I was pleasantly surprised at the classic tracks this morning pre race. Firm and fast. Stuck mainly to foothills and frog but there were plenty of people skiing Boulder. Not too many leaves on the outer tracks.

(Scott Greymont)

I skied the full manmade loop at Hyland this afternoon. The trail is overall icy, but you can get an edge on most of it except for the Willow climb, which was complete glare ice (can't get an edge). Lot of dirt and leaf litter everywhere. While going full speed down Willow towards the bottom, I hit a good-sized rock in the middle of the trail that stopped me dead in my tracks and I hit the ground hard. We picked up the rock and threw it off the course - it left a 5 inch-long deep scratch in the bottom of my ski.

(Melissa Berman)

What a fast, fun ski on the hard, icy tracks. Good kick with skins. Skate lane was roughed up enough to get an edge to snow plow when going down the hills. Pleasantly surprised. A couple friends were even striding in the skate lane. Tons of leaves in tracks out of chalet and up Willow, seemed to disappear on the rest of the trail. I hear there is a race tomorrow at 7:30 am.

(Diane Pattridge)

The snowmaking loops are in surprisingly good shape considering what they've been through. It appeared to have been groomed overnight and it's been 32°F for several hours since then. It's a bit icy in places, but just soft enough to get an edge for skating. Fast conditions. Boulder Ridge was in the best shape I've seen in over a week, both climbing and descending. Keep to the right at the bottom of the descent to avoid the very icy area on the left of the runout. I skied three laps starting about 1:00 pm. Classic tracks appeared well set and I saw several people classic skiing.

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(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Classic tracks were icy and fast, but slow when hitting the leaves, and there were a lot of leaves starting up Willow. Some dirt on the trails, on edges of skate deck, in tracks, and from deer. This was beyond my skill set, so I didn't stay long. The skate deck was loud (sound of skis hitting ice). A couple skaters looked good. One almost bit it on a frozen chunk of ice at very bottom of willow.

(Jennifer Kraut)

Not too bad considering three days of high school section races and warm temperatures. Actually a little icy at 9:30am. Quite a bit of mud on trails from section spectators walking on the course and deer. Debris beginning to litter parts of the trail. Groomers were out last night. All in all Two thumbs up.

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(Kevin Wendland)

Had the place to ourselves after the section races. Snow was 90% mashed potatoes with lots of dirt mixed in. Several parts of the trail were walked on from earlier in the day. Didn't get much glide from my skis but honestly just grateful to get the opportunity to ski despite the recent weather. Shoutout to the groomers and all the staff at Three Rivers for continuing to make magic.

(Ian Boylan)

Props to the Hyland grooming crew for their work in this warm weather. Great conditions for the start of high schools sections! As noted previously, trails are closed 7am- 2pm for the high school races today through Wednesday. The cold overnight temps made a big difference and skate deck was solid this morning. A little icy, but I had no trouble finding an edge. Classic tracks appeared much more variable: icy and shallow in many locations, well set in others. We'll see if the Willow Loop survives, the base is already quite thin in a few locations. [ Update: Hyland Lake will close earlier on Wednesday, from 5 am to 2pm, due to warm overnight temps -- Ed. ]

(Ben Ruhme)

The 5am grooming crew was in full force this morning getting KS in before the high school meet. Double classic tracks set through Willow then back to single. Overall good conditions but I don't know how the classic will survive the warm Temps as they are already thin in areas. Careful going down the Foothills toward Frog as the inside corner is showing some bare ground.

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(Scott Greymont)

Hyland Lake will have trail closures for sections as follows: Mon Feb 5, 7- 2pm (trails closed to the public); Tues Feb 6, 7am-2pm (trails closed to the public); Wed Feb 7, 5am-2pm (trails closed to the public). The trails are open for skiing in the hours prior to and after the closures.

(Bruce Adelsman)