Murphy was in rare form this morning especially for classic. Practically all the trails were tracked, much of them excellent, and I was able to stay in them 75% of the time. I did 2 Razorback and 1 inner loop between 10 and 1 pm. Snow was softening a lot half was through the second Razorback but I still found some dry fast snow in places on my last inner loop.

(Dan Zenk)

Knob and outbound Kettle were in very good condition; Razorback was in good to very good condition. Snow was mostly pre-metamorphosis with course snow on lots of the downhill section of Razorback, to corn in a few isolated sections and soft, wet snow in a few sun-exposed spots by the lake - one of which may be bare in a day or two. It had been recently groomed with corduroy on the wider, level sections of trail. Razorback, where it was narrow or where the trail cross section or profile was convex because of erosion, was not groomed or just packed by the groomer's snowmobile. It was 37 degrees and sunny with a moderate west wind. I used FastWax Yellow LF.
It's been several years since I've been here. When I have skied here in the past, it's usually been the end of the season with soft, melting snow. Not the case today.
I always get fooled after the first set of downhills off the top of Razorback that I'm nearly done. The deception - that I was nearly done - recurs when I first hit the lake and there still more climbs. Downhills are shorter but more twisty. It was a tough ski but I enjoyed the challenge. Glad I could hold a snowplow for an extended time on the more difficult sections.

Photos:

(Keith Carlson)

Murphy was very rough today, deeply rutted with extensive damage from dogs, foot traffic and even bikes at some points. Razorback was especially bad, where it was hard to maintain control. I made it through all the trails but wouldn't recommend it. It badly needs grooming.

(John Kendrick)

Freshly groomed and soft trails! Tracked for classic. Some uneven areas but very few rocks (plus the normal rock with 1 mile to go on the Razorback trail). Kettle and Knob are better for skating. Razorback needs additional grooming due to some of the low spots. There was a hiker on the freshly groomed trail, didn't see them but they left tracks down the middle of the trail. :(

(Eric Spieler)

Skied my first lap of Kettle and Knob and the short portion of Razorback that's open on my classic skis. The set track was good everywhere. Some leaves in the tracks but not terrible. Swix V60 kick wax worked pretty well on my wooden skis with temp at 36F, though on the uphills I generally had to step out of the tracks to get enough grip. Skied my second lap on skate skis, over the same trails. The skate deck was fair to good. Some spots need some more snow and grooming to flatten them out and eliminate the low spots in the middle. Great day to be out. I wish they would open the rest of Razorback and ticket people who are walking and snowshoeing and walking dogs on the ski trails.

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

I think the Three Rivers description of "fair conditions" is accurate for the classic tracks. I was there today in the afternoon and portions of it were really good, but other portions were a bit rough because of the warm up and lack of snow. The track is a bit icy, so use some sticky wax! The first half of the trail has received a significant amount of foot traffic which was sad to see, but the second half was much cleaner. Thank you groomers for all your work to get it open. Murphy sure has some hills!

(Tim Dunklee)

I was going to ski Hyland, but I was headed south and thought "what the heck" it has been a few years since I skied Murphy and the Knob and Kettle are open so why not avoid the crowd. As advertised the Knob and Kettle are open. The groomer was out packing and repacking the skate lane. The track was set although I saw no activity in the track as of yet. The second loop was easier due to the groomer's packing. Razorback was not open nor did I expect it to be. I talked to the groomer and thanked him, I could see how he was fighting to keep the skate lane as wide as he could get it with the trees crowding the trail.

Photos:

(Craig Schulz)

The Murph is open, except for outside Razorback trail, for skinny skis fun! I Classic skied both the Knob and Kettle trails. The classic tracks were generally good, but soft. The skate deck is soft too. It looked like I was the second classic skier on the tracks. The snow coverage of the trail is good. I did not notice any protruding rocks or feel any rocks scrape my ski bottoms. I used my B skis. There were some leaves in classic tracks. The skate deck is somewhat uneven as there is a ridge in many sections. There were several skate tracks in the skate deck. There were some foot marks in the skate deck from walkers.

Photos:

(Ken Kuznia)