Pike Island track is set. Some debris, a little ice but no bare spots. Occasional beaver and deer tracks to see and an owl pellet dropped in one place. Great ski as trees blocked the wind. Could use good skis with minimal dancing around a few spots.

(Thomas Eckstein)

Tracks in great shape at Pike Island. Set fresh today after our most recent snowfall. Tracks were also laid from 54th street on the bike trail down the the Fort and were in good shape. More debris down on the bike trail, so you might opt for B skis there if you're more cautious. Also skied a little past the Mendota bridge, but there's lots of gravel that gets kicked up there and isn't in as good of condition as Pike.

(John Leaf)

Conditions this morning were about as good as it gets on the 3-mile Pike Island Loop at Fort Snelling: freshly groomed this morning, a reasonably deep classic track, and no damage yet from walkers or deer. If you want to ski Fort Snelling, now is the time. Note that the quarter-mile access trail to Pike Island is packed, but not typically groomed for skiing. Set track starts as soon as you cross the bridge to Pike Island.

(Mark Strobel)

Pike Island, once you cross the bridge, trails are good. Freshly groomed, it seems. Semi-deep tracks.

(Emily Spende)

There was about 1.5 inches of fresh snow since the last grooming (though a coyote did it’s best to groom the first 10 percent of the trail!) but the second time around the track was fast! There is a little ice under the snow on the south side but it’s quite well covered. I’d call it spectacular.

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(David Glaser)

Surprisingly good conditions at Fort Snelling Pike Island loop. New signage seems to be working to cut down on trampling.

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(Ann Cohen)

I skied Pile Island. The tracks aren’t deep but still great skiing. It has a double groomed track so you can go either direction (I prefer counter clockwise as you’re closer to the rivers). I saw 3 large coyotes walking on the MN river (north side of island) - cool! Plus of course deer, which are common to see on Pike Island.

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(Pam Medvec)

What a difference grooming makes! Yesterday the trails were mostly boot prints. Today there are nice parallel tracks. The north side is better than the south but the tracks on both sides are good and there was a lot of wildlife (deer, eagles and pileated woodpeckers - I didn’t see the beaver but the photo suggests s/he may want to stop the skiing). The only icy patch was at the far end of the island, but it was brief and not bad.

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(David Glaser)

Trails were being groomed while we were skiing this morning. Unfortunately, someone walked right on top of the classic trails post grooming. However the groomer went over the area again. So should be good skiing.

(Betty Coyle Schindler)

No grooming yet but was pleasantly surprised to find a very reasonable skied in classic track on Pike Island. There was no skied in track between the lot and Pike. Saw a lot of deer!

(Sara Brokaw)