skied in. When finished I talked to a couple of long-time skiers who said that the skate lane grooming on the Lake and Creek was poor...uneven and rutted. Hopefully that improves.
(Mark Lahtinen)
|
First | Previous | Next | Last |