Conditions: Excellent skiing this week. Conditions couldn't be much better. A classic ski at dusk found dry snow with firm tracks throughout, some trails a bit more soft and powdery. There has been no melting or any transformation of the 8-10" of snow that has fallen the last 8 days. Grooming Tuesday morning on 28km of trail with new tracks set on select trails and skaters waltz and suicide hill combed/renovated. Grooming planned Wednesday morning on select classic trails. After Wednesday morning grooming, we will be leaving the softer snow conditions in order to better manage the snow after any warm or wet weather on Thursday or Friday morning.
Looks to be warmer for a few days near the end of the week but we are confident we will have good skiing on through the weekend. Spring like conditions anticipated. There is a solid base of snow and plenty of snow to work with to groom, condition and have nice skiing. Once we have a warm day, following days being warm are favorable to insure optimum spring conditions. We have experience grooming in all types of conditions and constantly monitor the weather to be ready to groom at the critical times to have the best conditions possible. We are not worried about the weather but looking forward to continued great skiing! Just ski!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Couple inches of fresh snow today groomed on most of the trail system. Excellent conditions. 18" snowpack, 7-8" base.
We woke up to an inch or so and snow continued on most of the day. We groomed all day, grooming over 60km. Skate lanes hit again at dusk, should be super in the morning. Tracks set up quickly, polished nicely thanks to the skier traffic. Skiing is fantastic.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Excellent! Well groomed for classic, and skate. Classic was perfect and easy to wax with the cold temps. Skate had a great base but was a little slow.
Maplelag does not disappoint, and always has the best conditions around. It was phenomenal today, starting with temps around -6, and finishing near 10 degrees. We spent the day skiing, had a great lunch, and enjoyed the hot tub before heading out.

(Deb Anderson)

Conditions: Spectacular. 54km tracked classic, 15km groomed skate.
Sun came out today and even though the air temp was colder than yesterday, the brilliant sunshine was heartening and it felt warmer. Gorgeous day of skiing. Morning grooming on select classic trails capped off a 200km week of grooming. Skied on the Bootleg extension for the first time this year before lunch clearing some twigs etc. and found the hidden gem on the Maplelag trail system at its finest. Protected from the wind and holding a coating of snow plastering. Skate trails a bit slow but a solid and firm deck. Touch up grooming planned throughout the Presidents weekend and groomers ready to groom in any new snow. Enjoy!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Trail are starting to take shape nicely. Sun came out today and provided some amazing scenes in the woods today. Tracking on the outer loops and skate lanes polished. More of the same on tap for Wednesday.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Soft powder, roll packed, 3 trails trackset. Off and on snow, blowing snow.
The wind didn't settle down much today so we mostly packed and combed today. Mid afternoon we tracked three trails for afternoon skiers with the Pisten Bully. We will be back out in the morning tracking than packing on outer trails in the afternoon.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Winter wonderland!
Intense winter storm dropping 5-8" of snow on the Maplelag trail system today with some scattered pillows of 10-12". It was blizzard like in the open areas near town but in the woods it wasn't too bad. Regardless, pretty quiet day on the trails skier wise. Lots of branches etc. to clear and some hangovers to try and spring back. We aren't aggressive on our branch cutting as part of our forest management plan....heads up when skiing! Daily grooming planned up to Presidents weekend.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: The tracks are firm and fresh with plenty of snow.
Maplelag has good snow coverage, and the trails are in great shape. Very enjoyable day of skiing.

(Glenn Gifford)

Conditions: Skate deck is firm with a top layer of fresh mixed in snow today, giving it a top score for conditions. With the two HS ski meets being over, North Loup has been skate groomed again. The warmer temps actually seemed to have helped firm the base with the cooler temps now with the newly added snow making it almost perfect. The classic tracks looked really nice, solid, full depth with just a dusting of fluff. They kept me wondering why I didn't bring the other skis and shoes.
The snow levels around the city of Detroit lakes as seen from one's car look less than adequate for top notch xc skiing. As one drives north and gets to Richwood the depth of the snow becomes exponentially greater. As one turns onto Goat Ranch Road and into the driveway, the anticipation of skiing on all the white stuff is difficult to contain!

(Denny Barry)

Conditions: Fresh dusting of new snow on top of frozen granulated base. Excellent coverage and conditions, about as good as it gets.
The coating of new snow was groomed in to all the skate trails this morning, mixing old fast snow with the new. New track also cut on Sukkerbusk with the same process. All other trails skiing really nice with the new dusting on top of well defined and placed tracks. We will be back out in the morning grooming and cutting more track and touching up skate lanes as needed. The transformed snow really makes for nice skiing this time of year when the sun and warmer temps can be a threat. We have good lodging openings the rest of the season. Come on up!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)