Great last day of November! Day 9 of consecutive grooming and skiing at Maplelag was the best since we opened for the season on November 21st. Morning low of -12 and clear skies set up yesterday's grooming nicely and the sunshine made everything look like mid winter. Moorhead Nordic was out early training, skate session followed by classic on the intermittent track on Sukkerbusk. I skied on Sukerbusk and went west to Wavy Gravy to ski in a track. Was slow going but just a gorgeous day in the woods. I was able to get through the middle of Twin Lakes which has frozen down solid outside of the bouncy boggy segment. The afternoon combed out Rootin Tootin, Mother North Star, Twin Lakes and set more track on Sukkerbusk for Sunday's skiing. Skate deck holding out well on Skaters Waltz. North Side remains closed but around 30km of trail available for early season skiing, still going to recommend rock skis to err on side of caution. Best skiing remains on Skaters Waltz for skating, Sukkerbusk for fair to good track skiing and Sap Run, JibFlly for no track classic skiing. Use extra caution if skiing trails besides mention. Store in the Hygge cabin will be open tomorrow, Sunday 11am-2pm.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Spent most of the day rolling packing the new dry fluffy snow from yesterday on much of the trail system. Later afternoon we combed Sukkebusk and Skaters Waltz and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill. We set more track on Sukkerbusk, 2km of trail, for 2.5km of track now set on this trail. The new snow improved the conditions but still recommend skiing on Sap Run, JibFlly and Sukkerbusk for classic and Skater Waltz for skating which is good early season skiing. To bypass the Kamikaze hill segment, use Sap Run for a connector. We have the gate closed north on North Loup and Roy's Run but open for Skaters Extension which is very skiable, just some grass poking through here and there.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Happy Thanksgiving from Maplelag! Around 3" of light fluffy prairie effect snow today. Ski trail grooming on 6km of trail. 20-30km ski trail open packed and combed with new snow on top. Track set on 300 meters where base was more mature on Sukkerbusk. 10km of fat bike trail groomed (Twin Lakes singletrack) with 2-3" fluff snow on top. Additional 10km of fat bike trail open (Bullhead Bootleg), rider packed with fluff snow on top. Jonell and I skied in the afternoon after a couple of inches had fallen after grooming and the track was skied in nicely from earlier skiers. Very nice skiing for Thanksgiving!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A beautiful frosty day provided for a nice backdrop of grooming and skiing. Busiest day since grooming and skiing a week ago. JibFly, Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, Skaters Waltz and Eira Bikwadinaa hill groomed today. Shoveled on as many thin areas as possible while grooming. Best skiing remains on the early season loop which is marked with orange cones. Skied this evening, using B skis today with no issue. Good rock skiing on the loops groomed today.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We've had a great couple days of early season grooming and skiing after the most recent snowfall on Sunday night. The deck is starting to tighten after grooming, clearing skies yesterday and a low temperature of 7 this morning. Today mid teens with heavy moisture keeping the snow a bit softer and silkylike and providing beautiful frosty scenes. We have rolled, packed and combed on most of the trail system, around 55km. There are no track set. Best no track classic skiing remains on Sukkerbusk and the easy loop of JibFly. Best skating on the early season loop and Eira Bikwadinaa hill. The singletrack classic trails have been snowmobile packed and outer skate loops have been roll combed but not recommended to ski on, grooming purpose was to freeze down the base for the next snowfalls. Jonell and I classic skied last night and she was using her good skis and I was using B skis with no issue. Today I bumped into skiers that said they were using better skis. But due to the thin cover, occasional rock and rough spots, I recommend using early season skis or rock skis. Some of the larger lakes are starting to freeze over now as well. Grooming plans: We will be back out Wednesday morning combing out the early season loop. The west and east sides of the fat bike trails are open and rider packed and plan to groom those loops by end of the week.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Trails were a pleasant surprise this morning! We went there expecting constant grass, stick, and rock dodging but were pleasantly surprised by some solid trail conditions. There was the occasional stick and thin spot on the trail, but overall, there is some stellar skiing to be had at Maplelag, as always. The trails were occasionally a little bumpy, and no classic tracks yet. Pictured is my Grandma smiling ear to ear on our first time around Sukkerbusk.

Photos:

(Trygve Rux)

A beautiful 2-3" of dense snow fell Sunday night. We were out grooming Sunday evening into Monday morning while it was snowing, mostly on the early season loop. Grooming plans: We will be out in the morning combing on the early season loop and also roll packing on 20-30km of trail. Recommended skiing on the early season loop.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Love skiing at Maplelag...for the amount of snow, plenty of great groomed trail. And love the peace and quiet, beautiful scenery, and fresh air. Feel recharged. Can't wait to go back.

(Gina Kinzler)

We've stayed below freezing the past 48 hours and dropped down to the mid teens at night which has froze down the groomed trail and base making for nice early season skiing for the handful of folks that have been out. The base is very thin with rough/bare spots but grateful to be skiing! Classic skied with Jonell and skate skied with Paul Schommer. The early season loop is providing the best conditions including the newly named "Eira Bikwadinaa" hill (formerly Suicide Hill) Scheduling: The store at the "Hygge" day use cabin will be open Sunday 11am-1pm.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We had one of the Ginzu groomers out early this morning combing out dusting of new snow after roll compacting yesterday. The same trails groomed yesterday were groomed today. We are managing warm ground underneath which is making for tricky grooming. The grooming is compacting the deck however and seems to be helping with the freezing down of the deck combined with temps hovering in the mid 20's.
I went out for a ski in the afternoon and found skiing to be a bit better than expected. The thawing from underneath is slowing down and there's a nice ice layer forming which makes for better skiing despite the thin and open spots. Since a few folks have inquired about skiing, we will have the trails open on the groomed trail for any diehards. There are a lot of of trouble spots but with careful footwork (good early season skill practice) there is some fair early season to be had. Grooming plans: We probably won't be able to groom again unless we get new snow.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)