Manufactured snow trails: Willow Creek and Star loops are packed, tracked and in good condition. The Natural Snow trails: Lake, Hill, Oak Knob are packed and in fair condition. All other XC ski trails are closed. Check back on Friday for the Weekend update! Maybe another loop will open...... Just maybe...
High School Nordic Ski Meets: Tues. Dec 10th, Canceled. Weds. Dec. 11 th, 4-5:30 PM, Northwest Suburban.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

I ventured out onto the Lake Trail but only made it across the isthmus before I turned back. The snow was ungroomed and rock hard, impossible to set an edge. I see that the Park District calls it "fair" but to my mind it's poor - virtually unskiable. The trails with manmade snow are, of course, immaculate although the uphills were turning to sugar as more and more skiers poured onto the trails. Can't wait for them to open more of the manmade snow trails!

(Dan Steger)

Skied classic starting around 9:30 am, switching to skate about an hour later. Classic tracks were in pretty good shape but showing signs of wear from the traffic. I had reasonable kick most of the time with skins and am now pretty sure my problem with kick is me and not the snow as I continue to scrape the rust off my classic technique. The skate deck met my definition of perfect. Reasonably firm with some soft powder on the surface for confident edging. The skate deck was still holding up quite well when I left at 11:30 (and 34 F by then). Still pretty firm and fast with some sugar starting to build up on the short uphill just before the trail loops left back towards the Lodge. My Garmin showed 1.65 km for the current man-made loop at Hyland. I saw people venturing off onto the natural snow trails but I did not leave the man made trail myself. After several days on the man-made loop at Elm, it was nice to switch from turning right to turning left.

(Leif Irgens)

Manufactured Snow Trails: Willow Creek and Star loops are packed, tracked and in good condition. The Natural Snow Trails: Lake, Hill, Oak Knob are packed and in fair conditions. All other trails are closed. Notes: Visitor Center open weekends 8:00 AM-9:00 PM; weekdays 9:00 AM-9:00 PM. Rentals available.
High School Nordic Ski Meets: Tues. Dec 10th, 4-5:30pm; Independent Metro Athletic. Weds. Dec. 11th, 4-5:30pm, Northwest Suburban.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

I skated only the 1.8 km man-made snow loop that is currently open. The deck is in good shape, tracks excellent for the most part, snow maybe getting old and soft (like me?) by noon at 37 F, but only slower as the 25-39 degree Swix wax wore off.

(Richard Swenson)

Skied around 8 am. Solid, deep, glazed tracks and solid deck. Skin skis performed well, did not miss a kick. 24 degrees. Overcast. Barely any leaves. Very nice skiing! Get out there and have some fun!

(Ross Jacobsen)

Man-made snow loop: 2 km perfect. Firm corduroy skate lanes, clean firm tracks. Perfect kick. Lake loop: Ungroomed, icy, some exposed rock, leaves. Avoid Oak Knob: Icy, rocks, sticks, leaves, footprints.

(Bob McKlveen)

Strided around the 1.8k loop around noon today. Stellar tracks and deck. Blue sky, low 30's temp. Kicking, gliding and grinning! Big time fun! Snowmaking is a good thing!

(Ross Jacobsen)

The recent snow helped clean up the man-made loop at Hyland. Still about 1.6-1.8km open - they were blowing on the section connecting to Frogtown so at the time it wasn't worth skiing the tiny bit extra. Looks like lots of snow getting ready to be pushed out. Blowing was also occurring near Nordic Chalet and towards lake loop entrance. Skate deck was firm and really fast with very little debris (compared to a few days ago). Classic tracks also firm but not icy. Great conditions! Thanks to the Three Rivers staff.

(Craig Dodson)

Great skate deck and classic tracks after a day of fresh snow. My son's hips think the skate deck was a bit too hard when he took a digger. Looked like Frog Town was going to be ready to open soon. The team was turning on all the snow guns at about 9pm. They are doing a great job.

(Kirk Spencer)