Conditions were excellent, groomer must have been out last night or early this morning. Skied Lake trail early afternoon and it was perfect. Deep track for classic, skate lane looked good too. Glide was a little slow due to the 10 degree temps, but had good kick from my blue wax.

(Earl Stabenow)

Great to be out on the Dark Side again and not so dang cold too. It was a wee bit soft but the glide was good. There was a very good classic track also and the classic only trails branching off looked to be good also. 109th was in a good shape as I take that backwards sometimes to add to the loop. The climb up to the woods and Elm Creek overlook had a spot where it looks like the grooming snow machine got bogged down and made a divot. There was another one coming down into the left-hander where the 50 K stamp used to be. Could get air there. No judges around though.

(Mark Lahtinen)

The snow was still quite cold, this morning, so CH4 was still working pretty well. The snowmaking loop was firm and fast. The Northern Lights trail was well-groomed and a bit softer than the snowmaking loop, but still very enjoyable. Thank you to the grooming crews.

(John Makosky)

I skied most of the groomed natural snow (Lake/Creek/flat-half-of-Northern-Light) with my nicest rocks skis. Only skis-off crossing was the boardwalk. Otherwise, snow was in surprisingly good condition. They were able to heavily till it without mixing in any dirt, though it was a little bit chunky, and a little icy in a few places, but I still preferred it to fake snow. No new classic tracks on the natural snow. Man-made loop was in excellent shape.

(Andor Langski)

Man made Valley had a crusty layer on top and was fast but not ideal. Natural snow Northern Lights was good with solid skate coverage but a poor classic set. Snow wasn't as fast as Valley but more pleasant. Creek trail was iffy. Some spots were decent but many just fair and some downright poor.

(James Dahl)

I skated Northern Lights, Lake, and Creek. NL was tracked with the tracks a bit shallow but I didn't see any bare spots. The skate deck was in good condition with a few thin spots (the return section near the road has a bare spot but just step into the tracks for ten feet) I would say good skis for daylight and B skis for night. The Lake and Creek trails are packed but not tracked with a few thin spots in the usual areas, again I would say good skis for daylight and B skis if you are out at night.

(Tom Harris)

I classic skied the Valley and Northern Lights trails. The Valley was perfect as would be expected. The Northern Lights had good snow coverage throughout and the tracks were fair to good. The only dirt I saw in the trail was one spot on the steep downhill and also on the return to chalet. Both were easily avoided. Some debris on the trail but overall I had a great ski.

(Mark Basiletti)

Skate skied Lake and Northern Lights Trails in the afternoon. New snow of probably 5 inches was rolled but still pretty soft. Won't say slow, just not as fast as we have been getting used to on man-made gerbil track snow. Much improved sightseeing though. So glad to finally ski outer areas of park. All hills safe to manage. No classic tracks set yet except on Northern Lights. Did I mention it was cold? Saw only a few other skiers, two sledders using the free hill near beach, and two whitetail deer romping in the fields.

Photos:

(Dean Kleinhans)

Frustrated that my only time to ski on this beautiful day was at 7pm tonight. Went to elm. As expected, trails were soft and wind blown with some drifting. Only the valley loop was open. Northern Lights was rolled and tracked but the lights were not on. Too dark to see if they had done anything with the other trails. As I was leaving they were combing out fresh corduroy on Northern Lights.

(Keith Gilbert)

Skiing was great. Bomber track, not too slow and of course no prob with the kick wax. No wind either and it was just above 0 F. Only a handful of skiers out there. The cold and coming worse cold brought to mind a number of old cold memories.

(Mark Lahtinen)