Whoever is grooming Elver, give that person an award! I've been skiing Elver for over 40 years and have to say given the little amount of snow we have had, skating conditions were close to perfect! Arrived at 6:45am to freshly groomed trail with just me and a strider for the 1st hour! Was a tad cold at 5F but not that slow with hard packed base, and the little new snow we received really helped! I skied 20km both east and west sides-only a few small places with debris to avoid.

(Dan Dudley)

Good conditions considering the several warm days this week. Wind and new snow had filled in most of the classic but improved skate deck. Still bare spots on hill crests.

(Katie Susong)

Excellent grooming today considering the minimal amount of snow available-thanks MadNorSki volunteer groomers. Warm weather yesterday and today is ruining the ski conditions. Lots of bare spots this afternoon. Tracks are melting through. Careful on the downhill on the SW side of the East hill loop, only a 2-3 ft area of snow going down, the rest is bare ground!

(Marc Young)

Considering how little snow has fallen in Madison conditions were quite good where skate lane had been freshened on the West Trails. East side was hard packed and slick and badly in need of a regroom. Track was thin but decent enough. Worth the trip and almost had place to myself at sunset at 5F.

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(Mike Ivey)

Plenty of sticks, some grass/dirt poking through, and a few rocks, but overall really nice skiing for the amount of snow we have! Classic tracks have been placed on most trails and they look mostly usable (if you watch out for debris and thin areas).

(Anna Meyer)

Skied all trails, good coverage overall. Some bare spots on top of hill, but were avoidable. Fairly packed down, not much texture.

(Zach Miller)

Western lighted loop has good snow coverage across the skate deck. Some ruts and holes in the surface, especially on the southwestern corner, but no exposed dirt or rocks from what I saw (even at the bottom of the western hill loop). Probably fine to use race skis, but better safe than sorry. Off season improvements and trail filling were noticeable.

(Eli Larson)

All trails are groomed. Skate deck is really nice. Some sticks poking through, but just keep your eyes out. Classic trails are set but have some spots of raw earth so I’d suggest rock skis for classic. Well traveled areas (lit trail) are a little uneven and turned up, but that adds to the adventure. The trails on top of the hill (South of the Shelter) are really nice as no one wants to climb. Thank you, groomers, for getting out there and making the trails!

(Gunnar Maples)

Good conditions, not great, not poor. Firmer on the west side, but very do-able all around. Merely a suggestion of a classic track, but some folks gave it a go. All told not a bad day skating considering we have just enough snow. Fairly minor debris in the usual places.

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(Andrew Westley)

Elver has good snow cover and the conditions are good for skate. Surprisingly good coverage considering the amount of snow we had in the Madison area. Classic tracks on most of the trails but they were pretty shallow and looked icy and had some grass but still skiable.

(Jonny Hunter)