One last spring skiing hurrah. My wife and I classic skied this morning before temperature had moved above freezing. Our tracks from the day before were still there. Fast glide, nice kick. Had to pick our way around bare spots and there were was some debris, but still able to get in a decent ski. I returned around 11:00 a.m. and skated. Had to freestyle and ski a random course throughout the 9-hole but still able to move fast. Snow had started to soften but that is to be expected from an April 14th ski. All in all, a great last ski of the season!

Photos:

(Tom Davies)

Spring skiing conditions. Nice kick and glide and plenty of snow in most spots. Yes, there is grass and some fallen debris but it is easy to find your way around this. It was lovely weather, sunny and warm. It was fun seeing the green grass in areas juxtaposed against the snow drifts and trail. Enjoy it!

Photos:

(Deborah Orman)

Surprisingly fun! A nice set of tracks is established at Highland and got decent kick/glide with skins. Snow softly falling with very little wind was beautiful. Lots of twigs on the ground from yesterday and grass showing in spots but I wasn't concerned about damaging my decent skis.

Photos:

(Alan Chapman)

There was a good, skied in track at Highland today that looped the area. There is plenty of snow, but the wind has blown some areas bare to the grass. Paste wax on fishscales worked great.

(John Kendrick)

Scraped off the storage wax and took the skis out for one last hurrah. A 1" layer of loose crust had developed on top of a 1-2" snow/slush base. Called it after 15 minutes - kept busting through the crust and getting pelted in the face with hail being whipped around by 40 mph gusts.

(Alan Chapman)

With the current rain and forecast highs in the 40s or 50s for the next ten days, we are suspending our grooming of cross country trails for the season. There is a lot of snow still out there, but it is already getting thin in spots and portions of the golf course will start to thaw very quickly. It will also be very hard on our equipment to try and grind up any slush that refreezes into ice. Even if we get a significant snowfall in the coming weeks we do not intend to groom again this season. In the coming days we will put away all of our equipment for the season and start preparing for golf at all of our courses.

(Tyler McKean, St. Paul Parks and Recreation)

Skied two laps in the tracks this morning. There are some icy areas. The outside pole plants in some spots went pretty deep. The skate deck looks good. Overall not bad. Can't complain for mid March.

(Peter Hindman)

Nicely groomed for both skate and classic. I skated the course once. Excellent conditions. Snow fast. Nice glide.

(David Musielewicz)

I stopped by at dusk to see that Highland was groomed and tracked. I did not ski but the skate deck and tracks looked great.

(John Kendrick)

Good skate conditions at 7am. Slightly blown over in a few areas. Skate deck glide was improving as the morning sun warmed the snow (and me)! Tracks looked fair.

(Hamilton Bill)