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.

Photos:

(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.

Photos:

(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.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Great day skiing a nice 3 km loop. It's a very enjoyable loop, with nice climbs, plus Suicide Hill open as well. I was eager to get out on some new skis and didn't regret that decision. The trail is in amazing condition especially given how little snow we have received.

Photos:

(Jonathan Haug)

Had time for a quick 1 hour skate session right about sundown. Really enjoyable for early season conditions. Base is minimal but had been packed well before the previous days warm spell. Recent grooming has made edging possible. Abbreviated loop as of now but has a great mix of terrain to get your legs back under you after being off the skis for a while.

Photos:

(Lance Strum)

Just over an inch of new snow last night. We groomed on 3.25km of trail last night, pressing the new snow into yesterday's renovated snow and base. The snow was falling as dry and fluffy but damp at the surface due to air temps in the 32-33 range which made of nice packing. Cold temps overnight set the structure nicely. We groomed again in the morning touching up the sides. This afternoon we were out again, this time running the teeth on the Ginzu groomer as much as we dared focusing on the middle of the trail, mixing the old crusty base with Tuesday's snow and last nights snow together. The end result was really nice early season conditions experienced on a late afternoon ski. Just a few spots the teeth dinged the ground but mostly grass was pulled up. I was expecting the surface to give away in a few areas but had no issue. I felt comfortable using B skis, just 2-3 flat rocks are exposed, easy to avoid. We will have this 3.25km of trail open for skiing tomorrow. The segments include Sukkerbusk and Skaters Waltz to the east and also Suicide Hill. The connectors are the return of Sap Run trail and also the "skinny field". Basically follow all the grooming, ski either direction. Clear and cool tonight should tighten up the texture even more overnight.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Yesterday warm temps took out bit more snow than we expected. Thankfully froze down hard overnight and the temps behaved today and were able to hang on to some base. The early season loop we are trying to open for the weekend held out better than I expected and was able to tenderize the crown where the base was adequate with the lightweight grooming setup. A post grooming ski found sufficient edging, and despite the thin cover, was a real nice and rather lively ski. We are still optimistic to open this early early season loop, which includes a two way connector to Suicide Hill which had the best skiing. Total km of this combo is right at 2.5km. Forecast calling for 0-2" tonight. If we can get pull down an inch, we should be able to open this loop to the public Friday afternoon on into the weekend. Will update Friday noon. Photos from the "early season loop" including Suicide Hill.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

2" of heavy wet snow mixed with a little bit of rain last night capped off a great month of November at Maplelag. 8" of total snowfall and 18 skiable days. Early early this morning we groomed on Skaters Waltz, Sukkerbusk, Suicide Hill and the soccer field loop, pressing the wet snow into the cold frozen base. The temp cooled down enough last night to freeze everything down. A ski mid morning found fantastic early season conditions, especially on a 2km loop consisting of the above trails we have been working on in effort to open this weekend. We also set track in a few spots to test the durability of the existing ice/crust base and were please with those results. We are keeping the trails closed with the warm temps today and tomorrow and will assess conditions Thursday evening to see if we can open at least 2km of trail for the weekend.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A beautiful spring like day on the trails. Great seeing all the skiers out the past few days. We also had productive days transporting snow to the vulnerable areas on Skaters Waltz, specifically the "Kamikaze" hill segment and have been able to maintain coverage and keep this segment open. Went out for a ski after sunset as the trails were freezing down again after a warmer than forecasted day. Despite the warm temps, the base on the 10km of groomed trail held out great overall coverage was very good and skiing was quite fun as it got faster but still some give on the edging. Although the trails remain "skiable" we are erring on the side of caution and temporary closing the trails. We will continue to work on the 10k of trail, patching thin areas in preparation of the next snowfall. With the existing base in place that is rock solid of transformed snow, it won't take much to have good early season skiing again. If we pick up even a half inch of snow, we will press this snow and open the trails again. It was a awesome early season run and thanks everyone for supporting the trails at Maplelag the past two weeks.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We had a nice weekend of early season skiing with a good number of folks on the trails including the Moorhead Nordic Ski team. Trails remain open this week on 10km of machine groomed. Rock solid base after weekend ski traffic and temps near the single digits last night. Areas of thin cover, rough and organic forest matter. Tuesday looks warm and we ask folks be off the trails by noon and not ski in the afternoon please. Today we are farming snow to the Kamikaze hill segment on Skaters Waltz patching up thin areas.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)