Skied the Wednesday night race. Course was very icy. The youngsters had little problem; I had to do a lot of double poling because the course was solid and hard.

(Ralph Schwartz)

Conditions: Very good skate and classic.
Skiing in the rain and then sleet and then snow started. Fast and firm skating and a good, fast classic track. I would've used klister had I not been skating.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Skating conditions at Elm were excellent this evening. Very white and just the right amount of loose snow on top to make for great skating. The little section of trail down the wall and back was getting quite a bit of use and there didn't seem to be any traffic issues with the out and back system that had been developed.

(Ben Mullin)

Conditions: Firm with soft, very white snow on top, and a bit more on the uphills. Classic track looked firm and consistent. Another loop open from the end of the practice loop down the bigger hill out a ways and back.
Great skating around noon with minimal traffic even though the parking lot had lots of cars. The skateboarders were out and excited to be there.

(Carrie Kostroski)

Conditions: Excellent conditions. Fresh classic tracks, well defined; fresh cord. Thanks, Groomers!
The next leg past the yellow house is still without snow, but freestylers can now ski down the wall to crabapple knoll and back (no classic tracks here yet). [ Do not ski backwards on the trails -Ed. ]

(Chuck Flanders)

Conditions: Great on the same 1.3km loop - snow blowing elsewhere.
Conditions on the 1.3 km loop were pretty darn good. The classic track was ok, but the skate deck looked fresh, white, and firm. Pretty slow with the fresh man made snow. There were some pretty big piles of snow on most of the rest of the loop and the guns were blazing. I'm hoping they can manage to eek out some more loop before the weather warms up again.

Photos:

(Ben Mullin)

Snowguns working on the lower loop this morning.

Photos:

(Mark Lahtinen)

Cold enough to fire the snowguns up again. Main effort appears to be to open the sliding hill and alpine area but some will refresh the short loop during the closure.

Photos:

(Mark Lahtinen)

Conditions: Fast and surprisingly white!
Skied around 9 am. Temps just around freezing made for fast conditions, even with the snow being a little soft. About 20 other skiers, not crowded. Nice skiing, especially after the rain on Monday. College kids on winter break!

Photos:

(Bruce Adelsman)

Conditions: Currently our conditions are great on the 1.5K of the Valley Trail that we have open.
We will remain open through Wednesday but be closed on Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th. We plan to re-open on Saturday morning with fresh snow on the trail.

(Julie Matzek, Three Rivers Park District)