Excellent conditions this afternoon. Started at P8, up to P9 the parkway was well skied in, but kept in excellent shape. Up trail 32 the bottom was a bit dirty, but it improves drastically after the first sharp turn. Lake Fortune parkway was in great shape, easy skate climb today. Burma (#3) had been very well skied in already, so in particular this first steep climb from the parkway was soft and very uneven. Still a great rollercoaster trail with good step turn practice, but those piles of loose snow might be unpleasant for a night ski. Close to #1 coming from the north there is also some soil coming through on a steep part (see picture).

I went then on to the parkway at Etienne Brule, parkway there to the Champlain lookout was much less skied in and the tracks had iced up a bit from the sun. Taking ridge road back to the Lake Fortune parkway was nice, no major problems.

Weather was perfect with -7 when I got there and -6.5 when I left. When I had reached the lookout, the wind was picking up a bit, making that long descend a bit chilly. Altogether so far the best skate skiing day this season! Since it has to be freezing rain, I'm hoping for enough of it to protect the snow from tomorrow's rain! With another big dump on the way, whatever damage the rain does in the end will get fixed soon it seems.

There's still time to sneak in an evening ski, you won't regret it!