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)

Skied across the lake to the hill trails on the far end of the French trail system. It looked like they took 1 pass with the groomer and gave up. There was definitely enough snow on the hill loops to have groomed out the hard pack snow, but I suspect there were other parts of the trail that were worse. The skiing wasn't too fun on the rutted hard pack so I gave up after one loop. I guess we need to hope for fresh snow.

(David Nelson, Skinnyski.com Race Team)

Poor conditions early Saturday morning. The Friday melt took its toll. There is still snow coverage but its so icy it was not skiable. I stopped and went home.
A fellow skier in the parking lot did mention that the bay/harbor of medicine Lake was good. I've never even tried that, so worth a look. Hopefully the groomers can make the best of it today. They have been doing a wonderful job so far.

(Paul Larson)

Nice to be back at French after a few years of little snow. Trails were all packed and groomed well with good snow coverage and no noticeable bare spots. Tracks looked very nice throughout. As noted, the first part of Challenge Hill Trail is closed and the person working in the chalet said they might be re-routing or re-working it at some point. Nice mix of beginners, racers, classical and skaters out enjoying the good conditions.

(Dave Carlson)

It was great to get back to French Park! It's always a fun place to ski. The trails are all groomed and tracked. The tracks are very good to excellent in the hilly western area of the park. The rest of the tracks are fair to good with soft snow. The skate lane could use another pass. I'm just happy to have some tracks on real snow!!

Photos:

(Bill Lundberg)

It was great to finally ski on real snow! The trails were groomed but a bit soft. Plenty of snow; with a few more passes, it should get packed down well. I was only able to ski the lighted loop (approx. 4.5 km), but it looked like other parts of the trail were open, too.

(Lisa Marquardt)

The trails are rolled but no classic track set. Snow cover is okay but thin. Expect thin spots and stuff under the snow to jump out and grab a ski. The bridge back by the operations center had the steel expansion joints exposed and snow cover on the bridge itself was minimal.

(Steve Harris)

Much better snow cover than I expected. Trails were rolled niclely. Just a couple thin areas where the wind blew off the snow. Still recommend rock skis.

(Rick Budde)