Last scheduled day of skiing for me, and it was really great fun this morning except for the little "sit down" at Tim's Turn (my nemesis). Had to sidestep down Bee Hollow, but the rest of the groomed trails were 95% covered and very clean. There is hardly ever any debris at Snowflake, which makes it such a pleasure to ski. A huge thank you to John and Jim for their dedication to consistently good grooming!

(Janet Anderson)

April skiing! We skate groomed the 5K, Special K, and decent segments of the 10K this morning. Nice skate deck with only the one section of the 5K that must be walked. Special K is especially intact and can be accessed by skiing out the 5K return trail to the Special K junction. We remain open, the chalet will be open 7-7, but we'll only be grooming as weather and condition deem it reasonable. It was a great January-March!

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(John Graham)

Good conditions on most loops. Two south-facing hillsides have opened up, a few thin spots. But good spring skiing continues here.

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(Peter Nordgren)

Once again, excellent! John and crew have given us great conditions all year and this morning was no exception. Perfectly groomed corn snow was super fast with good control. You can do a nice combo loop from the 5K cross over to the 10K at the beginning of the powerlines or mole hill (about 3K of the 10K groomed). This 'loop' is about 7-8K and the skating is awesome. There is one spot on the 5K that you have to take your skis off but, otherwise, was superb. I had to post one more time just to give thanks to John and the crew for all their hard work all winter. It was not an easy one with too much of a good thing (snow) at times. I look forward to next season at Duluth's premiere ski trails. ...thank you.

(Thomas Heinitz)

Huge thank you to the groomers for their hard work! We were mostly classic skiing on the 5k and special K, but also did a bit of the 10k. I've skied Snowflake to the very "last drop" ever year for most of the past 15 years and it is nowhere near the last drop! The skate lanes were fast, but not scary at all! We had no track, but it was still a really fun ski. I highly recommend heading to Snowflake from anywhere if you want to get a good skate ski in. Only one spot I took my good skis off and the rest I was able to ski.

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(Eve Graves)

Sunny and brisk today, very nice! We skate groomed the 5K, Sp K, and about 3K of the 10K this morning, yielding a flat, fast deck that returning skate skiers all enjoyed. There is not adequate snow to till and set a classic track, so we are skate-only at this time. Updates about exposed ground and best access to the 10K are posted next to the sign-in sheet. We are open til 7 tonight, will be open 7-7 on Sunday and Monday. We will regroom tomorrow and Monday mornings, but expect Monday to be the last grooming of this season.

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(John Graham)

Reconned and groomed the trails this morning. The 5K and Special K are in good shape, with the only exposed area being marked with caution tape tied to a tree. We groomed the cut throughs to the 10K at Mole Hill and at the Power Lines: this gives access to about 3K of nice conditions on the 10K. Genos Jump, Anders Alley, wiggles, Hovland Hill are all exposed and closed. Follow the grooming and you'll enjoy good skating. The classic track is very shallow and we can't do anything about that. Open 7-11 and 5-8 today, and 8-8 on Saturday. Sunday hours TBA.

(John Graham)

This morning we groomed the skate decks on the 5K, Special K, and 10 K; three Ginzu runs cleaned and smoothed them nicely, and returning skate skiers reported them fast. The new classic track on the 5/Special K has firmed-up nicely; the first 200 meters are rather beat-up, but it is very good thereafter. One small exposed area on the 5K, but stay alert for ice just before the Perimeter loop cutoff between the 5 and Special K. Three exposed areas on the 10K: the "bulldozed" hill past Wiggles; the left side of Hovland Hill; the left side of Shovel Hill. I expect to close Hovland Hill by Thursday, and we will mark the top of exposed downhills with yellow "caution tape". Southern exposures will go soon, so look before you commit. B skis recommended on the 10K. With forecast temps in the high 30's tonight, and 50's tomorrow, we will not be grooming again until temps go below freezing.

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(John Graham)

I skated all the trails right after the grooming finished. Conditions are simply awesome and very similar to yesterday's conditions. The skate deck is superfast with a good edge. I used my B skis but you could use your good skis for the most part. The only area of concern is the patched section (from the dozer tracks) on the '10K' (which is now about 7K) in which you should take your skis off. Otherwise, the 10 was even better than yesterday. Thank you, again, to John and the Snowflake grooming crew for getting out there early each morning to give us this fabulous spring skiing.

(Thomas Heinitz)

I went for crust skiing at 7:30 AM, which was better on what we still call the 10K than on the 5K. I noticed that the groomer had already groomed a shallow track on the 5K when I started out on the 10K, and when I finished the 5K they had just starting grooming the skate lane on that as well. My guess is that the skate lane of the 10K would be next, but even without grooming it was pretty stable out there. Since they had kept skiers off it in the heat of yesterday, there really were no skate marks to get stuck in- it was surprisingly even. And I could V2 comfortably, which means that it wasn't too icy once you got used to it. The trail base was rock hard. I can't imagine that changing for the rest of the day, so it should continue to be a good from a skating standpoint. Classic skiers will have to weigh in on the tracks.

(Sara Zimmer)