I resorted to a bike ride today but I rolled past French just to see how bad it might be. I was able to see much of the Meadow trail through the field along Rockford and Northwest as well as about 2/3rds of the Lagoon trail and the trail head. What I saw was about 70-80% white but the remainder was gray water logged slush, standing water, dirty snow and/or bare ground. The asphalt bike path at the trail head appeared to be slushy mush with the asphalt showing through. I did not see whether the trails were actually closed but I can't imagine them being safe to ski in their current state. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

(Leif Irgens)

Quite a change from yesterday. Lagoon is showing several bare spots, particularly in the classic track. There is a bare spot right in the middle of the skate deck that's a little hard to ski around in the downhill section back to the two way. The classic track on Lakeview and Skyline is in rough shape with dirt showing in spots. The skate deck on Skyline has some bare spots but they are easily avoided. The remaining trails are in good shape. The groomers have worked their magic again.

(Steve Hum)

Skate deck was nicely groomed and somewhat soft. Classic tracks were set but shallow in a few sections. Coverage was great, only a couple of dirty snow spots. There was some ice on the last turn before rejoining the main trail off Challenge Hill and in the big curve dropping into Skyline. Meadow had some hard pack bordering on ice but the groomers were working on the trail so I expect it would be gone soon. Overall really nice skiing and the trails are holding up well to the warm temperatures.

(Steve Hum)

Took the waxless classics out this morning and skied all the classic trails at French. Good conditions, well defined tracks throughout. A couple small scattered spots where some dirt was showing through. A little leaf litter here and there, but much less than at Spring Lake Park yesterday. It looked like the skate lane was regroomed this morning and was holding up well. Well worth the drive up there from the south metro. Tomorrow, who knows. Let's keep that temp down and the sun behind some clouds.

(Dave Gardner)

Skated at French starting around 6:30 pm. I stuck to the lit trails (including the Lagoon Trail) and found everything to be mostly smooth, even and fairly fast. The skate deck was a bit more firm than I would prefer, but I found it to be manageable; nothing like circus clown show that was my ski at Elm on Tuesday. There were still a few leaves littering the trails but they were pretty much "skied in" by the time I got there. For the most part, I was able to glide over them or step around them. I only got brake-checked by leaves a few times. I was on B-skis only because they were waxed for today's temperatures. I would have skied my good skis today with no reservations. I observed classic tracks to exist but couldn't really comment as to their condition. I realized as I skied that, even though I live close, it had been five years since I had skied French at night. I had forgotten how very beautiful a night ski is through the forest on the lit trails over there.

(Leif Irgens)

The trails were nicely groomed for both skate and classic. But, there were quite a few leaves in the tracks and on the skate deck. The hilly trails on the west side of the park were in the best shape with little or no debris.

Photos:

(Bill Lundberg)

Sunrise and moon set ski this morning. Trails are packed and mostly tracked. I kicked and tracks are medium depth and solid throughout; land bridge has a little wash out but minor. Enjoy the lit trails tonight before temps plummet!

(Anne Jaeger)

Had a fantastic ski this morning at French right after the groomer had finished. The trail is in awesome shape, no problem using my best skis. Classic track looked very good but the side of the trail is soft so watch out for post holing.

(Evan Pengelly)

Went to French mid-morning. Tried a lap of classic on the Lagoon Trail and found the tracks to be soft, uneven and washed out in several places so I looped back to the car and switched to my skate skis. (That said, my observations of the classic tracks while skating were that they were in pretty good shape around the rest of the trail system). Given that I typically only ski with confidence on a nice fresh piston bully groomed skate deck, I had a little trouble early on with the skate deck at French. It was a bit rough, uneven with a few ruts to reach up and grab my skis out from under me. However, with time, the traffic skied the skate deck in nicely, smoothing out the ruts and packing the surface down nicely. By the end of my ski, I was gliding along with confidence. The new snow seemed a little slow but I was waxed a bit warm. I took my B-skis out, having seen some places where the groomer had hit bare ground but good skis would probably be safe with the current conditions. I'll again issue a word of caution about the new double figure-8 trail route around the lodge area. With the Lakeview trail now uphill only, there are three places around the lodge where the trail paths cross. Everyone seems to have a different idea as to where to go and/or whether to go left or right so just be cautious and aware of others as you ski through there, particularly the downhill left turn to access the Lagoon Trail. It's a potentially high speed downhill left turn with limited visibility and the chance of a T-bone accident is high through there (ask me how I know...).

(Leif Irgens)

The new snow was not groomed in yet when I finished skiing at 2 pm this afternoon. Classic tracks set throughout the park. Coverage was great and very few leaves/debris on course.

(Laura Cattaneo)