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)

There's only 2.5 km of trail open but it's generally wonderfully groomed and in excellent condition, as it was this morning. With that said, I can report that when I arrived in the heat of the morning (temperature -7F), I found 2 skaters, plenty of intact corduroy, and no one in the tracks ahead of me, although I saw evidence that someone had been there, perhaps the intrepid Mr. Smith, avoiding the mid-day heat. As you would expect, the tracks were solid and the skate deck was hard. Conditions were slow. although there were a few faster spots in the tracks, and the downhill on the North loop had a few zig zags in critical spots that tended to throw your skis out of the tracks. My previously skied-on kick wax (Rex Gold liquid) held up for 6 loops and a bit more. I noted a few ski tracks headed out onto the outer trails, especially Northern Lights, but the natural snow trails haven't been groomed.

(Ken Tobacman)

Difficult conditions at noon. Man-made loop only. Temperature was 2 F, and winds around 20MPH. The corduroy was hard -- some places I barely broke the surface -- and fast. But then there were places where drifting snow was very sticky. So I'd be gliding along pretty fast, and then suddenly, my ski would be stuck. To avoid falling, I had to be constantly on guard. Lots of blowing, dry snow, so conditions will continue to be highly variable.

(Richard Gerth)

The Valley Loop manmade snow still in great shape. Classic tracks were well defined. Skating easy to get an edge and snow fast. Only manmade 2.5K trail open.

(Dean Kleinhans)

Another great ski despite below zero wind chills. Course was in great shape. Skate deck was fast and easy to get an edge. No ice throughout the course. Classic tracks looked perfect the whole way around. Great to see people out enjoying On MLK day.

(Brent Lackas)

The trails were in quite good condition for an evening ski. As is typical at the end of the day the tracks were not as deep as when first set and the deck was well used but skiing was fast but even by 7:00pm there was very little glazing in the tracks. All in all, excellent conditions.

(Greg Loper)

Great grooming at Elm Creek this afternoon with very good to excellent classic tracks and a good skate deck. The welcome sunshine added to the enjoyment! There weren't many skiers at Elm today, so it was almost like skiing up at Central Gunflint last week!

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(Bill Lundberg)

After my somewhat negative post yesterday I thought I better report the great conditions today. Firm deck and solid classic track. It was very fast also...PR conditions. They were also blowing snow on the big climb. No squigglies.

(Mark Lahtinen)