Conditions: Excellent. For this time of year it really couldn't be much better. Most of the groomed is skiing mid winter on dry powder. Just a few areas of transformed snow and one very short open section on Kamikaze hill. Temp flipflopping between 31 and 32 most of the day, falling to mid 20's early evening.
The high temp of the day was experienced at 4am when we hit 37. Shortly after, Skaters Waltz and North Loup were skate groomed as the temp dropped down to 31 and a half inch of new snow fell on top of the fresh groomed. Skiing on those trails mid morning was very nice. The new snow slowed things down just a bit but all in all some fantastic skiing. We had some wind so I was stickflicking while I skied. Jon Sanborn, the unofficial stick flicker recorder should note I raised my success rate a few percentage points. Anyways, late afternoon Skaters Waltz and North Loup were groomed again, bringing up drier snow and groomed out really nice. With temp falling through the evening, tomorrow morning should ski like mid winter on near perfect conditions and probably be the last packed powder day of the year before we transition back to springlike conditions.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Firm base, fresh snow, groomed last evening, temps brisk and very comfortable can't get much better. Although conditions should even get better yet as new snow breaks down and temps hold close to either side of 32 degrees on Skaters Waltz. North Loop was a little slow, but still fun if you enjoy working a little for the enjoyment.
When the last of the sweetcorn season rolls around the sweetness of corn on the cob will be missed for a long time; the sweetness of moving skinny skies on white is passing by. Enough classic and skate trails have been groomed at Maplelag to make super skiing memories, enough to last until next winter. Could be deep into next week before it is the last last time on the skinnies.

(Denny Barry)

Conditions: Powder. Mid-winter. 25 degrees. 5-6" fresh snow as of 9am.
14km of trail groomed this morning.
So much for snowmobile grooming. More snow on the trails then I expected early this morning so Pisten Bully was in action. Three trails double tracked (6km), North Loup groomed skate and classic (5km), and Skaters Waltz (5km) groomed skate only (rollpacked first) Might be a bit soft skiing today but with temps below 32 and cloudy skies forecasted today and tomorrow, should be some fantastic Easter weekend skiing. Excellent coverage, just one small thin cover area on top of Kamikaze hill.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Fantastic spring skiing. Sunny and mid teens early, clouds moving in keeping the sweet spot skiing going almost the whole day at 36 degrees this afternoon.
Recent hard freezes at night, and mid 30's for highs this week keeping the base intact. Tuesday's night grooming held texture for this morning making for some real nice skiing, about as good as it gets this time of year. With slightly cooler temps and snow forecasted the next few days, we should have nice spring skiing on through the weekend. Skaters Waltz will be groomed either Friday night or Saturday morning. North Loup has not been groomed the past 10 days but has been softening a hour or so before Skaters. Tracks on most recent groomed trails holding out just fine and classic skiing has been very good for this late into the year. Crust cruising with the jibskates has been fun on and off the trail.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Springlike!!
Hit skaters waltz this afternoon probably at the slowest time of the day. I put some Fast Wax speed paste on and ran some big rills and that seemed to help as glide was much better than I expected. I saw the turkey tracks that Denny talked about and there were sections of trails that were really trampled. My only explanation is that they saw Denny's tracks and got excited thinking he was some Turkey god since the tracks are fairly similar. Groomed skaters waltz at dusk during the transition period setting up some new texture. Should be some real nice skiing mid morning tomorrow....see you on the trail!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Great fun skiing in new light fluffy snow on top of textured fast base. Sharing the trail with a dozen or so turkeys made for a unique morning skate. Skaters and North Loop are as good as good gets.
Skied from 10 am to 1:30 pm with snow getting a little sluggish towards the end. Took a corner on N loop a little too wide, outside pole sunk and sitzmark was covered! If you look around and don't see snow where you are and still have that need to ski 'one more time', looks like Maplelag will have enough for a few more days. If it does get groomed tonight and gets cooler, it'll be perfect.

(Denny Barry)

Conditions: Within .001 of being perfect. Good glide with some challenging edging creating enough speed to keep your mind from wandering too far from your feet.
There is enough snow on the trails for some extra fun for another week at least: I hope!

(Denny Barry)

Conditions: Great!! Sunshine, mid to upper 20's and no wind. Doesn't get much better for middle of March.
A fun, fun day on the trails. Lots of folks enjoying the bright sunshine and pleasant conditions. Temp staying well below melting so tracks and skate lane fast all day. Just a little softening mid to late afternoon on direct southern exposed. Skied JibFly with Norm then checked out tracks on Twin Lakes and North Loup. Twin was just about perfect. Great tracks, fast and the blue klister was working perfect. (This is some of the best spring klister skiing I have had in my life !) North Loup hadn't been groomed in a while but the track was just fine and klister was still working well making for a very nice ski. Skate lane level and smooth despite no structure on surface. Skaters were getting just enough edge and having fun with the fast conditions. Lots of snow on North Loup... base is on average 9" compacted. Late afternoon went for a crust cruise tour with Jake off and on of Skaters Waltz, hitting some of the mountain bike singletrack which was pretty nuts. With slightly warmer temps forecasted for tomorrow, best skiing for sweet spot action might be from 10am to 2pm. Have fun!!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: About as good as it gets for springlike conditions. Hard and fast in the morning, sweet spot from 10am to noon and softer and slower for the afternoon. Sun/cloud mix, 37 degrees and wind from the west making it feel cooler. Still excellent coverage on the trail system.
This morning the trails were hard and fast and the small block 8's were working great. Skied with Norm Oakvik, who is up for a few days enjoying some last season skiing, from 11am to 12:30 as the trails were starting to soften up and it was perfect spring skiing in my book. Norm made the comment "I love spring skiing" as we were skiing along. Before we skied, Norm was testing his three different pair of skis waxed with klister. He chose the pair waxed with universal over the pair waxed with blue klister and the pair waxed with purple. I had blue klister on and was working quite nicely except for the areas directly exposed to the sun. After lunch the snow had softened but was nice skiing for folks not wanting speed. With cooler temps on the move, the sweet spot skiing might be later, say around noon, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will be closing for the ski season for lodging on Sunday night but the trails will remain open for skiing to season pass holders until the snow is gone. Select grooming tonight and on through the weekend on certain trails.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Great spring skiing.
Classic skied this morning the fresh groomed from Sunday and it was about as good as it gets. Dry snow and blue extra was working great. Skated in afternoon after warm up to near 40. Bit slower and softer but still some great skiing in the warm sun. Groomed skaters waltz and sukkerbusk this evening. Skiing should be very nice springlike mid morning or whenever the sweet spot occurs.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)