Conditions: Skiable. Softer, a little dirt and somewhat icy today.
I hiked by the snow today and the upper donut still has a lot of snow on it. Not too dirty. For the really serious or desperate.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Conditions: Soft, wet in a few places, with dirt mixed in about 40-50% of trail.
Classic skied at 1:30. Decent considering temps. Out to CA for JN's and no skiing available there due to no snow, so wanted to get one last ski in before I put the skis away for the season. 2K was open and classic tracks were set. Pretty good on a lot of the trail, donut was in best shape but I could actually ski fairly well with my SkinTecs on. Water was over the trail by the lesson area and by the Bottineau House but easy to get around. Not sure what will be left after Sunday night since it didn't freeze. Thanks to Elm Creek for keeping the loop open despite difficult weather - for us skiers at least :).

(Kathleen Miller)

Conditions: Very good, timing is critical.
Skied the Valley Trail with the kids this morning. It's still there; the meadow return loop and wall are now closed, but the bypass was still fine. Pretty amazing, the crews have been moving snow and cutting drainage ditches to keep the deck in good shape. The trail was still mostly frozen when we started and it was tricky to plow through the ruts, but by the second lap, the sun had softened the snow enough that it was fast and easy to ski. After an hour or so, some sections were mushy, but still fast. Good timing means a lot, we used fast wax yellow and it was excellent, great glide, no speed limiting down hills.
Sure has been a weird skiing season, starting way back in November with few days of good natural snow, but the Valley Trail is always reliable, nice to have it!

(Steve Evans)

Conditions: Still pretty good! Some portions of Valley Trail groomed today.
Based on decent reports, I headed to Elm Creek this morning. As I was arriving after 10, I opted for waxless classic skis. New tracks had been set from the donut to the practice area. There was still good coverage and I was a fun option. There were a couple other striders and a couple skaters. Skating looked very slow when I was there, but was probably decent earlier.

(Sue Schroeder)

Conditions: Soft and slow but awesome! Water and bare in a few spots. Still great coverage. Good classic track as well on snowmaking loop.
Still grooming today. Skied waxless bombers and wore shorts. Elm Creek continues to be a cut above the rest in their efforts to extend the season. Nice Work. Open until Sunday?

(Chris Walgren)

Conditions: Valley skate deck (snowmaking) was awesome this morning! Classic tracks were well-formed but reportedly "icy".
Kudos to the EC grooming crew! After 65F yesterday and 25F this morning I was wondering in what shape I would find the trail at 8am this morning. It was some of the best conditions I've skied this year. Deck was very firm with a very light grooming on top, fast and easy to find edge. Still in great shape at 10am.

(Brad Johnson)

Conditions: Soft, wet and slow.
I skied at the noon hour - 55 degrees - and it was slow and soft for skating. There was some firmness and speed in the few short shaded areas. If I had the Zetas (no wax, may they RIP) that would've been more fun for classic. Before about 10 AM it was probably still firm.

Photos:

(Mark Lahtinen)

Classic Skiied the Valley Trail at about 9:30 a.m. Did not appear to be freshly groomed but the tracks are in pretty good shape. The Northern Lights is closed. Waxless skis worked well.

(Mark Basiletti)

Conditions: Valley and NL are in good shape for skating. Only Valley is tracked for classic.
I was very surprised that the 4-5" of snow from Tuesday didn't survive Friday's warmth. NL was in pretty good shape, some debris, but very thin over the bike path near the chalet. I doubt that will last the weekend. I ventured out on Lake and while some areas were quite good, others were peppered with bare spots, debris and dirt. The two bridges I encountered were completely bare, had to eject and walk those. The further North I went the better the trails were, so it might be more skiable from the Eastman center.

(Brad Johnson)

Conditions: Manmade excellent, Northern Lights/Thicket very good.
Skated. The snow was faster on the natural snow on the NL/T.

(Mark Lahtinen)