Jumped on the Arctic Cat around noon. Started off on Trail 18 and made my way up to the Upper Stadium before following the sprint course back down into the Lower Stadium. Had to share the trails with a few other snowmobiles, a skidsteer, and a telehandler; otherwise oddly quiet for a sunny Sunday afternoon. There were several dozen porta potties and a parked trailer, but it was easy enough to go around those areas. The snow was clean, firm, and fast. Fresh corduroy as far as the eye could see. Easily the best snowmobiling in the metro area right now. No need for your rock or B snowmobiles; use your best snowmobile without risk of damage.

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(Nick Swanson)

The Loppet is shutting things down soon to preserve the track for the World Cup, so this morning may be my last ski from there for a bit, but today was one of the best so far this year. I was out early (5:45 - 7:15), and the track was hard and fast and fun! There's a ton of snow still on almost all parts of the course including the North Finger, La Squadra, and the Machine Shed loop. Some of the flats seem a little thin, but overall conditions were amazing. Thanks to the grooming crew for the great work. Amazing skiing despite the rotten weather!

(Bill McKinney)

Theodore Wirth trails will close starting this Wed, Feb 7th and most likely stay closed through the World Cup weekend, in an effort to preserve the snowfall they currently have. The Loppet Foundation has worked with Three Rivers Park District to allow all all-season pass holders to access Three Rivers trails during this closure.

(Bruce Adelsman)

More Wirth magic! It was great. If I'm being picky, it was a little crunch and there was some mashed potatoes on some uphills. But it was fast, excellent conditions.

(Paul Larson)

Skied the Loppet Pouli today. The weather was great! With the Pouli being after the main race the course became mashed potatoes on the uphill and icy on the downhills. Thank you to the course attendants who made good attempts to cover the ice on the downhills and turns. Glad to be able to race with the recent weather. Red and yellow wax were on point. What a fun race!

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(Jack Burns)

Skied around 11am to noon. Skied outer loop twice, once classic and once skate technique. My GPS watch measured loop at 5.3KM. Loop is challenging and lots of fun with a variety of terrain. Uphills started to get mushy towards noon.

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(Ken Kuznia)

At 8:00 am the trail conditions were excellent - firm skate deck and well-formed tracks (31F). No bare spots and 100% clean snow. Trail was also very good at 11:00 am with only a few areas seeing some slush from the sun. Fortunately, a good majority of the trail is shaded from good tree cover. Well done and thanks once again to the grooming team!

(Jim Nehl)

Mid-morning at Wirth presented one sign and one omen of the warm weather. The sign: IMAC conference meet skiers in t-shirts. The omen: a V-shaped formation of geese high above, heading north. In January. Not good. Back on the ground, pleasant snow conditions at 9am were softening considerably by noon, and the base was thinning in some low-lying, high-sun areas.

(David Moore)

Excellent, fun, fast skating conditions this morning on the full man-made loop (somewhere between 5K and 6K). Nice and firm in most areas and solid classic tracks throughout, and the snow was actually a lot cleaner than I expected. Thanks for the hard work, trails crew!!

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(Bill Oyler)

It was tough skiing Tuesday night at Wirth. I fell three times where snowplowing had bared ice on downhill turns. I saw a lot of people - kids and adults - fall. Ruts, ice chutes, and more! Oh boy! Plus -- I had several near misses with kiddos in their classes. The green meadow loop was in the best condition, I would say, and with that loop a BYOL (bring your own light) trail, it was much quieter last night. Trail 18 was in pretty good shape and pretty fun, although it felt rather narrow, especially with so many people using it. It was an odd feeling snow -- almost like skiing on glass beads.

(Lee Penn)