Oh happy day. Another k has been added to the trail as it is now groomed and tracked through Frog town. Perfect conditions out on the man made snow loop this morning.

Photos:

(Scott Greymont)

Snowmaking loops are excellent, though still less than half open.
Natural snow around the Lake Trail was fair. Hard packed and pretty fast. Just a few tiny bare spots, easily avoided. Quite a few leaves and twigs, but these didn't affect the skate skis too much. Kind of uneven due to shallow snow coverage, and challenging to get edging in some places because it was so hard packed. But overall, lots of fun!

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Skied the man-made snow loop. Classic tracks were in good condition though a little icy. Would be nice to have two sets of tracks as they were fairly congested on the hills. Skate deck was firm and maybe a little bit too hard.

(Rick Vatsaas)

Manmade snow trails are smooth and fast. Natural snow trails are leafy and twiggy. Both generate winter joy!

(Ernie Ogot)

Warm up by XC skiing! Manufactured snow trails, Star and Willow (1.6 K), are packed, tracked and in good condition. Trails relying on natural snow (10K) have been packed and not tracked, fair to good. HS Meets begin Tues. Dec.6- Thurs. Dec.8; 3 pm - 5:30pm. The Hyland maintenance crew are hard at work making snow overnight and during the day when temps are less than 19F degrees!

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

Start with a caveat good skis are fine for the man made trails. Recommend B skis for around the lake. Classic skied around the Lake trail for a change of scenery and there are lots of areas with gravel sticking through (rolled but no tracks). Most is avoidable. Snow guns north of Willow were blowing this morning.

(Scott Greymont)

Still very good conditions on the natural trails this morning but softening up by noon. Started at the nature center took North trail to where grooming ended at the manmade section, which weren't groomed but had deep snow. Boulder Ridge has plenty of fresh untracked snow so I did three fun laps there on my touring skis and then went down Scenic Foothills to the Lake and Hill trails. Hill had the best snow overall except for some dirt, etc., in the middle of the big downhill.

(Dan Zenk)

Tough to comment on the trails outside of willow and star (snowmaking) as those are the only two tracked. But those trails had nice solid tracks and the skate deck was nice and firm. Shout out to all the coaches getting high schoolers out on skis - there were dozens of kids out there for various teams.

(Scott Greymont)

Skated the Lake, Hill, Oak Knob trails then the northern section out to Richardson Nature Center. Really nice conditions with very little dirt showing through and nice glide. Used B skis but could have gotten away with good skis. No tracks set on the outer loops. Man made section still limited to Star loop plus first hill.

Photos:

(John Shirriff)

1.8 K Manufactured snow trails, Star and Willow are packed, tracked and in good condition. Natural Snow Trails: Lake, Hill, Oak Knob, part of North Trail, and Nature Center Trails are Packed, not tracked in good condition. HS meets scheduled Tues., Dec. 6 - Thurs. Dec. 8, 3 pm - 5pm.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)