I skated every single trail portion of Lester and I can't think of a single thing that wasn't ideal. Very comfortable: the skating track on the green parts of the trail was not smoothed out nor icy yet, and the less-used portions were firm. Downhills were not rutted and downhill tracks were safe. Nice!

(Sara Zimmer)

Freshly groomed some time today. Fun, fast and firm. Not nearly as soft as it was even as recently as last night. Really great conditions.

(Catherine Winter)

10 degrees F with sunny blue skies, no wind at noon when I hit Lester. The 10 below zero temps last night firmed up the tracks nicely, and late February sun helped a bit with glide. Swix polar short gave plenty of kick. Above "C" the classic track is set quite far to the right, resulting in some soft right pole plants in some sections, but it is fine in most places (see pics). Also on the short but steep downhill about 100 meters after "C", the track almost led me off to the right of the trail near the bottom of the hill, at least on the first lap when it was a surprise. There is also a large sitzmark at the bottom of the downhill on the "I" loop, but it has been skied through, and was not a large problem . On the second downhill on the "E"-"F" loop, the track ends abruptly at the bottom and the skate lane is a bit soft. All other downhill tracks are great, I even skied the downhill on the cutoff from "H" to "K", which I had not done for some time, on one of the laps. I can't speak to conditions on the "J" or "L" loops. Since my hip replacement surgeries (R in 2005, L in 2012), Beth appreciates it if I don't do those loops when I am alone!

Photos:

(Tim Holst)

We got more than a foot of new snow Monday and Tuesday. All that new snow was groomed today, and it was just beautiful out there as the sun went down. The trail is soft, and at 5 degrees the fine, windblown snow was slow. The classic tracks are mostly very good throughout, but they're getting a little chewed, especially on the uphills. The skate lane was very soft and pretty churned up in some spots.

(Catherine Winter)

Temperature was in the upper 20s at 7:30 AM when I got on Lester Trails this morning. The tracks, set yesterday, were deep, hard, and fast. Swix Blue waxed short gave plenty of kick. Excellent tracks throughout the system, a couple of back hills where herringboners had wiped out the uphill track where it usually stays intact were of little concern. I got out in the skate lane for a few strides of V2 now and then, and it was also excellent. What a great early morning ski on these beautiful trails.

Photos:

(Tim Holst)

Arrived mid-day, a few hours after grooming, but a couple hours after major high winds. Significant blowing of snow in exposed areas, such as everything within sight of Seven Bridges Road, and lots of debris. Still good skiing to be had, but the wind is impacting.

(Eddy Gilmore)

Great conditions out, trails seemed in good shape with no debris on most of the trails. Classic ski tracks were in good shape, beautiful weather for skiing!

(Tyler Holzer)

We drove up from Madison this morning to try out some trails in the Duluth area. The trails had been groomed earlier today and were in great condition. We skied all 12K and loved this "city" trail. It was all in the woods with several large white pines. The trail had such a great remote feel and a great flow.

Photos:

(Darren Blankenship)

Four or five inches of new snow groomed this morning, a dusting more on top of that. It's lovely but soft and a bit slow. Many, many skiers out.

(Catherine Winter)

The tracks were cold and hard. Kick was great, a bit of leaf and stick debris in the tracks from the wind, but otherwise solid. Skating lane was also hardpacked and would be good.

(Bill Kremer)