A skate ski from P10 up the FP to Ridge, west to Burma, down Burma to FP, then back up to Ridge, east on Ridge to the top of Penguin Hill, then back via Ridge and the FP. I found amazingly powdery, cold winter snow which was only starting to soften a little by the end of my ski. There was precious little evidence of grooming, although the NCC website claims the FP was groomed at dawn. That said, the skating was excellent everywhere, with a smooth surface and enough "give" for easy edging. You could feel just a little of the hard base on the final downhill on Burma, but control was great. The main problem was dodging snow bombs falling from the pine trees! When I left at 9AM P10 was nearly full but there were not too many skiers on the trails. By 11AM the hordes had arrived and were clogging the FP.

For those skiing this afternoon, I expect conditions will still be powdery but with a somewhat wet surface, particularly in the sun. A softer glide wax and rilling would help, but it probably won't be fast. Since there was hardly any grooming last night my hunch is there will be grooming everywhere tonight, which could make for fantastic skiing in the early morning. The unpacked snow at Chelsea is still knee deep, suggesting the season could go on for weeks yet.