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)

Merry Christmas from Maplelag! We are open Christmas day for day skiing. Beautiful frosty scenes and great skiing making for postcard conditions. A new track cut on all the inner trails as well as Twin Lakes the past 2 days. Skate lanes renovated and combed, firm deck.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

This morning reset track on Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, Mother North Star and Twin Lakes with good results. Afternoon touch up on the skate lanes with a gentle renovation and comb after. Not quite as warm as forecasted today and the high humidity made for continued silky skiing. Skied on the freshly groomed Mother North Star with the HorseRich crew in the afternoon and was really nice.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

I classic skied Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, North Loupe, Roy's Run and Twin Lakes this morning. Conditions were fabulous! The snow has a glazed sound to it, but hard wax worked well (Swix v40 special). Although I did not skate ski those trails looked to be in very good condition as well!

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(Tom Dooher)

Classic is set up really well. Full coverage, tracks set, deck is firm. Really great end of December skiing.

(Charles Ramstad)

Today was my first time going to Maplelag. The classic trails were in great shape. Jay welcomed us and was also busy grooming. I will definitely go again. We enjoyed the freshly groomed trails. I truly enjoyed skiing with my family and grandparents. Maplelag is a great place to ski and have fun with your family.

(Fritz Gifford)