MN high school races at Elm Creeik (MN) versue Troll Hollow (WI)

I am not familiar with the facilities at Elm Creek in the Twin Cities,
but can someone familiar with the MN high school scene please tell me
why races are not held there as opposed to Troll Hollow in WI 4-5
nights/week? I find it amazing with the resources of the Twin Cities
that high school meets cannot be held somewhere in the metro. Doesn't
Elm Creek have lighting and some type of building that could serve as
race headquarters? I fully support youth skiing, but dodging 100-200
high school racers per night on a 1.5km loop at Troll Hollow in WI is
getting pretty old.

I forgot to list SNOWMAKING among the assets at Elm Creek. The recent
trail reports from there are glowing - why not hold races there?
Sorry for typos in header line.

Jim Kelley wrote:
I am not familiar with the facilities at Elm Creek in the Twin Cities,
but can someone familiar with the MN high school scene please tell me
why races are not held there as opposed to Troll Hollow in WI 4-5
nights/week? I find it amazing with the resources of the Twin Cities
that high school meets cannot be held somewhere in the metro. Doesn't
Elm Creek have lighting and some type of building that could serve as
race headquarters? I fully support youth skiing, but dodging 100-200
high school racers per night on a 1.5km loop at Troll Hollow in WI is
getting pretty old.

Seems like a nice problem to have, to me!

Elm Creek is packed with high schoolers 5 afternoons a week and gets
used for races as well. Schools in St Paul, east burbs, and Wisconsin go
to Troll Hollow, School in the North/west/metro MPLS use EC for
practice. Troll Hollow is a much more technical and demanding course,
and has far more room for skiers to drop gear, hang out, etc. EC has a
very small building (800sqft) that is used for rentals, concessions,
warming, tickets, and hanging out. Much smaller parking lot, too.

Also, Elm Creek is used by every masters program in the 'Cities at least
4 nights a week. It will be a little better now that the whole loop is
open, but for example last Wed, Ride&Glide, SisuSkiers, GearWest, Mpls
Ski Club, and a bunch of independents were all out there clogging up the
trail. The high schoolers are actually *a lot* better than the adults
this year about respecting the track, not standing in the middle of the
trail, and looking for oncoming skiers before stepping into the trail.

I think the upshot is that this really does prove that there is room for
more manmade snow in the area, and even better that Nordic Skiing is
alive and well - at least in the TC Metro.

We need to do the SNOW DANCE!!!
Marsh Jones