March skiing is so fun! The tracks were fast tonight at 6:30. The skin skis were perfect for these conditions. The deck for skating appears to be getting packed hard and a little more challenging to get an edge.

Photos:

(John Crellin)

I skated on the Creek and Northern Lights trails this afternoon. Creek was rolled and had no tracks, it was fairly soft but they had just finished rolling it when I started. There were some slushy spots where the rain had puddled but they were avoidable and skiable. Northern Lights was rolled with no tracks and was fairly firm. There were three classic tracks going out Eagle trail from Creek. Another big thanks to the groomers!

(Tom Harris)

Skated Elm both yesterday afternoon and today. Thursday I stuck to the manufactured snow and Northern Lights trails. I used my good skis and found the trails perfect and rocket fast. Friday I used my B skis and went out on the great unknown. First, the long bridge is closed, melted away. TRPs has a good detour over the multi-use bridge, back up the multi-use trail to the Creek/Lake trail. The run from Bottenaeu down to the bridge is a bit icy as with the multi-use trail. Once on the Creek/Lake the trail is great till you cross the multi-use again. Some icy spots again until the Eagle cuts off. Great conditions on the Creek until the Creek and Lake meet up. One concern is the sharp left at the bottom of a hill on the Creek, a bit icy. The Lake has bare spots (avoidable) once it leaves the Creek. The challenging part comes after the two trails combine. Three items of concern. First the is a narrow strip of asphalt showing, it is icy but there is a sneak route on the right. Second on down hill to the lake there is an ice flow on the left and bare hole center. Most WW paddlers would rate this drop a class III/IV. You can portage either side. There is also a hero route on the right. After negotiating the spots the trail is icy and will kick you to the right. Let it. Ride it out, it dump you in to what is left of the track. Lastly past the little bridge there is a trail wide spot. The route is on the left.

Photos:

(Craig Schulz)

I classic skiied the valley and northern lights trails. As expected the valley was in great shape for striding. Norhtern lights was fair. The skate lane on N.L. was in good shape with plenty of snow. Coverage was good for the tracks but varied from good soft snow to ice. In many places I had to use the skate lane to go up the hills. The tracks on N.L. are pretty worn in places.

(Mark Basiletti)

I skated Creek and Northern Lights this morning. The trails were freshly groomed for skate and in good condition except for a few expected spots. The long bridge at the beginning of Creek is closed and they have groomed the trail south towards the 610 bridge and then down to the multiuse trail. This was not as good as the Creek trail but certainly skiable. The section just past where Creek and Lake come back together north of Mud Lake has a big patch of ice that I could just ski around and there was pavement showing at the path crossing. The downhill to the wetlands was skiable for now but if the sun comes out will get bad fast. The classic tracks looked fairly glazed but I didn't notice any large bare spots. Thanks to the groomers for spending the effort to get us one more day of good skiing!

(Tom Harris)

I only skied the manmade which was great. I double-poled in the classic tracks a fair amount and they were about as fast as I've seen so far this year. The skate deck was fast and firm. I noted that the bridge to the Dark Side is bare in a couple of spots. I did not see any signs of fresh grooming going out on the Northern Lights from the upper donut.

(Mark Lahtinen)

Classic skied both the snow-making loop and Northern Lights trail. Trails were lightning fast. Northern Lights trail was in surprisingly good shape. Classic track on Northern Lights was a little shallow and slightly washed out in some spots, but otherwise very little (if any) debris, sticks or dirt showing through. Used my good skis without issue or regret!

(Josh Boyer)

Manufactured trails at Elm were understandably a little rutted after the day's warmth and refreeze, but screamin fast and fun. Main reason for posting is to report that Northern Lights (natural snow) was surprisingly good, holding up really well, didn't see anything poking through or even a dirty spot.

(Jay Lyons)

The cooler temps and cloud coverage this morning have done well for the trails at Elm Creek. I went and skied the man-made loop (including the cut out and wall) and Northern lights. The parts of the lake/creek loop that I could see looked good but I don't know about once you leave the man-made loop. The phrase word I would use to describe today's trails would be ghost town. I ended up seeing more deer than people. I saw five deer and one person skiing. There was snow coverage everywhere that I skied. There were some soft snow patches where the snow/hills were in the sun (going up the backside doughnut and the top of the wall). There was icy underneath the snow on Northern Lights. There were some ruts to be mindful of and the snow has seen a lot of love (no fresh corduroy here). I would also be careful under the bridge. Overall it was very fast skiing. These were much better condition than I was expecting with the warm weather we have been having. I would recommend getting out and enjoying the skiing before it's all gone.

Photos:

(Elizabeth Loper)

Skied all lighted this morning. Man-made good as usual, getting a bit sugary on some uphills. Northern Lights loop, while still has good coverage, has turned into icy boilerplate conditions with the warm-up and re-freeze, has not been groomed recently. Looks like groomer made a pass on outer loop (did not ski, just saw tracks).

(Grant Schoen)