Morning low 19 degrees, high temperature of 27 degrees, light winds overcast in morning, clearing. 90km of trail open, machine groomed frozen and loose granulated (transformed) snow with 55km groomed classic, 15km groomed skate 25k groomed for fat biking. Good to excellent conditions. Comments: Temperatures below freezing kept the snow dry and snappy today. A few areas of glazing but were groomed last night and today, skiing was excellent. Fat biking on the FatLagChilada course was good to excellent and yesterday's grooming definitely improved the conditions. Today new track was renovated and cut on Sukkerbusk, Bullhead Lake and Bootleg trail, North Loup, Sap Run, Section Sprint course and Section Skate course was gently renovated and combed. Grooming plans: Grooming planned on western classic trails in the morning. Scheduling: Local guitar artist will be playing his guitar in the Hygge day center from 3-5 Saturday, February 1st.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Morning low 11 degrees, climbing to 39 degrees for high. Sunshine, no wind. Temp falling fast mid afternoon, 22 degrees at 9pm. Comments: Possibly the best day on the trails this year. Despite the warm weather, the snow and trails are holding out great. Grooming at the transition time when the snow starts to freeze down again is keeping the skate deck fresh and the tracks in good shape. There are areas where glazed etc, mostly on the extreme south facing areas but nothing to serious. I skied the Section classic course this morning inspecting the best line setting and taking inventory where to make improvements. Was hard to get off the trail and had to ski one of the trails on the western side because conditions were so good! Mid afternoon and into the evening groomed the Section classic and skate courses. The temperature dropped a bit faster than I liked but no complaints, trails groomed out fine. The 25km Fat Bike look was also groomed this afternoon. Grooming plans: We will resume daytime grooming on select trails, most likely Bullhead Lake and new track on North Loup.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Maplelag's classic trails today were incredibly nice! It was a bluebird day for skiing, with calm winds, sunny skies and temps reaching into the 30's. The tracks at Maplelag were in great shape for their current guests and the groomers were busy preparing for the high school Section meet next week. Skin skis worked well today. If you're looking for natural snow, check out Maplelag.

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(Glenn Gifford)

Absolutely wonderful day to be skiing. 28 degrees. The deck was very solid until after noon when it got a little soft in the sun. We skied Skaters Walz, with extension and North Loop. Whoop! Looks like it had been groomed within the last 2 days. The classic trails looked marvelous from our Vantage point. It's amazing the snow there and the meticulous grooming - Kudos!

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(Jeffrey Quam)

Morning low of 12 degrees, high temperature of 30. Overcast, light winds. Most reports from skiers Wednesday were "better than expected" and overall the skiing continues to be very nice. Comments: Finally got out for a skate ski, checking out the Section Skate course and also part of the northern loops. Deck was firm and surface was silky thanks to grooming the night before during the transition time from softening to freezing. Hopped in the tracks in a few spots to inspect. Everything looked good I checked. Later morning groomed Sap Run, Mother North Star, and JibFly, renovating the snow and setting track. These trails are part of the Section classic course and the middle three km was set best line singletrack. The trails groomed out well and are recommended trails to ski tomorrow along with Roy's Run, Rootin Tootin and Twin Lakes. Grooming plans: We will be grooming the skate trails in the late afternoon as well as resetting the track on the Section classic track. Depending how warm it gets tomorrow will determine if more trails are groomed in the evening or Friday morning instead.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

After yesterday's warm up I wasn't sure what to expect for classic skiing this morning. The snow had transformed very little making for great hard wax kick and even better glide. I skied some of the north, west and middle trails. Conditions were excellent throughout the trails I skied!

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(Tom Dooher)

Another great day! We got a little bit warmer today with high temperature at 37 but the air was dry with very little moisture saturation at the surface, exception on a few very direct south facing hills, and the snow held out great, skiing was nice. Late afternoon headed out for the evening groom under a beautiful sunset, combing out the skate lanes on Skaters Waltz, the extension loops and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill. No one skate skied on North Loup so only did the start loop up there. After skate groomed, switched to the 5' Ginzu groomer and set a singletrack on Rootin Tootin, Roy's Run, Sap Run and Sukkerbusk. Other classic trails look good, might be a handful of glazed areas but cooler temps on the move and should be real nice skiing on Wednesday, especially on today's fresh groomed.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

The classic trails are in great shape at Maplelag. Tracks are crisp and fresh with plenty of snow. Skin skis worked well today, skiing from about 10:30 to just past noon. Excellent morning to be out!

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(Glenn Gifford)

Low temperature 16 degrees, hi temperature 34 degrees, sun cloud mix. Silky snow on top of rock solid transformed base. Just a few small areas softening, transforming and glazing over later afternoon. 90km of trail open. 50km groomed classic, 15km groomed skate, 25km groomed fat bike Comments: Absolute incredible day on the trails. Did get a bit warm but snow held out great and with the deeper snowpack covering the underbrush, the sightlines through the woods with the late January sunshine is pretty much awesome. Groomed all the skate trails in the morning including North Loup for the first time since the fresh snow, cheating on the snow that had softened on the sun kissed areas and reset the track on Bulhead lake. At sunset reset track on Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, JibFly and Twin Lakes curating the new snow with a bit of the transformed in the base. Other classic trails didn't see much use today and track is holding out well. A few leaves here and there. The 25km fat bike loop "FatLagChilada" also groomed this afternoon cheating the snow like we did on North Loup. Grooming plans: We will groom again late afternoon tomorrow on the skate trails and reset track on Rootin Tootin and Roy's Run. 25km fat bike loop will also be groomed again mid afternoon. If fat biking, please ride in the mornings this week before noon.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Early morning low of 12 degrees rising to a high of 24 degrees. Machine groomed packed powder on 65km of trail, 15km groomed skate 50km groomed classic. Very good to excellent skiing being reported. Comments: All the western classic trails reset with new tracks this morning, new track set on lake segment of Bullhead lake trail, and Skaters Waltz and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill skate groomed. Grooming plans Monday: Skate trails will be renovated and combed, new tracks set on select trails.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)