Conditions: Just came in from grooming the 5-6" of fresh snow today upon conclusion of the DL Invite today as snow continues to fall. All the double track classic trails were groomed as well as the main skate loops. Mid winter conditions. 70km of trail open.
Picture perfect day for the ski race. Awesome to see snow fall the entire day during the races and all the smiling faces. We will be back out in the morning grooming on most of the trail system before the temps fall. Great weekend of skiing on tap!

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: 1.5" new snow past 36 hours. Powder/packed powder. 70km trail open. 15km groomed skate, 38km trackset, 14km skier made track. 35km groomed past 24 hours. Good to excellent ski condtions.
The new snow was groomed in on select classic trails, mixing old snow with new. The cold temps set up the track hard and a ski at dusk found super classic skiing. A couple very minute areas about the length of a boot of thinness. No problem using good skis. Overall the skiing is very good and grooming will continue daily. We will be hosting the DL Invite on Thursday and trails used will be Skaters Waltz and Mother North Star. All remaining 60km of trail open for skiing.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Generally very good on skate trails - Skaters Waltz/Extension in very good condition - North Loup in pretty good condition - a few thin/rough spots, but not much of an issue. Tracked classic trails were in very good condition with some washout due to use (way to go skiers in those low temps!). Jay did a great job grooming the skate and classic trails with the low snow depth. Enough trails were tracked to provide plenty of classic skiing. With a few more inches of snow, the whole trail system will be in great shape.
Rochester Nordic Ski Team had a great weekend at Maplelag - enjoying well groomed trails and fun skiing despite temps not rising above zero over the weekend (-22 Sunday morning with plenty of skiers out when it was -15 mid morning). It was too cold for a time trial, but the cookie relay was a hit (ski a few minutes, eat a cookie (frozen!), ski a few more minutes, and then hand off to teammate). Wavy Gray was a great adventure - some sections tracked, some not tracked (due to low snow), and take off the skis and walk across the frozen marsh between the Twin Lakes! Thank you Maplelag!

(John Resman)

Conditions: Powder/packed powder. 70km trail open. 15km groomed skate, 38km trackset, 14km skier made track.55km groomed past 24 hours. Good to excellent ski condtions.
Skate lanes were touched up this morning after 50km fresh groomed on Friday including new tracks on some of the outer single track classic trails for the first time. Despite subzero temps, folks are out on the trails enjoying the beautiful conditions. A quick classic ski at lunch found the tracks, for the most part, awesome!

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Freshly groomed skate and classic.
Trails were groomed today after additional snowfall and will be primo tomorrow. With the temps cooling down everything will set up nice!

(Ben Olson)

Conditions: Couple inches of fresh snow today on top of packed base. Grooming on all skate trails and new tracks set on three trails.
We lightly renovated mixing the transformed frozen granulated snow with the new snow today and combed out all the skate trails. We also set tracks on three trails. We were right on the fine line of getting too sticky but the snow has great density and groomed in nicely. We will be grooming quite a bit of the trail system tomorrow morning and with cooler temps to come, should be some awesome skiing over the weekend into next week, in particular classic. Touch up grooming on the weekend as needed.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Had a mid afternoon skate ski anticipating great texture after last night's below zero cool down. Conditions were better than expected, as the snow that fell after I skied there last week, had helped make the base flatter as well as cleaner with the help of the expertise pulling the Ginzu. The combed waves were hardly marked by others, providing edging and good glide. There is one 30-40 yard section with a few ups and downs requiring a firmer mindset on the balance skill of skating. I looked at that section as an opportunity to improve balance for later in the season when my technique gets into a more efficient stage and maybe my speeds will benefit; making balance a bit more critical.
Using "A" skis seems very plausible on Skaters. I didn't get over to North Loup, being reluctant to leave the known bliss I was on.

(Denny Barry)

Conditions: Packed powder, 70km open, 45km groomed, 15km skate groomed, 30km tracked. Good to excellent conditions being reported.
The trails are holding up well after the high volume of skier traffic over the Holidays. We've had some great skiing on a 2-4" base and this weekend about as good as it gets with sunshine and mid 20's. We groomed the skate lanes in the morning than again at dusk before cold temps moved in. New tracks being set as needed on select trails. A check of the skier made track trails at dusk found surprisingly nice skiing.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Very good, good snow pack on all of the trails we went on.
I was surprised by the condition of the trails. Brought rock skis expecting some more rough spots, but they were in great shape. If you haven't been there yet you should go.

(Brent Hitterdal)

Conditions: Packed powder. Light dusting snow past 24 hours. 70km open, 45km groomed, 15km skate groomed, 30km tracked. Good to excellent conditions being reported.
Hard to top conditions for first day of 2016! Hero snow thanks to moderating temps and sunshine. Daily grooming continues with skate lanes refurbished and select trails reset with track Saturday morning.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)