classic trails were very good. Most skate trails were ok but some got slippery for a little while. Overall great ski conditions and glad to be out skiing finally!

(Cecelia Wojiack)

Conditions: Overall very good classic tracks. The entire Valley Trail is open now. It looks like they rolled the Northern Lights but I did not ski it.
Not very crowded this morning.

(Mark Basiletti)

Conditions: Multi-Use Trail. Ungroomed, mix of untouched powder and foot traffic tracks. Pretty good, considering.
Skijored the Multi-Use with Steffie late morning. First time skijoring this year. She drove Mr. Boomer and I had Ms. LuLu. After skiing on the always awesome Valley Trail for weeks, it took some time to adjust to the multi-use. The snow was fairly thin, but had a good base and we kept from hitting pavement by keeping flat skis, no rubs visible when we finished. Pole plants instantly hit pavement and skidded so we free skated most of the time. The trick was to find a good line and still be able to lift the ski tip, we both buried tips then crashed once then began leaning on our heels which kept the tips up fairly well.
We had a fun time around and went partway around again, then turned back. This was the first time Steffie ran Boomer and they just disappeared from LuLu and me. Every 2km or so, they'd turn around and head back to be sure we were still there. Steffie's becoming an excellent skier and skijorer, especially to control The Booms first time out, he's brutally fast and was really hot today.

(Steve Evans)

Conditions: Very nice, firm classic tracks and a little loose snow over solid skate deck (on man-made snow loop).
Stayed on the man-made loop as I was using new skis. Snow guns were blazing down at the lower donut but the rest of the trail was open, first time this year climbing the headwall. Not exceptionally crowded on the trails mid morning but lots of kids snowboarding and downhill so the parking lot was full.

Photos:

(John O'Connell)

Conditions: Valley Trail. Variable; glide was slow, then good, then back to slow. Quite a few skiers but not crowded, good grooming.
The Valley Trail is almost complete, only the meadow return loop remains to be covered, snow guns were running. Steffie and I went around a few times mid morning. Started out slow and gritty, as traffic polished the deck and the sun tried to come out for a while, glide became much better. Toward the end of our ski, the wind kicked up, the sun gave up and we were back to slow again. Nothern Lights has been rolled and has had some traffic, but the cover was too thin for us to chance our newly ground skis. Used FastWax Blue - too soft.

(Steve Evans)

Conditions: Great shape for both classic and skate on the manmade.
The next part of the manmade is now open going along the bike trail down to the lower donut (which they're working on). The loop length is now almost exactly 2K.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Conditions: Good, nice and clean. Decent glide and edging, easy skiing.
Went around the Valley Trail a few times midday with Steffie, not very crowded, the new snow was nice, somewhat slow compared to the wet stuff before Christmas, but a lot cleaner! Fun time, I hope the predictions for more snow come true and there's enough for all of us to get out on the other trails. Blue Fastwax.

(Steve Evans)

Conditions: Fresh snow, fresh grooming.
Skied classic and skate mid-morning. The classic tracks were understandably soft from what appeared to be fresh grooming and immediate use. I had reasonable kick with skins, occasionally slipping on some of the softer sections. Others seemed to be getting up the tracks on the doughnut hill successfully. Skate deck was a bit soft - what I would call excellent conditions. Just soft enough to hold an edge but otherwise not particularly slow (my lap times were similar to yesterday). Groomers were continuing to make passes on some frequency while I was there but the snow guns were off and the short loop with the out-and-back is still the only trail that seemed to be open.

(Leif Irgens)

Conditions: Not groomed today likely due to the holiday. Skate deck firm. Classic tracks were good.
Merry Christmas to those who partake, happy work holiday to those that do not! The skate deck was fast with a few ruts and a couple of rough patches on the turn-around South of the lesson area. The donut is fast and a little icy. A couple of dark spots on the classics tracks, but pretty minor. I tried the little out-and-back to the south, just as good skating there but no classic tracks. Kudos to the park crew for the nice conditions in a snow-starved year.

Photos:

(Brad Johnson)

Conditions: What a difference a day makes. Newly made snow and fresh grooming make last night's ice a distant memory. Perfect snow conditions.
They are allowing two way traffic up and down the wall like climb. One can now ski around the lesson loop, make a left down the short steep hill, ski a hundred yards, turn around and come back.

(Ralph Schwartz)