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.

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(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.

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(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)

Wanted to thank the French Park groomers for grooming today. Went with low expectations and was really happy I went, definitely some bare spots and twigs out there but never had to take skis off. A lot of really good spots with full coverage of firm but soft corduroy. Hopefully a new coating of snow soon will allow for good skis.

(Nils Wahlander)

Freshly-groomed! Beautiful sunny day with no wind. All packed, none tracked for classic. I skied all of the trails and I got first tracks on most of them between 12:30 pm and 2:00. Conditions were: 80% good, 15% fair, 5% poor. There were numerous small areas where the groomer had churned up small rocks to the surface. Most of these were easily avoided, but a few were hidden under a thin layer of snow and my skis found them. Seems like no serious damage to the skis though. Only saw two other skiers.

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Definitely some bare spots, and I hit ground probably about 8 times. Pretty thin coverage, sticks and leaves slowed me down. All things considered, it was a good ski and recommend only with rock skis.

(Zachary Pierson)

Wouldn't say the conditions are poor, closer to fair. A few grassy spots easily seen, some leaves debris. More significant is the trail is uneven due to the low thickness of the snow, just need more snow!

Photos:

(Bernard Cerles)