Fair conditions overall, but very good skiing. There was good coverage for skating, no bare grass coming through, although the classic tracks were melted away in multiple places. There were significant icy spots, but they were a choppy ice, and were almost always avoidable with nearby soft snow, so it didn't seem to affect the ability to get an edge. The part of the lagoon trail I skied and the area right around the visitor center was very packed, almost an opaque white ice, and I almost left because of it, but the rest of the lit trails were a lot of fun.

(Kristian Markon)

There was a mix of soft snow, icy snow and some pure ice. Overall skiing was good. Classic tracks did not look good.

(Diana Budde)

By the time I skied around 4, the trails were pretty mushy. There were a few big slush puddles and a couple somewhat icy spots. The trail seemed soft, my ski would push in a bit when I kicked. The trails were still skiable but slower going. The classic tracks were shallow in some places and non-existent in others. I saw quite a few footprints on the trails, the warm weather must have brought people out of hiding.

(Zak Kujala)

Groomed this morning. 95% perfect conditions. The newly terraced challenge hill is a game changer for the park.

(Scott Kee)

Wonderful morning skiing. We had fresh corduroy to ski on. We skied while it was still below 32. The track was freshly groomed I heard no complaints from the classic skiers.

(Craig Schulz)

Skiing was a bit slow this evening with the inch and a half or so of new snow, but it was well worth the extra effort. The woods were beautiful with snow on all the trees.

Photos:

(Zak Kujala)

The trails were good yesterday for skating. There were some leaves and stuff on the trail, but nothing too bad. The classic tracks were worse, with lots of leaves.

(Zak Kujala)

Skate deck was in good shape at French when I skied late morning. It appeared to have been groomed perhaps sometime early this morning. Snow was fairly firm and fairly fast but still soft enough I could ride a gliding ski without sliding sideways. There was still a fair amount of debris from the trees left over from the windy days earlier this week and I had several strides where my ski hit leaves, bark or sticks and pitched me forward. The classic tracks did not appear to have been groomed today as they were full of debris in several paces, windblown and worn in others. Another warning to be careful in the blind hairpin at the bottom of the Lakeview trail. I continue to run into people who refuse to honor the new routing and insist on going down that hill against traffic.

(Leif Irgens)

The trails were ok; I just did the lighted ones. The surface was a lot harder than a couple days ago but not quite icy. Not the best skiing, but still skiable. There were a few sticks on the trail presumably from the wind, although the trails weren't noticably windy since there are enough trees around.

(Zak Kujala)

By the time I could get to French at 6:30 this evening, the trails had been packed down hard from warmer temperatures and traffic earlier in the day. Minor ruts everywhere including an unfortunate pair of parallel tracks down the middle of many of the trails. Those tracks and other ruts routinely grabbed my skis and re-directed them places I did not want them to go. I skated all the lit trails and found there to be plenty of snow but, in addition to the hard pack skate deck, the wind had blown sticks and leaves onto the trail in several places (taking me into at least one head over heels adventure when my ski abruptly ground to a halt on something). I marked the trails as B skis due to a few larger sticks that had been blown onto the trail. On the bright side, French is heavily wooded enough to be well-sheltered from the wind. Not only was there no brutal wind chill in the woods (even though it was 3F by the time I left), there was also a noticeable lack of drifting, at least up until I left around 8 pm.

(Leif Irgens)