A very mixed bag today. I skied during the balmy part of the afternoon (minus 21) and dressed warmly. It was a bit unusual, route-wise, because I started at P12 was picked up at P10. It was wonderfully warm until the final ice-cream headache/cold hands on the Fortune Parkway descent.

Trail 40: ungroomed, may have seen some sort of work several days ago, but this is ancient history now, with the weekend behind us. Some classic tracks remained on the less hilly spots (photo), but long stretches of track were obliterated and packed into concrete. Downhills were starting to resemble bodsled runs. A few cm of fresh snow still persisted in some areas.

Ridge, from Wolf Trail to Champlain: Beautiful condition! Firm, regulation classic tracks and a nice skate lane, too. All fairly fresh and, except for the skidoo ruts were as perfect as you could imagine (photo).

Ridge from Fortune to Champlain: An absolute nightmare. Almost impossible to get an edge in. Ruts, moguls, pathetic classic remnants which disappear into ditches, impossible to believe this is a primary trail!! I have seen many years with less snow than we have now, but never such terrible, unabashed neglect of a major trail. Shameful! (3 photos)

Champlain Parkway and Fortune Parkways: Quite good, but classic tracks are a bit worn and thin from the weekend traffic.

So the bottom line is this... if you don't mind skiing through all the neglected areas, you can arrive at some very beautiful skiing out on Ridge Road.