Valley trail was groomed. The surface was hard and fast. Tracks are well formed but icy in places. I skied classic using waxless skis. Very fast and fun. The snow is getting dirty but there should still be plenty of good spring skiing this week. A few skiers were out and everyone I talked to was pleasantly surprised on how good it was.

(Mark Basiletti)

Fun spring ski on the Valley Trail. Plenty of great base out there and a fair number of skiers out! Dirty near the parking lot and top side and downhill of donut. There were a few spots where tree work was done and debris left on the trail is starting to get dragged around a bit, but is still avoidable. If you're worried about dirty skis, start at Bottineau house and stay on that side of the practice area. Photos give you a good idea of what's out there. Very thankful to have this option especially with World Cup prep going on at Wirth - their trails look great! Elm Creek Staff said they'd keep grooming as long as possible (thank you!), hope to be able to keep enjoying Elm Creek for a while longer.

Photos:

(Linda Evert)

Did the 2020, 20K "Great Raccoon Chase" at Elm Creek about 10:30 AM--perfect conditions on manufactured snow. Skating N. Lights/Thicket was actually fine, aside from icy stretch by lake after Cowabunga--which, itself, was OK up and down. B-skis if a person is really worried about equipment, but not too dirty or much schmutz. By about 11:30 sun was starting to affect both natural and Valley trail snow and it was turning mushy. "The end is nigh" for all but Valley.

(Andrea Ochmann)

Skied the manmade at the end of the morning window before 11:30. Great spring skiing - fast - good classic track also. Dirty snow after the bridge and around the first corner. Talked to another skier who went out on the Northern Lights and said it was OK but icy along the stretch after Cowabunga. The boardwalk to the outer loops was bare of snow for half the length. Today was a possible 116 days of skiing at EC as they opened on November 12. The natural snow season ended on Monday when the snow depth got below 2 inches for 97 ski days which is almost 4 weeks more than the average of 70 ski days. The 97 ski days is also the average for winters when there has been at least 6 inches of snow on the ground on Christmas. I'm sure there are areas where you could string together a ski loop. Also heard the Elm and Hyland will be open until the World Cup as some of those skiers may ski at these venues and not just Wirth.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Trails were groomed this morning - thanks to the groomers! Tracks are dirty near the chalet but good everywhere else. Tracks were firm but slower than yesterday. Hoping for a few more days.

(Barb Woodruff)

Crazy fast glide with tracks partially icy. Classic tracks were groomed this morning, temps at 25 degrees 9:30 am. Skied with my newly purchased Atomic Skintech skis. The skins did a great job in the icy tracks, but required a lot of force to keep from slipping on the steepest hills. Tracks were nice and deep with no washouts on the corners, but very little traffic this am. Skate lanel looked in great shape.

(Earl Stabenow)

I only skied the man made loop this morning which was in fabulous shape. Perfectly groomed skate deck and the classic tracks looked to be in equally great shape. The groomers were just heading out onto Northern Lights when I was leaving but a quick glance; it looks like it has deteriorated significantly over the last two days. Can't say for sure but I suspect it would be "B" skis for anything other than the man made loop.

(Don Callander)

OK, so yes, all trails are open...that said, based on observation, classic is limited to Valley, unless you want a luge run. However, being unable to do Biwabik's Great River Energy-Pepsi Challenge tomorrow, I did the "Chernobyl Power Plant-Tab Cola Trial" and won the 25K in "Today O'Clock" time, skating the entire system in odd patterns. There are some icy spots on the multi use trail and some burn out starting on the West side before the Nature Center road crossing (by that random parking lot), but it really is holding up well. The natural snow is nicer and has more edge than the manufactured stuff, TBH. The first small uphill on Creek (after the bypass) is becoming all ice, as is the bridge where you come in by the beach, so that is why I say B-Skis. But the big up on the back of Creek is holding up nicely. Cowabunga is actually in great shape, both going up and down. Even coming in off N. Lights and Thicket is holding up well, but the road.

(Andrea Ochmann)

The manmade loop was in great shape...fast for skating and also double-poling in the tracks. There is some dirty snow in a few spots. I went onto the Thicket/Northern Lights which was also very good for skating as they had groomed it so it wasn't icy hard pack. The classic track hadn't been groomed as there is probably not enough snow depth. The track is shallow and a bobsled run - very fast. The classic track is still too far right in spots as it has been all season (plenty of room to move it over a foot or two). I found that if you time your double pole correctly you can duck some of the branches on the down stroke. The glide off Cowabunga was great and I glided over the next hump and down to where the trails split/merge. There was a group of beginner kids venturing to Cowabunga...life was probably more exciting.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Skied all the natural snow classic and multi use trails on the back side, allowing me to avoid the heavily use front side natural which tends to get more sun. Classic was hard packed and super fast at 9 am but soft in most places by noon. Skate and multi use were freshly groomed and about as good as it gets.

(Dan Zenk)