Skied at Hyland today noon until 2:30 pm. Skied the Lake loop and up through Frogtown and over to the North loop and back. All trails were groomed beautifully. Skied classical on crown skis and they kicked and glided supreme. Sun shining. Stellar day! Thanks Highland!

(Ross Jacobsen)

All 13K of XC ski trails are packed, tracked and in the best conditions! Hats off to the Hyland Groomers for being the best! HS Ski Meets are done for the season. Come outside and XC Ski!

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

Skated at Hyland starting around noon. The man-made loop was immaculate - firm base with a touch of sugar over the surface to allow me to hold an edge without much difficulty. I even had three uneventful trips down Boulder Ridge (which I normally bypass because I find the descent to be terrifying). In a rare moment of chutzpa, I decided to venture onto some of the natural snow trails. I went out to the nature center (taking the wrong way off of Boulder Ridge - apologies, haven't been out there since I can't remember when) and also the loop that splits off just before Jan's place (don't know the name of this trail). Both were in pretty good shape, still showing semi-fresh corduroy as it appears not many people decided to give the natural snow trails a look. I'm guessing these were groomed with a piston bully to break up any icy sections as it was all good skiable snow, no problems even for a technically challenged skier such as myself. I did skip going around the lake on the assumption it might have bare spots in exposed areas. I marked the trails as B-skis due to some dirty snow and a couple of loose rocks on the natural snow trails. Classic tracks looked good on the man-made loop and were quite fast on the descents.

(Leif Irgens)

Trails were awesome! I got kick no problem when I did classic skiing and the skate skiing was fast. It was a little bit slick in a couple of spots, but the tracks and trails were groomed very well. I say you could use whatever skis you want. I had no worries while using my good skis and I skied all of the trails.

(Elizabeth Axberg)

I skied all of the natural snow trails at Hyland yesterday after the Sections race. Nearly perfect and so much fun. I counted maybe 5 or so spots where the groomer mixed a little dirt with the snow, but I got good edge, downhills were no big deal and I was using my A skis without concern. Get off the manmade and enjoy all the other cool trails at Hyland. The manmade loop of course was in perfect condition as well. Thanks Three Rivers!

(Jim Carlen)

Classic skied both natural and manufactured snow trails. Groomer did wonderful job with all the trails. Classic tracks somewhat shallower on parts of natural snow trails, but still tracks are very good and very skiable/trackable. There is some ice, or crunched ice, in all the tracks from recent warm up. Start Oslo Violet kick wax worked very well for me on all the trails.

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(Ken Kuznia)

Shockingly perfect conditions on both natural and artificial snow trails. It is as though the melt down and freeze never hit this place. I was skating, but by the look of the snow I would say this is still hardwax and not klister conditions. There is not a hint of ice anywhere. The natural snow trails are indistinguishable from the man made snow except for a very occasional (maybe one per km) patch of dirty snow. These patches are small and easily avoidable, and look to be soft non-abrasive organic stuff. I was on A skis and utterly unconcerned. This is better than it gets most years.

(Zach Handler)

Delightful morning ski before the Section 1 HS race. At 9°F/-13°C on man-made snow, tracks were quick, and VR30 was perfect.

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(Leonard Bernstein)

Man-made snow loop was fast and well groomed. A bit icy in spots and care needs to be taken if choosing to take the big down hill. The lake loop was icy with some dirty snow but 80% was good to great deck. Signs were up about closure on Tuesday and Thursday all day for meets.

(Christian Oestreich)

All 13K trails are open, packed, tracked and in good conditions.
High School Nordic race: Section races Tues. Feb. 4 and Thursday Feb. 6 from 9 AM to 4:00 PM - trails will be closed.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)