Freshly rolled corduroy and new tracks. The wind starting to pick up at 4:00 so some debris in the tracks. We only skied the beach loop to stay protected in the woods and remain close to the car to warm up our fingers. A deer ran across the trail into the woods searching for food.

Photos:

(Karla Anderson)

Classic skied over the lunch hour on newly laid classic tracks. The tracks are a little broken up in select places, maybe because the snow is so light and dry - I'm not sure. Some wind blown tracks in the prairie and light debris in the wooded areas but easy to avoid. Overall the trail is in great shape and appreciate groomers getting out in these frigid conditions.

(Nils Wahlander)

I had a nice classic ski at French this afternoon. It was a little slow going with the fresh snow over recent grooming. It was a winter wonderland out there with hardly anyone at the park!

Photos:

(Bill Lundberg)

Trails had a couple inches of fresh powder on top. Was still easy to find nicely laid tracks and a smooth skate deck. The additional powder was just what French needed. There were a few other skaters out one on other classic skier. Pretty sure I was the only girl out in this cold while I was there.

(Karla Anderson)

Skated at French staring mid-morning just after the snow started to fall. Initially, the skate deck ... well.... has, in my opinion, continued to resist the efforts of the groomers. I found it to be uneven, rutted, bumpy, and icy in places, with an unfortunate track from the groomer right down the middle of the trails. This stuff may not bother a better skier but, for me, every step was a battle with the variable surface to maintain control over my skis and stay upright. As the snow fell, the surface began to even out although at the sacrifice of glide and skiing speed in the cold, fresh snow. There were classic tracks present all around the trail system that looked to be in decent shape, at least before they began to fill up with fresh snow.

(Leif Irgens)

Beautifully freshly rolled wide track when I started at 12:45 pm. No tracks and deck was mostly firm so the first time around it was a challenge to find a groove. Skied everything doing loops in the wooded areas where I got good track going. Snow seemed plenty deep for tracks. I only saw five other people in two hours.

(Dan Zenk)

All trails are groomed with intermittent classic track set. It's a bit uneven, but solid B ski conditions. Watch the center of the trail on the downhill next to the pavilions, as the snow is still a bit thin there. Snow is mostly clean with minimal leaves and sticks.

(Luke Novak)

4" fresh snow on the ground and more falling. Magical! Not groomed yet, but fun skiing! Skied all the lighted trails and only saw 5 other skiers. 15 th ski of the season.

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Tired of all those photos of snow covered trees? I'm not either, so a couple more for this report. Skiing at French Park was pretty good. No classic track. A fair number of stead where water was saturating the snow park. No big deal at 30F deg with it still soft. Will report back on Saturday.

Photos:

(Rick Budde)

Based on the snow levels in my own back yard, I decided to make a lunch trip to French. Seeing tracks from another skater, I gave it a try. I went part way down the Lagoon trail, turned around and went part way up the Chalet hill. The trails are a mix of white snow cover and grey slush. I didn't see any bare spots but the ground is barely covered. I decided skiing on slush over standing water wasn't for me and packed it in after 7 minutes. Given how wet the ground still was after yesterday's rain, I'm a little surprised the trails weren't closed.

(Leif Irgens)