Manmade loop provided a decent ski deck this morning. There was some areas of mash potatoes and dirt. Almost spring like with 35 degrees, clouds and high humidity.

(Mike Flynn)

Artificial snow loop was nicely groomed for my 830 am ski today. Reformed snow was had been tilled to provide a great skate deck. The trail was fairly quiet, the sun was shining, the winds light and the temperature around 25 deg F...all good!

(Mike Flynn)

Firm and fast skate deck. Classic track was hard and glazed. 38 degrees and Rex 1814 kick was outstanding. Thanks to Three Rivers for an outstanding Nordic training area.

(Pete Tremaine)

Great conditions around man-made snow loop. Great tracks. Loose snow for skating but able to keep an edge.

Photos:

(Dean Kleinhans)

We skated the man-made loop this morning, and it was gorgeous. I think the full 2.5 K is open now. Trails are in good condition for both skating and classic. It was a nice break from the challenging, hilly loop at Wirth.

(Scott Andre)

Skated the man-made loop this evening. A little more firm than it was on Tuesday but still good skiing and fast lap times (at least for me). Snow guns were blaring on the alpine hill with some overflow floating onto the XC ski trail providing a little extra drag through that area. Looked like a good turnout for the Wednesday races. I believe the Northern Lights (natural snow) trail was closed this evening while I was skiing as I saw two park employees on snowmobiles place barricades across the entrance to those trails.

(Leif Irgens)

Valley (snowmaking) is in good condition, although the high-volume of traffic this afternoon loosened the top of the deck up a bit. Northern Lights (natural snow) is open and I tried it out, but it's very thin in many places, rock-skis only.

(Brad Johnson)

Elm was so beautiful today, I could hardly believe it was only my second day on snow (and no roller skiing this fall either). The skate deck was reasonably firm and fast but with enough soft snow on the surface to get a solid edge. The uphills were a little chewed up but nowhere near close to being called mashed potatoes. I sailed around the man made loop with balance and control I normally don't attain until mid season. A moderate amount of traffic when I was out mid-evening. A few high-schoolers and some lesson groups but the trail showed no signs of being torn up by the traffic. What a great day to be on skis.

(Leif Irgens)

Skate skied 11k while my friend skied classic. Both were great! Tracks were firm for classic and there was nice corduroy. A couple dozen skiers were out, and some kids taking lessons. The skiable loop seemed roughly 2k.

(Paul Larson)

Was out skiing at 5:10 am and basically had first tracks - two others were out a minute or two ahead of me. Perfect conditions. What is there not to like about Minnesota in the winter? Get out and ski.

(Lee Goldstein)