Valley trail was amazing! The classic tracks were fast but not icy. The skate deck was fabulous. I am not sure what alchemy our groomers are using but given the weather this past week, it is clear that they are magicians. The trail was as good as I have seen it all year.

Photos:

(Greg Loper)

Just the Valley loop open - firm, fast, fastidiously groomed and fun. Classic skiing on Rex universal klister could not be beat. If you hate klister all you need is a day like this to bring you around, fast skis and bomber kick. Lots of kids and families out today as well having fun in the sun.

(Jim Smith)

Classic skied the Valley trail about 10 a.m. The tracks were hard and fast. Waxless skis worked okay but I had to herringbone on steeper sections. It was difficult to get an edge for control so care was needed to avoid a crash. By 11 a.m. with the high sun, it was beginning to soften to control and kick was improving. It may be better in the coming days to ski starting late morning if you want softer snow.

(Mark Basiletti)

Here's the quick summary: The natural snow trails are closed, but the Valley Trail is groomed and open.
Here's the details: I talked to the park supervisor and the head groomer, who continue to assess conditions. They said that grooming the natural snow trails is not possible right now because there is standing water at the bottom of some of the hills, including Cowabunga. From what I could see from the Valley Trail, the Lake Trail and Northern lights are an icy mess. They intend to groom at least the Valley loop for the free skiing event tomorrow. This morning, the skate deck on Valley was crusty enough to allow skating with some control, but it's really fast, and not for the faint of heart. The classic tracks are, literally solid ice - white and hard. Skins gave reasonable kick, and another skier was doing ok with scales. Pushing off down the hill from the chalet, you can glide all the way to the lesson area without poling. So the tracks are also very fast, and not for the faint of heart.

(Ken Tobacnan)

Skate skied the first hour at EC, covering the Valley Trail, the outer loop and the 1.5 K section of the Northern Lights trail. Valley was in great condition, but outer loop skate lane and classic tracks not regroomed yet, but still very skiable. Switched to classic skis for final hour and a half covering the outer loop plus Eagle Trail (groomed and in excellent shape) plus portions of the Monarch and the Creek Trail. Sections here varied from newly groomed to no connector groomed on sections of Monarch. Groomers were grooming skate lanes on outer loop as I skied with my classic skis. All in all, a wonderful ski. Get out for a ski while you can!

Photos:

(Doug Schumacher)

Skied Lake, Creek, Northern Light and Valley trails. Lake and Creek must have been groomed Sunday before the winds kicked in because the classic tracks were drifted in open areas. Northern Lights and Valley must have been groomed this morning since they were incredibly perfectly groomed.

(Earl Stabenow)

I started doing classic. The best trail for classic was the Eagle Trail, since it is tracked closer to center and poling was firm. The second best was the Valley trail, but at times was washed out or covered by drifting snow. Biggest issue was getting to the Eagle trail. At one point I fell off on the Lake trail because my outside pole sunk in over 2 feet in the snow. The skating trails have the classic track too close to the edge, which is the case almost anywhere. Because of the fear of breaking a pole, I stayed in the center of the trails after that, except on the Valley trail and Eagle trail.
Eastman trail had no classic track at all, but was packed, except for the trail going from the east end of the Eastman trail to the bridge and over to the creek trail. This section had a classic track made by skiers, and the poling wasn't bad despite the fact that it hadn't been groomed recently. So I did not do the south east section of the Eastman trail, but it also has no classic track from what I saw. I did not do the Lake trail, Creek trail or Creek bypass, except what I did getting to the Eagle trail, and coming back from the easternmost part of the Eastman trail.
Skating was difficult because of all the drifts. Particularly bad places were the bypass of the wall on the valley trail, and the trail northeast of the diamond downhill next to mud lake on the Northern Lights trail.

Photos:

(John Klug)

Skied entire outside loop to Eastman and back today on classic skies. All trails in excellent condition. A beautiful day to be out.

(Jean Garbarini)

Great conditions. Too lazy to mess with kick wax so I used the skins. Perhaps a little slower but good kick. Someone skated on the classic only Eagle trail which didn't do much but I say get some classic skis or double-pole please. There are animal tufts of hair in many places scattered out there. Don't know if it was the same critter or what.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Skied a bit with Birkie age group winner skier John B. Trails were great...best corduroy I've seen this year. Natural snow was a little faster than man-made area except there was still some colder, slow snow in shaded areas. Eagle classic tracks were reset since I skied them yesterday. Delightful day to be out now that the temps have warmed and the wind subsided. The groomers have reset the classic tracks to the middle more so you don't have to ski in the brush. There was a little post-holing with the poles yesterday along 109th where they crammed in classic tracks on both sides and the outer edge was soft.

(Mark Lahtinen)