Hard not to sneak in a April groom with 4-5" of snow today and temps below freezing all day. No rain and temps below freezing before the snow made for a ideal scenario. Groomed a 2.5km loop including Suicide Hill. Skied shortly after and was pretty incredible. No sticking, great glide and Jonell said was like we were floating. Agreed. Snow lingering into the evening. Should freeze down good tonight and be good for one more ski in the early morning before it melts away. What a treat!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

The road goes ever on at Swedetown, though we're down to the dregs. 200 meters of decent snow on the Valley trail, with only one portage. Nice and firm at 35 degrees, no track, but skied pretty well.

Photos:

(Pete Anderson)

Valley trail completely covered from trailhead to Cedar, about 0.4 mile, with one portage. You could actually use B skis except for this. There are a couple of narrow areas that will probably open tomorrow. I went at 50 F after some rain, and the skate deck was firm, with the classic track gone. I tried skating, but, being wet and dirty, it was painfully slow. Classic went much better, especially after I polished a track with a few throughs. Snow is deep enough to last, with an increasing number of portages.

(Pete Anderson)

Skated 5K in the rain at Grand Avenue Nordic Center at 37F, on the 70 percent covered 1.5K upper loop using rock skis. Some sections of the man-made snow are impressively deep still, and can be reached and enjoyed if you can endure the 14 short bare stretches, a handful of small stream and rivulet crossings, generally dirty snow, and some dicey but awesome snow formations. Two sections in particular are still viable for skiing laps, which I took advantage of for my 142nd consecutive day skating and 152nd ski day of the season. There was even a small remnant of corduroy remaining. Cheers, skiers and thanks SkinnySki!

Photos:

(Lane Ellis)

Holding up good, in spite of warm temps. B Skis advised, dues to debris from the trees. Classic tracks set on most, but not all trails. Tracks are structured well, though are iced. I ski on klister. Loss of klister due to abrasion and debris collecting on what remained, cut the session short. I lost the warmer klister while retaining the base layer. I should have done a better job of heating/blending the layers. Skating deck looked good. Maybe a bit iced very early (7:00 AM).

Photos:

(Kevin Whitehead)

Still going well. Lots of snow depth left. Unusually cold night (10 F) left a very hard base. Tracks not at optimum depth because of how hard the base got. Still, very good skiing. We had a few inches of snow during the week. With that additional snow, hard wax was working today. Skate deck was looking pretty good. Can't complain for Apr. 11.

(Kevin Whitehead)