Skated three laps of the outer loop: Valley-Lake-Creek. Skate deck was in great shape, including the natural snow trails. Classic tracks appeared to be good everywhere, too. It was my 36th consecutive day of skiing! My longest streak of anything but eating, sleeping, breathing.

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Skied the hidden single track gems Monach and Creek Trails of Elm Creek which are in very good shape, nicely tracked. The multi-use trail is packed, not tracked, and was busy with folks out hiking and walking the dogs (which IS allowed on the multi-use of course). Get out and enjoy the natural snow! Manmade loops are packed and perfectly tracked.

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(Mindy Benton)

Skied Lake, Eagle, Northern Lights and Valley to get back to my car. Eagle was just groomed and tracked, which was very good. But, I had to use Lake to get to Eagle and Northern Lights to get back to my car. Lake and Northern Lights have not been groomed and tracked for a while and the tracks are washed out on corners. Tracks are a little icy but good glide. Around 3pm a lot of high school skiers showed up. Good to see kids enjoying the sport and supporting Elm Creek.

(Earl Stabenow)

Great conditions for classic. Skied the outer loop. Eagle trail was perfect. Some leafs and twigs in the woods. Northern lights trail showed some wear but great skiing and pleasant sunset. V40 swix kick worked great.

(Joe Anderson)

I also resolved to do the Virtual Noquemanon this week, and what a great place to make it happen! While not as technical as the NTN, I was able to channel my "downhill" Noque self a couple times while skiing 8 "big" loops around the natural trails. The man-made skate deck was firm and fast. The natural trails slightly less firm (mimicing race conditions, I guess) but improved during my time out there. Everything is beautiful right now. I spooked the same red squirrel twice on my first two loops and saw a pileated in the wooded skate section of the trail on the opposite end from the chalet during my last two loops. All-in-all a very satisfying ski despite the nippy cold. Thanks for all the work you do, groomers!

(Collin Arnett)

Classic-skied man-made and Northern Lights under the lights. Man-made tracks were superb - VR30 was kicking like a mule at 10-15 degrees, and tracks were very fast but not icy or glazed on any climbs. No problem striding the hills in the tracks but I used the bypass instead of The Wall. Really fun striding. Northern Lights tracks were shallow but fine. Deck looked a little on the hard side (not much loose snow) in some places on both trails.

(Pete Thurmes)

Manmade loop was excellent as to be expected. As of 9:00am the Northern Lights had not been groomed and only about half of Creek. It also appeared that a rouge snow machine caused some disruption. The outer multi-purpose trails were just groomed and were in fabulous shape albeit a touch soft.

(Don Callander)

Skied Eagle and Creekside. Track was mostly good with one short section showing some dirt (easy to avoid). The track is soft, should become firm soon.

(Norman Greenberg)

The crowds must all be at Wirth for the loppet, because Elm Creek was empty. Saw only a handful of people from 1:30-2:30. The main loop was in excellent shape. The Lake trail (natural snow) was very good, including the tracks. There were a couple of spots on the Northern Lights return trail where the tracks were mushed, but overall it was a great day. My husband said the skate deck was also really good.

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(Laurie Ford)

Started out on Northern Lights around noon, disappointed to find it had not been groomed today. A lot of skier traffic out so there was some set trail. Skied onto man-made loop, which was good. Headed out on the outer trails and skied some of the multi-use segments. Lots of people out! Eventually connected back into Lake Trail where it looked like they had packed the trail early this morning. Snow was still soft but fast. Skating looked like a chore with all the chopped up, soft snow.

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(Bruce Adelsman)