Another beautiful frosty day with scattered lingering flurries accumulating to .4". The new snow helping take off the edge of some of the iciness and slowing down the skiing just a tad. This morning all the skate trails were renovated and combed and classic trails Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, Rootin Tootin, easy loop of JibFly, and first half of Mother North Star renovated with new track set. We marked the cutovers on JibFly and Mother North Star to follow the better conditions. We also had the Pisten Bully out for the first time this year helping break up the icy sections in the open areas. Reports from skiers today were good despite the icy conditions. Grooming plans: The new snow changes the plans a little bit and depending on how much more snow falls tonight will determine what actually gets groomed but we do plan to be out in the morning and expect skiing to be a bit better for the first day of 2025... Happy New Year!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

The trails are holding up well overall. They are in spring-like conditions, with fairly icy conditions and a couple of thin spots here and there. But the icy conditions make for some enjoyable and fast skate skiing!

(Trygve Rux)

Temperature stayed below freezing all day keeping the deck hard and icy like. This morning all the skate trails were renovated/tenderized and combed. Late morning and the afternoon, classic tracks were renovated/tenderized on Sap Run, Sukkebusk, Poki Loki/Mother North Star to Sukkerbusk to make a loop. Reports from the skaters were good. Early evening I classic skied some of the tracks groomed today. Definitely softer skiing on the fresh groomed. Grooming plans: All skate trails will be groomed again in the morning and tracks reset again on same trails as today and Rootin Tootin. Outer trails have fair to good set tracks and are icy. We have some new plans to reset the outer tracks on Thursday and Friday.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

I classic skied on the inner trail system this morning. The conditions were icy and coverage was good considering the warm-up we had over the past few days. Great to see the high school kids out taking advantage of the natural snow!

Photos:

(Tom Dooher)

Another good day at Maplelag! Snow cover remained good today despite warmer local temperatures over the weekend. Classic tracks were best in the woods, away from exposed spots. Good skis were fine on the trails I skied today. Waxless skis worked well for today's conditions.

Photos:

(Glenn Gifford)

A textbook day of spring like skiing with icy and fast conditions in the morning after another hard freeze. Warmed up nicely to soften the deck and take the edge off of grooming. All skate trails were groomed in the morning and classic trails were renovated and reset on Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, Mother North Star and Twin Lakes. At dusk skated on all the skate trails as the snow was transitioning from frozen loose granular to frozen granular. Good edging and super fun glide. The temperature was dropping fast and the deck was setting up hard again. Grooming plans: We will be renovating and combing all the skate trails again in the morning and renovating and resetting one track on double track trails Sap Run, Sukkebusk and Rootin Tootin. We are delicately grooming the trails to keep the base intact and sometimes lifting the ginzu blades to avoid spreading squirrel diggings or other debris.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A beautiful day of spring like conditions and brilliant sunshine. We froze down hard last night thanks to much cooler temperatures (low 20's) than forecasted. The tracks were icy and fast and slow to soften even with sunshine and high temperature around 37 degrees. Spent most of of the morning making passes on Skaters Waltz for the morning skate skiers and reset one track on the double track trail Poki Loki. After the morning groom, skied one lap of Skaters Waltz....fast and fun but enough loose transformed snow for edging. After the skate lap, classic skied Poki Loki and Mother North Star. The fresh set track was really nice, other tracks still icy but slowly softening. The afternoon back on the groomer, making a few more passes on Skaters Waltz and also the skate lane on North Loup smoothing out the ruts. After skate grooming, reset one track on the double track trails of Sap Run, Sukkerbusk and JibFly with better results than expected. Grooming plans: All skate lanes to be renovated again as well as skaters waltz extension. New track setting planned on Mother North Star, Rootin Tootin and Twin Lakes. Fat Bike report: The entire 25km "FatLagChilada" course is open, set up hard after yesterday's grooming. Velcro like surface with icy sections. Other activities: The sledding hill is well covered with fast conditions and the ice rink is revived after the warm up and following freeze, smooth and mostly level.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Springlike conditions made for slower skiing today but still a hearty bunch with a "Just Ski" attitude. Morning low 34 degrees, day time high hovering around 35 degrees, falling a few degrees at dusk. No recorded precipitation. 15km open for skate on Skaters Waltz, the extension of Skaters Waltz, North Loup, Kristin's Kutoff, Single Green and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill. 45km open for classic on Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, JibFly, Rootin Tootin, Mother North Star, Poki Loki, Twin Lakes, Wavy Gravy, Island Lake trail, Loon Return, Buck Run, Roy's Run, North Loup, Bullhead Lake trail, and Bootleg Extension. Adventure skiing on Lucky's Loype. Comments: A warming night softened the snow and did not freeze down confirming the decision to not groom a good one. Around noon I classic skied on Sukkerbusk, Twin Lakes, part of Roy's Run and North Loup and finished up with Sukkerbusk and Sap Run. Found best skiing on Sap Run, Sukkerbusk and Twin Lakes. At dusk skied again with family to check the condition of the trails on Sukkerbusk and not much had changed, glide was actually a little better. Grooming plans: We will continue to hold off on grooming unless it actually freezes down but we don't anticipate the base to be firm enough. Possibly on Skaters Waltz.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We had a great day on the trails with springlike conditions. Temperature hovered around the freezing mark with frost lingering on the trees. The snow was a little damp but skied very well. We had around 1/2" of frost snow we were going to groom into the base and reset tracks but with humidity right at 99.99% we decided to hold off. The trails are skiing well, tracks in good shape for the most part, and we will hold off on grooming until it dries out and freezes down again. We did pack the north end of Bullhead lake today so it is easier to walk through. We skied the Bullhead Bootleg loop yesterday and was very nice skiing and navigating the north end made for a true cross country ski experience.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Trails are looking good! Skied a mash of classic trails and also the skaters waltz. The team has done a nice job grooming. Fresh snow dusting/ a few days without grooming made the snow slightly slow but that is far overlooked by the amazing scenery. Note: Wasn't clear on the map as to which trails are skate and which are classic.

(Caleb Osterberg)