Good conditions overall, everything groomed anew except Creek trail to the North which was a little more bumpy. Multiuse loop still in good shape for skate. Some granular snow coming back on Northern lights, should improve with higher temperature.

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(Bernard Cerles)

This is my favorite classic trail in the Metro and it was wonderful. Eagle and Monarch trails are in terrific condition. Grip tape with Toko mint cover was ok at 8-10f, blue would have been better. Solid level tracks with enough depth to keep the skis tracking easily. Very strange day at Elm Creek- even on the Valley and Lake connectors I saw only track skiers, no one was skating. There are some deer and raccoon tracks, and oak leaves in a couple of places- Perfect reminders that these trails are in the woods.

(Steve Casey)

Trail conditions were fair to very good. The portion of the snowmaking loop I skated before exiting on to the natural snow perimeter loop was very hard packed. I fell as I made the 180 turn from behind the snow fence onto the trail at the trailhead because my skis went out from under me as I tried to skate the tight radius turn. It was also slow for my FastWax Blue LF waxed skis. Things improved as I got off on to the natural snow that had been groomed recently from the amount of corduroy that was evident. I ran into only a few spots of snert and there was only a little twig and seed liter. The classic track was consistent out bound but washed out a lot on the open portions of the return. It was maybe right around 20 degrees at my 3:30 start dropping to 18 or 17 when I ended 45 minutes later. There was a north wind that I had to fight on my outbound leg and aided me on my return. The parking lot and snowmaking loop were packed with snowboarders, high school racers and spectators. Only met two skiers on the natural snow portion of the trail.

(Keith Carlson)

Great fun, the outside course was great through out, the trail to Eastman was as usual leaf lettered. There was some washed out areas, but still ok. They do not groom a part of creek trail because of safety over old bridge, but skied in. Eagle trail was newly groomed as was Northern Lights. Two outside loops plus again the Northern Lights, biggest ski of the year -- I'm pooped.

(Brad Erickson)

Very good snow around 9am for skate. Did Eagle, Multi use loop, Lake, Northern lights, Valley all in good shape. A few leaves and small branches from time to time.

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(Bernard Cerles)

Hit the outer Classic loops (Eagle, Eastman, and Monarch) through to Creek and I found the tracks to be in pretty great condition. They hadn't been groomed since the last snowfall but we're holding up well. The tracks were a little washed out on trails where it was skate and classic. Debris in the tracks was pretty minimal and no grass showing. I used B skis but if I went back I'd use my best skis, easy to dance around the 3-4 spots where there were fallen twigs. Groomer was out at 4PM in the cold, doing a great job!

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(Nils Wahlander)

We skied the manmade loop and Northern Lights. Great conditions. It appears there are no tracks on the outer loops which was disappointing. Skating looked good. Fun to get up there on natural trails. A nice change of pace.

(Diane Pattridge)

My dad and I went out to ski at Elm creek today about 4:30 (right before the snow started). We only skied the man-made loop, which actually felt like skiing snow and not ice. There had not been many skiers out so the corduroy was still very nice. There were very few spots where it was hard to get an edge due to being smoothed out. The snow was surprisingly fast despite cold temps. As our ski went on the wind picked up and it got cold. The snow also started coming down and it was blowing all around.

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(Elizabeth Loper)

Yesterday's meltdown did a number on the outer trails. The unlighted trails haven't been regroomed, and at best they're icy and rutted in the skating lane, with bare spots, including pavement showing through where the trail crosses the paved trail behind Mud Lake. The big hill there is hazardous, with a bare spot in the middle and ice on both sides of that. The classic tracks are shallow, icy and in a couple of spots, melted through. I won't be back on those trails until we get more snow. Parts of the tracks on Eagle Trail were groomed under a few days ago, and only skier-made tracks remain in those spots. Lots of foot traffic on the classic trails, too, with some by two-footed creatures and some by four-footed residents. Northern Lights is in good condition. While the classic tracks haven't been regroomed, the skate deck was touched up last night, once the temp dropped below freezing. The classic tracks are icy in spots, and washed out on some of the turns, but they're very skiable and much preferable to the open-to-the-wind snow-making trail. The snow-making trail is, as always, well-groomed. Both the tracks and the skate deck were very fast, for such a cold day.

(Ken Tobacman)

The EC groomers came through again. The skate deck was very nice with just a few small thin spots. I skated Creek and Northern Lights. The classic track looked pretty good with a few washed out spots.

(Tom Harris)