I was going to say that it was great early season skiing, but it isn't fair to use that qualifier. It was great skiing, the only thing early about it was my conditioning. The deck was firm, fully covered and groomed. The 30+ temps made for fast (relatively for me) skiing. The classic trails looked to be equally as good. There is no reason to not get out there and ski.

(Charles Ramstad)

A spectacular sunshiny day on the trails! Sunshine always makes things better and clear skies and single digits overnight set everything up nicely. Overall a great day of skiing. Skied with Jonell in the morning and was the best classic ski of the year. Sukkerbusk is in the best shape of all the classic trails. The snow has transformed to a sugary goodness but a firm base and providing nice glide. Yes, some rough, thin (on outer trails) and scattered organic forest matter areas but overall doesn't get much better for December 11th. Opted out of grooming late afternoon after looking at the forecast. Instead went for a skate ski to check out the new solar lights and found awesome conditions on the skate deck, especially skaters waltz and the extension. North Loup was a bit more rough and bumpy but I had B skis on so all good.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A good week preparing nearly 100km of trail for skiing and fat biking. Today we completed tracksetting on the western trails bringing total number of groomed classic only around 52km. Some areas where the base is thin we did not set track and just combed through. We also reset track on Sukkerbusk and Twin Lakes. Skaters Waltz combed again and we also filled in some low areas. Total skate only groomed around 18km. We also put up the solar lights on Sap Run and a 600 meter skate loop. Fat bike loops are groomed with the Bootleg and inner segments seeing multiple passes. Watch for areas of thin cover and scattered organic forest matter but overall good early season skiing.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Started classic skiing on Sukkerbusk and Jib Fly. Full solid track cuts with only a few areas of frosty snow over brownish grass. We also skied Mother North Star, it was in midseason shape! Changed over to our skaters and headed to Skaters Waltz. The firm deck coupled with texture that dreams are made of and provided an enjoyable first skate of the year. We headed over to The Extension and happily were surprised with the midseason condition of the deck. The solid base and fresh texture made a perfect way to enjoy a 30F day with my sleeves rolled up. Jay and Keith and possibly others have been busy filling in the areas that needed additional snow coverage creating a Just Ski with A Smile experience!

(Denny Barry)

I classic skied on Sukkerbusk trail this morning. The conditions were very mid-season like with the right track well skied in and the left track filled with some nice fresh snow. Although I did not skate that trail looked in great conditions as well!

(Tom Dooher)

Nice firm base, plenty of coverage throughout, just a few small areas of dirt or leaves kicked up by the groomer. Good skis. Skied all of the groomed inner loops - Sukkerbusk, Mother Northstar, Jib Fly, Rootin Tootin, Sap Run ... what am I forgetting? Fantastic afternoon on the trails! Well worth the drive. Plan to be back tomorrow to check out the skate deck and outer classic loops if my legs last.

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(Natalie Griffith)

An inch of fluff snow overnight. Trails are taking shape nicely after daily grooming. The entire trail system has been groomed and more trails continue to be tracked. We are only setting one track on the double track trails. Please no skating on the open side as we reserve this space for future tracksetting. A few of the outer singletrack trails have a few rough/thin spots and we try to lift the track in these areas. Always be aware of natural organic forest matter etc. Tons of wildlife tracks, out there. Trail cams have been picking up bobcat, wolves, fox, pine martens among others. Active eagles nest at start of Twin Lakes trail and beavers crossing trails in spots. The 25km fat bike loop "FatLagChilada" has also been groomed the past two days. We also added new snowshoe trail to the north this fall. All told there is over 100km of trail available for the aforementioned activities. Finally, we also packed and groomed out our main and subsidiary parking lots. 17" of total snowfall this year and we have yet to plow these areas. This is part of our sustainable or "green" model that does not include snowmaking.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A spectacular day on the trails! We woke up to -10F and another dusting of snow since grooming last night bringing the storm total to just under a foot of new snow. We worked on the remaining of the trail system (except Bullhead) and also made additional passes on trails groomed yesterday. This afternoon on the classic only trails we reset one track on the double track trails Sap Run, Sukkerbusk and Mother Hen. We also set one track on Mother North Star. Went out for a classic ski on all the new tracksetting after sunset and found really nice skiing. I was using good skis as I was comfortable stepping out of the track on just a few spots, mostly on Mother North Star, where there were very minor soft touches to the grassy trail surface. Sub zero temps all day set the tracks up very nicely. Grooming during the storm yesterday while the snow was moisture heavy paid dividends to have such nice classic tracks. Grooming plans: Tomorrow we will be combing out the skate only loops, Skaters Waltz, the two extension loops, North Loup and Suicide Hill again. We will also set track on one side on JibFly, Twin Lakes and Rootin Tootin. All other classic trails are open for no track classic skiing.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

8-9" of moisture lade snow today. A period of rain from 4am to 5am embedded a 1/4" crust in the base that made for easier grooming actually. 90 km of grooming today. All inner trail system and a few trails on the west and north system roll packed. Set track on 7km at end of day. Groomers back out tomorrow packing trail we did today and will hit rest of north and west trails. Fat bike trails will be groomed this week as well.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Great day on the trails. Lots of smiles and reports of better than expected conditions despite the thin base. At dusk Jonell and I skied on some other inner trails to check coverage and things are looking good. Snow is starting to fall and groomers are ready to roll and pack in the morning. Focus will be on the inner trails than moving to the outer trails Sunday evening and Monday. Tracks will be set on Sukkerbusk if conditions allow. Trails will be open Sunday.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)