Bog and butler still have excellent skiing, though yesterday's freezing rain did make the surface slightly icier. The only real problem area is the south-facing descent on the flower gardens side as the trail approaches anwatain pond. The usual patch of dirt has been enlarged by yesterday afternoon's sun, and as the bare ground is not visible from the top of the hill, it is difficult to avoid hitting it. I recommend a cautious approach to that section. The access road to the flower garden parking lot has been driven by some trucks, ruining the corduroy, but there is still full snow coverage and it is skiable. Everywhere else the trail system is in good shape fortunately. The connector to the bridge over 394 is ungroomed but has plenty of snow. The bridge itself has been plowed to bare concrete, and the descent to brownie lake is passable but is developing some exposed spots. North of glenwood, jar hill and JD rivers are in good shape. There too the snow is a bit icy, but coverage is very good and the skiing is still excellent. There is no snow under the highway 55 underpass.

Photos:

(Zachary Handler)

Quaking Bog Trail was in near-mint skate ski conditions this early morning, and Eloise Butler was in great B skis conditions overall. Only one downhill in the Garden was tricky with exposed rocks and roots to watch out for. But overall, fantastic, gentle grooming!

Photos:

(Bill Oyler)

The natural snow trails were groomed with corduroy and great for skate today. A couple of low spots, but mostly good coverage throughout. Grateful to have a second round of natural trails this winter!

(Tracy Litzenberg)

Excellent conditions on 95% of the trail in Bog and Butler. Beautiful, flat, wide skate deck with freshly set corduroy. No classic tracks, but I found my classic skis tracked very nicely on the skate deck. There are a few obvious frozen puddles on the Flower Garden side that are easy to ski around. On the Bog side, there is a patch a few feet across with gravel in the snow that was also easy to avoid. Otherwise, the trail is in great shape. I used B skis and hit no rocks or dirt. The connector path to Brownie Lake is not groomed right now, though it appeared people had been skiing on it.

(Zachary Handler)

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)