A mid winter classic ski with hard wax - so much nicer than skin skis - and Garry skated, so this is a joint report.
Conditions to the intersection with 55 green were very icy , particularly the classic tracks, which were filled baseball sized ice chunks.
However after the intersection conditions improved dramatically! It was largely mid winter powder snow, superbly groomed. The only problems on this section were random patches of pine cones and some small twigs. It meant you had to keep your eyes open, particularly in the tracks. There were one or two bare patches, in pine groves, but they were easy to avoid. After Healey there was a noticeable drop in grooming quality. It was slower, with powder snow over an icy base. It did not appear to have been groomed this morning. More bare patches on this stretch, although all could be avoided without removing skis. We turned around at the junction with 36.
We stopped for lunch at Healey cabin, and found 2 groups of hikers and a fat biker. There was also fresh wolf scat and wolf tracks on the recently groomed trail.
Miraculously, my wax had lasted to this point, but I upgraded to VR60, which more of less lasted to the final 2 k stretch. This miracle was entirely due to the overcast conditions. Thank you!
The last stretch was extremely difficult for me (no classic wax) but fortunately short.
On the way home, we checked in at P16, and were surprised to see fairly good coverage on the first hill.
Even without grooming, the central section of trail 50 should provide very good skiing tomorrow once temperatures rise above zero.
This ski was up there as one of the nicest skis of the year. It's remarkable to have such good skiing in April.