Woodland was a great stop for day 13 of the 31 days of skiing challenge. Although I was late to the transition goodness party, not hitting the trail to mid afternoon, I still had a fantastic ski under beautiful spring skiing conditions. The snow was consistent all the way through making it easier to find the right gear to pace the ski off the conditions. Even though temps were in the mid 40's, the deck was solid and smooth thanks to the fantastic grooming. Bumped into Dave who was falling the "largest tree on the trail system" as the trail crew looked on in astonishment and admiration.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Grooming prediction by Woodland posse was spot on. 10 am lap was perfect, second one still very good, although sun was beginning to have its way. Hats off to the trail crew.

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(Walter Ebertz)

Fairly hard, but with enough snow to edge nicely on everywhere except the two steepest uphills. Those were a bit icy but still quite manageable. Overall a fast and fabulous ski - and a big improvement over yesterday, which was icier but still worthwhile. Many thanks to the groomers for keeping the trails in such great shape!

(Jess Holle)

Shear Pin just reported in that he and the New Coach had just finished their evening grooming run with the Godzilla screens for your Sunday skiing pleasure. He is predicting a few hours of nearly magical skiing as we transition from winter to spring tomorrow morning. We plan to make another grooming lap starting at 8 in the morning to scratch up a little more of the late season icy goodness. Hopefully it will be a rocking good time before the big thaw. On behalf of the City of Elk River and the volunteer grooming crew we would like to thank our ski friends, both long time and first time, for venturing to Woodlands. We work hard to make the trails the best that they can be - for all to enjoy.

(Dave Anderson, Elk River Nordic Ski Club)

Suburb conditions on the full outer loop for skating perfection. Fast, firm, no ice, plenty of edging, amazing rolling hills, sunshine, what else do you need? Three outer laps was what the doctor ordered. No classic tracks but excellent for skating - good skis are safe. Thanks for the awesome grooming!

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(Bill Oyler)

Lefty and G(R)OAT just finished their evening run on the outer 10k with the Godzilla screens. You may have noticed that Lefty has been grooming a lot of late. He feels guilty for slacking most of the year while waiting for his injured wing to heal a bit. He is also one of the desperate who is still skiing every day at Woodlands (three laps today). If you like a hard and fast trail with just enough grip when you need it, you will find that at Woodlands on Saturday. B skis recommended so as not to tatter the edges of your good race skis on the the open hard pack spots. Enjoy!

(Dave Anderson, Elk River Nordic Ski Club)

Skied the outer loop yesterday and today. Conditions were good with a few icy areas on the climbs. The tree cover on a cool windy day like today made it so much more enjoyable. The plan is to groom tonight and tomorrow night so expect good skiing this weekend. Thank you to Dave and the groomers for a wonderful year.

(Gary Keifenheim)

The boys were back at it this evening. Lefty and Trapper just finished their evening run with the Godzilla screens. They are both planning to ski tomorrow, so it must have groomed up ok. So, if you are not yet over winter, Woodlands is still an option. Enjoy!

(Dave Anderson, Elk River Nordic Ski Club)

Saturday's rain/sleet/snow event concluded at Woodland trails with 2 inches of light powder. All trails were rolled Sunday morning and look to be in good skiable condition. While the base below the new snow is water saturated, no puddles or wet spots were observed during grooming. Not possible to reset tracks until the base below the new snows cools but fresh snow in the old shallow tracks should offer an improvement over the past few days.

(Dave Kallemeyn)

Trail was in fair to good condition. It has not been groomed since the earlier-in-the-week thaw. It was skateable - I got bite with no problem - but it was very hard packed. Sun-exposed uphills were moderately rutted and there was enough frozen tracks on the downhills including the extended runouts that I was snowplowing a lot. Just didn't trust myself to not get trapped in one of those tracks and be unable to skate a turn. A few spots of lightly snow covered ice that were of no consequence on Wash Pond Flats. A few spots of heavy bark litter. Classic track was totally washed out wherever I noticed on the perimeter trails. I used FastWax Blue LF. It was low 20's and overcast. Woodland put me straight. Just because I had an easy, fast ski at Hyland yesterday, that didn't mean I could easily skate to the to the top at X2, it was the usual slow slog for me. But once there I had a pretty good run on the way down up until the climb around Maple Hill. Thought about skipping Scouring Rush but persisted and finished a decent but not great ski.

(Keith Carlson)