Conditions: Very thin coating of what fell this morning but good footing in front of the parking lot and 3/4 of the way around. Didn't go over the humpback.
Stayed for an hour. No problem with footing until the top of the rise, heading east on the way to the underpass. Good temperature. High school teams practicing!

(Stanley Sledz)

Conditions: Trail conditions ranged from good to poor for skate skiing (a wide range I know).
Between previous grooming and having plenty of skiers packing it down, the trails were surprisingly fast even at 34F (2-3 pm). A bit of a balance workout. On the northeast side (out of the bowl) many grass spots were present but mostly avoidable -- overall good to fair rockski conditions for skate but not beginner-friendly. The bowl is also not too bad for rock ski skating, but coming down the hill out of the bowl was dangerous due to the amount of open grass. The flat section of trail east of the downhill area was in decent shape. Crossing under the bridge is poor, with a lot of open dirt. On the south side, the section parallel to the glacier and in the sun was fair to poor, but the glacier itself was in good shape. Best classic skiing looked like it would be at the glacier and east of the downhill area; elsewhere looked fair to poor. Several re-routes have sprung up as people have been avoiding the grass, although with poorly-packed snow they are not necessarily preferable and have melted faster than the main trail.

(Lindsey Tuominen)

Conditions: Skate: fair overall (good for the conditions). South loop - glacier and field near parking is hard, with complete snow coverage - very skiable. The south facing return along the 8th fairway is barely skiable - lots of ice and and grass - there is a good alternate return along the center tree-line on the south side of the 8th fairway and pond. Under the bridge has been torn up by the piston bully going to the the downhill area - lots of dirt and a fresh crop of rocks - step this stretch. North side is mostly fair to good - hard, complete main trail with softer skied-in edges. A few grassy spots that are easy to go around. The climb back to the bowl has a fair amount of grass showing but is skiable, the descent coming back also has a fair amount of grass showing - If you tend to snow-plow this stretch, find an alternative route. Classic - conditions are poor - mostly hints of tracks.
Second beautiful night of skate skiing - brisk, no wind, 3/4 moon. Decent surface for medium effort and working on technique. There was an attempt to groom the south loop - not much benefit - some hints of corduroy and maybe some high points taken off. But luckily the trail is hard enough that there was not much damage - only light tread tracks, only a little dirt brought up, and only 40' of wavy stretch created by groomer harmonics.

(Karl Dewahl)

Conditions: Poor. Most sections of the trail had either grass patches or icy ruts.
I went out in the afternoon and pretty much ended up skiing at the entry point to work on gliding, because the rest of the trail was in poor condition.

(Abby Scheller)

Conditions: Como is in pretty good condition all things considered - the glacier and the flat area near parking are very ski-able - hard, a little textured, but not bad. The trail on the north side of the 8th fairway is pretty rough in 2 sizable areas (40% grass with ice and crusty snow for the rest) you can ski it but it is pretty ugly. I suggest creating a return on the south side of the 8th fairway along the trees. Under the bridge is ok, and most of the rest of the trail (north side) is fair (good given the weather) - the hill back to the bowl looked rough, (did not go back to the bowl) - there is one other rough spot, but that is easy to get around. The snow off the trail is also easy to ski - 2" of powder.
There is a 5" diameter open drain pipe in the trail at the far SW end - between the 7th & 8th fairways, about 1/3 into the trail on the inside of a turn. Easy to avoid if you are looking but a dangerous situation that has been there for all the grooming so far. Should be covered or better, the trail should be moved a little to the west.

(Karl Dewahl)

Conditions: Mostly good, some thin spots.
Skied this morning with a local high school team. Minimal ice and the new snow made it easy to get an edge skating. No classic tracks seen. The trails are mostly covered but grass is showing through on the heavily used sections of the trail. Be prepared to get slowed down by grass and watch out for the asphalt golf cart trails that are poking through here and there. Recommend using B skis and getting out before warmer weather.

(Sandy Schreyer)

Conditions: Rock ski conditions.
Snow recon stop 1 of 5: I skate skied the loop around the Glacier. Lots of grass showing, but there's a nearly continuous icy base on the south side, near the zoo. The light snow on top gave me a nice fast workout.

Photos:

(David Byrne, Minnesota Rovers Outdoors Club)

Conditions: The classic track was filling in with snow and leaves at 2:00 pm. Even though the skate deck was blowing in, it was still good but probably slowing down.
I waxed a friend's old skis today so I had to go try them out on a groomed trail. Como was the closest. I wanted to hear what the fish scales sounded like going down hill, all 80 inches of scales between the two skis. Obviously these retro classics, a narrow touring ski, have zero for speed but they climb like woodies! There was the expected limited glide in the clean or partially filled track. The leaves didn't slow things down any. On the downhill corduroy the skis turned and handled well. They sounded like a distant tornado siren. Skaters still have a good deck but its mostly over with for classic track skiers. Thank you Como groomers for a great effort on very thin snow!

(Jeff Bolte)

Conditions: Groomed classic tracks, 90% good/10% fair to poor; skate deck looked great.
Skied at 8:30 this morning, and the trails had been groomed already. The classic tracks weren't quite as pristine as I thought they would be, having skated the night before and eyeing them eagerly, but they were plenty good for November ski. Grass shows through in predictable places, and leaves are starting to fill the more wind-swept areas, but all in all, a great workout. Thanks to the groomers!

(Michael Kuhne)

Conditions: Rolled and tracked. Crunchy with occasional wind-blown snow.
Skied at 6:00 pm and was pleasantly surprised to see good classic tracks on most of the trail (I'll pull out the classic skis tomorrow!). The skate deck was nice and wide and remarkably even for how little snow we have had. Mad props to the Como groomers - thanks!

(Michael Kuhne)