The City of Duluth groomed Friday afternoon (great job) when the it was 27F (snowmobile, not Pisten Bully). I skied this morning at 9 am. Easily able to kick uphill using V40. Skate deck is super hard and undulates in spots. I had a great time but the steep downhills are fast. Would recommend on skiers who do not consider themselves "advanced level" stay on the Lower Lester Trails. I also bled off most of my speed at before any downhill turn on Upper Lester. It was plenty fast even when being cautious, which I would recommend. I live only 400 yards from the trailhead at the Deeps.

(Rich Hoeg)

Crisp. Fast. The snow that got groomed up yesterday was pretty moist, and now it's frozen pretty hard. The classic tracks are icy enough that I had trouble kicking up some of the hills on fish scales, and they were quite a ride on the way down. Talked to a skater who said the skating was good.

(Catherine Winter)

Skied all of Lester today and it was great. Slightly icy in a couple spots due to the refreeze after grooming. Skate deck was hard and fast, tracks looked very nice. Many thanks to the city of Duluth's grooming crew!

(Samuel Olson)

Freshly groomed. An excellent ski, with these little caveats: The groomer set the classic track a little farther from the edge than it used to be in some places, so the skate lane is narrow in those spots, and skaters are doing some damage to the track. The track is good throughout but a bit shallow in a few places. The skate deck has some undulations here and there. And people have already walked on it on the lower loops. But overall the trail is resurrected, fun and fast. Way better than we expected.

(Catherine Winter)

Arrived at 3 pm, apparently right behind the groomer! Classic tracks are deep and firm. Only moderate kick-difficulty on some uphill climbs with my waxless skis, requiring a bit of herringbone action in a few spots in which I would otherwise shimmy along. Fresh corduroy all over the place for you long-haired skaters, which possessed a sort of snocone-like consistency, but should firm up rapidly. I skied out to the H cutoff, and experienced a couple sections yet to be groomed on the return route. Those, while not quite Hell-on-earth, were certainly of a purgatory-on-earth quality. Definitely an exercise in gratitude for the alchemy the groomer employed polishing this icy mess, considering the source material, into something eminently skiable. Get out there and enjoy it right now! Should be fantastic for tomorrow as well. Rapid descents, but nothing like that crazy rock-hard stuff pre-grooming. Conditions are great, and I suspect that the groomer was looping back to those couple sections right behind me. Cheers, y'all!

(Eddy Gilmore)

Classic skied at Lester this evening, tracks are glazed and rock solid. I used skin skis and worked well -- kick wax would be tricky! Some sticks on the trail in places, use caution on downhills, they are fast! Overall, good conditions still with all the warm weather.

(Mike Smith)

Despite warm temps (40F+), found trail and tracks in the Lester Park woods to be very skiable and in good condition. Some downhills were tricky, alternating between drier and wetter snow, which would cause abrupt slowdown and balancing issues.

Photos:

(Ken Kuznia)

Perfect conditions both classic and skate (plenty of corduroy). Recently groomed, very light use. So much joy out there right now.

(Eddy Gilmore)

The city groomed most the trails (but not the northern loop) at Lester on Tuesday following Monday's snowfall. Classic tracks were drifted over in parts on the trail alongside Seven Bridges road, but otherwise the skate deck and tracks were excellent. Some icy spots at the usual areas and some litter on the playground loop.

(Nikki Popp)

Groomer showed after my first loop around 12 and packed the skate deck and set new tracks. A few icy portions still exist in the left hand track between B and C but other wise very nice.

(Adam Van Straten)