Stopped by the Wirth Beach lot hoping to classic the bog and Butler for the first time this year... to no avail. Trails looked sort of rolled but no tracks. I walked over to the beginning of the Butler Trail and also over to the start of Wirth Lake. Grass showing through the deck on both trails. No track set.

(Adam Arvidson)

Skied all of South Wirth today. Most of it is still skiable, but the sun is definitely starting to have an effect. Important notes, going from south to north: The curb coming from Brownie up to Land has been covered with snow, but it's starting to peek through along the edges. The trail from Brownie up to the Parkway is getting narrow in a couple spots with dirt on both sides. The bridge over 394 is mostly dirty slush and ice. The trail along the sound wall has a couple big and numerous smaller icy spots along the north edge from melt running down the hill. The bog trail has a couple small, avoidable icy patches including the hill from the parking lot into the trail that heads north (toward Glenwood). Wedding Hill climb has a very large patch of exposed ice about one quarter of the way up. Anwatin/Butler has many patches of debris (leaves, twigs, bark). Most are avoidable; the trickiest is in the middle of the climb next to Xerxes. Beware, the descent down to the pond is somewhere between tricky and treacherous depending on your comfort with navigating dirt patches and rutted ice! JD Rivers' "normal course" is in tough shape, but the course groomed for the Loppet is not bad. A little bit of ice that's avoidable is at the bottom of the south-facing hill closest to the boat launch driveway.

(Nick Minderman)

Butler was in excellent shape for Classic this morning even though there's no set tracks; at least for my fish scale skis. Snow was fast but not icy with just enough give so my skis easily tracked straight. I did three laps and headed over to the bog for only 1 lap because for some reason, the snow there was not nearly as fast. I went back to Butler for two more laps just to confirm it was still good. The temperature was pretty steady at 35° and wind was hardly noticeable in the woods. The only icy spot to watch out for is at the top of the big hill heading to the Anwatin pond. It's best to stay to the right there.

(Dan Zenk)

Skated Butler in the bog tonight after this warmer day and was amazed at how good it was. No classic tracks, but the skate deck was pristine in 95% plus places. A few small bare and icy patches, but all are easily avoidable. Thanks for the grooming Loppet and volunteers. So glad the trails are still holding up.

(Ryan Atwell)

I skied Eloise Butler/Anwatin, Jar Hill, Wirth Lake section of trails and the grooming was superb. The deck is firm but if you use your edges on the uphills you may dislodge the firm snowpack and scrape it off to the ice underneath so stay on flat skis as you V1 or diagonal skate up the hill. The downhills are fast and challenging. Save the excellent grooming job they did. Classic side has grooves that you can stride in and north of Glenwood Ave the classic tracks are set and firm. It's beautiful. Enjoy it!

(Greg Klave)

Skied the natural trails south of the Trailhead Sunday after the races and again late Monday afternoon. Impressed that they are skiable. I like a little give in the deck so Sunday's snow was really helpful. By Monday they were a bit icy in parts and thin sometimes when giving over what are paved trails but still good. Thanks groomers for doing so much with little.

(R.T. Rybak)

Skied Bog, Butler, and Wirth Lake this morning. Wirth Lake was a little wind blown but the trails on land on the west side of the lake were great. Butler and Bog were still a little soft but had good coverage after grooming last night, with a few caveats. First, the pavilion hill was tough to groom last night because of ice, watch out at the bottom for the exposed ice as well as ice just underneath where grooming happened (I skipped it while skiing). Second, the snow is clinging to the ice but is pretty thin so beware that it might scrape off when climbing up a hill or if snowplowing on a descent. Third, the corner at the west end of the causeway has a lot of bare ice from foot traffic. In general it's in good shape for folks who know where the tough spots are but might not be the best for sometime who's unfamiliar.

(Nick Minderman)

Good coverage throughout the middle sections between Trailhead and Bog (except pretty icy on trail under 55). Thanks to the brilliant person who came up with the new trail to overflow parking!.

(R.T. Rybak)

I had an exhilarating ski at Eloise Butler, Erickson, Oakvig and the Bog trails this afternoon. The groomers did a good job grooming for classic and skate. There are some icy spots and leaf debris to avoid in the tracks. It's always an amazing ski with so many hills to negotiate! It was easier for me back in my younger days!

Photos:

(Bill Lundberg)

Came for the Judy, stayed for South Wirth! Jar Hill and the section of Wirth Lake leading to it are now groomed. Tracks on the lake are icy and windblown in places (see pic), but really not bad. I also skied Anwatin, Eloise Butler, Wedding Hill, JD Rivers, and Tornado Alley, Coverage is excellent! Beautiful conditions. Tracks are getting beat up in places, and there's the occasional spot of twiggy leafy material - and a partially exposed curb, I think, where the Wirth Lake Beach trail crosses the canoe launch - but nothing you can't avoid. I didn't hop over to Thee Quaking Bogge/Erickson/Oakvik today. Thank you groomers for these fun wooded hill-fests! Viva natural snow!

Photos:

(Amy Myrbo)