The photos really say it all. Although this was not truly rock skiing, 3 stars seemed much too generous. The park website was down this morning, so the only information was that the condition was "recommended" yesterday. "Recommended"is not a condition, by the way. "Poor, fair, terrible, good, excellent" are examples of conditions. As is usual these days, the parking lot was quite busy, with even the center lane filling up. As it turned out the grooming was two days ago, which is a long time when conditions are this icy and cold (minus 22 last night). As you can see by the photos, the classic tracks were WELL DEFINED. Neither were the cold temperatures problem, and my wax was excellent. The skate lane, however, was a concrete horror, filled with boot marks and deep snowmobile ruts. . Pity to classic skiers - not to even mention skaters - who want to exit the track, stop, avoid another skier or snow plow on a downhill.
I aborted the ski early and certainly wasted time and gas getting to and from P17. It probably would have been okay, but being injured is a real pain. Just not worth the risk.