I don't know how, but French survived. The tree cover and the shade undoubtedly helped matters. Conditions were worse in the full sun areas, but even those held up well. I skied about 7K of the standard loops, expecting to battle bald spots and bad conditions, and was very surprised to find it in good shape. Additional snow will definitely help. Tomorrow might be a little slippery as some of the melt freezes but I'm hopeful the groomers can work their magic again.

(Paul Larson)

Awesome, freshly groomed trails. Near pristine. Maybe 3-4 spots total that were a little thin, but otherwise good with minimal debris. Based was thin though - so even a one day warmup may put it at risk.

(John Leaf)

Good to very good. We skied all of the open trails on our classic skis and then I skied a couple laps on all of the lighted trails on my skate skis. Conditions were much better than the fair rating on the board at the park. A small amount of leaves and bark here and there on the skate deck, but not enough to have any effect. Almost no debris in any of the classic tracks. No exposed dirt or pavement, except one little 3-inch patch of dirt in one track. No ice anywhere. The only trail that was closed was the first half of Challenge Hill. Conditions are the best I've seen in the past 3 years at French Regional Park. Get out and enjoy it while it lasts!

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Official condition report says fair. They are better than that. I rate them good. Very good by 2018 standards.

(Craig Thielke)

French was fabulous today. Enjoyed the crisp temperatures and blue skies. Tracks were great. Very good conditions. A nice change from the washed out tracks at Carver. Skate looked freshly groomed.

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(Diane Pattridge)

Skied the lit loops (Lagoon, Lakeview, and Skyline) and it was as good as I have ever seen. The connector across the marsh was flat and not windblown. The uphills were firm. The downhills were soft. Overall a very pleasurable experience. I think this is best winter in probably 5 or 6 years. Thanks to the Park District for capitalizing on it.

(Luke Malm)

14 degrees, sunshine, and no wind--it felt like a heat wave! The skate lane and the tracks were in great shape this afternoon. These were the best conditions at French all season!

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(Bill Lundberg)

Pristine corduroy, four cars in the lot and blue skies. Really glad I ventured over to French today, nice job groomers!

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(Kirk Hyatt)

Waited until 11:00 am to head to French, hoping the new snow would cover any leftover ice from last week's meltdown. That plan worked out well. Skied the Lagoon (where skating is now allowed), Meadow, Skyline, and Lake trails. There were still symptoms of ice and thin snow over my first two laps, with icy sounds, pole plants that felt like they were hitting asphalt (even in places where I know the underlying surface was grass), and the occasional experience with a cruncy surface underneath breaking away under pressure. There were a few places where I could see skis strides that hit bare ground but they were rare and easily avoided. By the time I finished around 2:00 pm, perhaps 2" of additional snow had fallen, providing enough coverage to eradicate these issues; although I continue to skate without poles over the concrete bridge on the Meadow trail as I felt pole tips bouncing off the concrete through there. One trail closure worth mentioning - the downhill on the Lakeview trail from the lodge was marked closed at the top (but not signed at the bottom - I came up that way on my first lap to find the barricade blocking the entrance at the top of the hill). This required skiing through the off camber trail past the playground, along the orange fencing that has been there since the season started to connect the Lakeview and Lagoon trails. I suppose with the thin coverage, the groomers maybe wanted to prevent people from snowplowing the new snow down to bare ground through the hairpin at the bottom until they get a chance to groom it and pack it down...

(Leif Irgens)

I groomed a classic track on the south and west side of Medicine Lake over to French park. Then I skied over to French and skied a few laps. Grooming was still in progress at about 8:30am when I left. The fresh inch of snow really made a difference and I enjoyed my ski. Because French had not groomed out the hardpack created by last Friday's meltdown, the powder on top that they groomed today was not well bonded to the hardpack below. However, by skiing with a bit more arms and good weight transfer I never had trouble slipping, but I suspect conditions with deteriorate if others come and are not careful. Hopefully grooming continues and the two snow surfaces will be able to mix and bond.

(David Nelson, Skinnyski.com Race Team)