This afternoon I skated from P16 along 50 to 55 green, up 55 green to Taylor Lake, then along 50 to the hill above P19 before returning to P16. There was fresh grooming along the route. At the start the skate lane was quite hard with a few ice lumps embedded in the track and a noticeable Demsis Ridge. Skating was fast, but my skis tended to skitter. As the sun warmed the snow the surface softened almost to the point of being slushy in places, slowing glide but greatly improving edging. The surface then hardened again in the late afternoon, and my skis once again became a bit skitterish. The classic tracks were quite shallow, and in some places there was hardly a classic track at all, which called for a bit of care on fast descents. The snow is generally still quite clean, even in the pine groves (indeed the best skiing was in the shady conifer forest). There is also still an amazing amount of snow- the snow depth on the bridge across the creek at P16 was at least 2 feet! The hill above P16 had been deeply tilled and my final descent was easily controlled, particularly when I hit the slush on the open slope. Overall grooming was about as good as could be expected and I had a great ski. Skiing should be good tomorrow if there is fresh grooming and if you go when the surface is just starting to soften. It's important to read the NCC grooming report since there have been unusual grooming patterns lately- I chose trail 50 today because it had been groomed this morning, while other popular trails like the FLP had not.