Conditions: Sunday morning fantastic crust cruising.
Just came in from doing Bullhead and it was great. Sun out, no wind, geese honking and sitting in any open water patch, and still amazed on the amount of snow and how nice it is. Tricky on the downhills as pretty fast and no breakthrough. It won't last much longer, warmer temps later in the week, and I am afraid the snow will be history by next week end. It has been a very special season to say the least.

(Jim Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Good for this time of the year. Lower 30s, about six inches of fresh snow, sunshine, first-rate recreation.
No grooming anymore, but on Saturday, my son and I bushwacked the entire North Loop (approaching it from the Skater's Waltz). The trail on the North Loop should be OK for a last (?) run on Sunday. Enjoy! Thanks for a great season, I hope to be back in December.

(Istvan Gombocz)

Just back from a little sun break in Brasil and hard to believe that we got such a dump on Sunday, at least 16 inches. I packed and rolled with the snowmobile, but so heavy and dense that it wasn't doing a whole of good so I just bushwacked yesterday and was out for about 3 hours and it was great. I just skied on a variety of trails, always checking out what brush and trees need to be cut and pruned and where we plan on planting 2000 pine and tamarack this Spring.
The sun was out and it was pretty special day. Can't say how much longer it will last, but for this time of year when we are between seasons, it is so nice to be on snow and to enjoy the trails.
This was a great winter, and just hope we are back now in the mode of normal Minnesota winters as we can all do without the stress of worrying whether or not there will be enough snow.
Thanks again to all of you who put Maplelag on your radar. We very much appreciate your support and your joy of cross country skiing.

Photos:

(Jim Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Surprisingly good snow cover remains for spring skiing. While there were 1-2 bare spots to traverse, the snow in the woods has held well
With temps in the 40's, and the sun shining, it was a great afternoon of spring skiing at Maplelag on Saturday. There is snow in the forecast for tonight and/or Sunday....maybe the ski season can be stretched one more weekend before ending another wonderful winter on the trails at Maplelag.

(Glenn Gifford)

Conditions: Mostly ice covered by slush, but enough coverage to permit a decent skate ski. Some bare spots and a pool or two to walk around.
We skied Skater's Waltz twice, once in each direction. Overall, for April 5th, the skiing was great. The conditions were a bit slow due to the slush, but firm enough to get a good edge over most of the trail. We had to take off the skis and walk around bare spots or pools about 7 times for each loop. With the snow forecast for tomorrow, this may not be the last ski, but will probably be the last skate ski. Its hard to complain, since we started skiing at Maplelag on December 8th. It's not every year that you get 4 months of skiing.

Photos:

(Charlie Ramstad)

Conditions: Fantastic spring skiing this morning. Thanks to freezing nights the past few weeks, we are holding on to a good base of snow in most areas and even skating on the rink which has made the hockey player in the family happy.
A beautiful morning for the last day of grooming. Still plenty of snow to work with even though the thin spots are getting a bit thinner and bare spots a bit larger. Skiing mid morning was spectacular early and starting to get pretty soft around noon. Warmer temps today and tomorrow will take out a lot of snow. Still should be some skiable snow on the weekend with cooler temps forecasted. The east side of Skaters and the larger loup of North Loup will be best bet. Thanks to everyone who came to Maplelag this season, it was a great year!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Good to excellent springlike. Sunny, calm and 30 during ski.
We picked up no new snow from the storm to the south but skiing was really fun this morning on super fast conditions but enough loose for edging and what not. Groomed Skaters Waltz and North Loup early this morning, chewing and combing the surface. Skied shortly after and was off the trail just before noon and just starting to soften. No more grooming on North Loup this year but Skaters Waltz will be groomed Wed and Thurs morning for the final grooming of the year. Best skiing will be from 9am to noon.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Good to near perfect springlike conditions. Mid 30's, overcast.
A nice weekend of skiing with a good size group on the trails Saturday. Friday evening Skaters Waltz and North Loup were groomed while the snow was quite soft. Froze hard with great corduroy texture. Saturday sweet spot skiing was extended until past noon on Saturday as a result of the hard surface and overcast conditions kept melting and softening to a minimum until later afternoon. Saturday about as good as it gets for spring skiing. Mother Nature turned the hair dryer on in the afternoon and lots of tree litter came down in the evening. Waited to groom Skaters and North until 6:30am this morning, grating and combing the thin layer of crust. Jake and I skied the above two trails late morning/early afternoon and found just enough loose for good edge control but still fast conditions. Fun ski, good to very good conditions. Used older skis because of tree liter. Temp not climbing much above 35 today with thick clouds so surface conditions holding out most of the day. The kamikaze hill section has been avoided using a connector trail to connect skaters waltz, making the loop 4km. With North Loup full coverage, 9km of complete coverage. The few thin areas have been shoveled on when grooming. Final grooming of the year on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Fantastic. Sunshine, calm and mid 20's at time of ski. Mostly packed powder with a few areas of transformed snow. Just one very very small open area on the 10km most recently skate groomed, otherwise excellent coverage. Compacted base depth on ski trail from 4-10". Up to 18" off the trail.
I didn't think the skiing today could top yesterday but with the sunshine today and the corduroy texture holding nicely from the rightly timed multiple grooming on Tuesday, it was fantastic. Found best skiing on northern loop of North Loup and spent most of the morning skiing it. The structure is holding strong with just the edging from skiers cutting into the cord. I am sure later today we will see more transformation. Plan is to skate groom Skaters Waltz and North Loup late Friday afternoon/early evening and possibly again Saturday afternoon for last weekend of March skiing. No new tracks will be set but classic skiing has been good on Sukkerbusk and other trails in bushwhacking mode. We still are holding on to about 3" of last Friday's snow on top of the base from the winter. Trails remain open at no charge.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Lots of cover, fast snow, great texture on a very wide and smooth skate lane: perfect for any time in any winter. North Loup and Skaters Waltz were groomed yesterday, making my morning arrival at 9:30 an almost "first one on new grooming" experience. I think Jay's tracks were the ones I was trying to match stride length with.
With some luck the snow will hang on for yet another week. I did see two other skiers today(besides Jay), one on the classic trails and the other on Skaters Waltz. The Skater reaffirmed the perfection of the trail conditions and the day. The super skiing won't last too much longer and when it ends it won't return for awhile, don't miss it.

(Denny Barry)