45km open and recently groomed. 30km classic only, 15km skate only. Good early season conditions. We opened up a few more western trail this week after 3" of new snow and subsequent grooming. Recent ski outings including a incredible moonlight ski last night, have found the best tracks on Twin Lakes and Rootin Tootin. All skate loops are skiing well, still a few rough spots on North Loop in the middle section. Grooming plans: We'll finish tracking the western trails and hope to open up Roy's Run to the north. the entire 25km "FatLagChilada" fat bike course on tap for grooming tomorrow as well.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

For this early stage of the season, I would call trail conditions excellent, particularly on Mother North Star and Sukkerbusk - fresh and crisp classic tracks set. Also skied sections of Twin Lakes, Wavy Gravy, and Island Lake, respectively - total of 20 K in the afternoon. Come out and enjoy!

(István Gombocz)

Skied Sunday, noon-2pm. A little new snow made for better skiing today. Many trails recently groomed. The few remaining accumulations of leaves from the deer, previously seen on the trails, are now gone. The early season skiing at Maplelag keeps getting better.

(Glenn Gifford)

We had a nice weekend of skiing on 35km of groomed trail and fat biking on 25km of trail. Sunday was about as good as it gets for early season skiing and weather. We have been grooming daily including new trails this morning: Poki Loki, Mother Hen and Loon Return. 20km of classic only trail groomed, 15km of skate trail groomed. Grooming plans: We will comb out the outer trails to the west to prepare for the next snowfalls and tracking and patch up a few thin areas on the inners. Operating plans: Tuesday will be hosting a meet from 10am to 3pm on the classic trails Poki Loki, JibFly and Sukkerbusk and skate trail Skaters Waltz. All other trails will be open for skiing on Tuesday.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Went out for a skate ski as the high temp of 28F (no melting or softening today) was starting to fall to eventually the single digits. Skated all the skate trails, really nice skiing and better than expected conditions on North Loup. Still some rough/bumpy spots in the middle segment and rocks skis were in order. Back on Skaters Waltz and found a real nice glide with good edging on good coverage. B skis fine. We shoveled on all the thin areas this week and a dusting of snow and daily grooming paid off. Late afternoon started snowing and after a inch of new had fallen, groomer was out packing and combing on Skaters Waltz again. Just in now from more packing and setting double track with the 9' Ginzu on Sap Run.
Grooming plans: We will be back out in the morning packing and combing the 15km skate only trails and setting additional track on 15-20km on the classic only trails.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Classic tracks were still in generally decent shape especially considering the early season. Need to be cautious of leaves intermittently grabbing skis on any descents. I found the trails (Sukkerbusk and Jibfly) had more than adequate coverage with tracks set. I used waxless B skis. Good afternoon to be out... appreciate the early season grooming at Maplelag. Snow was falling as I left the parking lot Friday.

(Glenn Gifford)

An inch of new snow overnight. Single digit air temps at 9am. 22 km fresh groomed this morning. Started the day skiing in the fresh snow on one track on JibFly and Sukkerbusk and checking coverage etc. on other trails. The new snow made for real nice skiing on the trails I skied. After skiing, groomed the track I did not ski in with the 5'Ginzu groomer, "squeegee" grooming with very good results. This grooming method follows the exact setting of the previous track, pressing the new snow into the well formed and defined track. With double track classic trails, there is now a option to ski either side of the trail. 15 km of skate only trail was also combed this morning after four passes the day before renovating and tenderizing. The new snow bonded nicely to the renovated snow. We also groomed 25km of fat bike trail. Grooming plans: With wind today, we will plan to touch up the same trails we groomed today either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning and will also comb out additional trail previously groomed last week.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Classic skied Sukkerbusk and skaited most of Skaters Waltz at sunrise this morning after a hard freeze last night. Brilliant sunshine felt good but it didn't warm up enough to soften the deck... fast and icy conditions. Still a good crowd out skiing, call it a skills day. On average, the rock solid compacted base has good coverage with 3-4" after just 10" of snowfall to date. We have also groomed 12 km of fat bike trail and have the skate only loops open as well, providing 25km of riding options. Grooming and operating plans: We will keep the Sukkerbusk and Skaters Waltz trails open through the week, working on Skaters building up the base on thin areas and trying to tenderize the base. No grooming planned on the classic trails. 5 km additional fat bike singletrack will be groomed this week as well.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A busy day on the trails as folks enjoyed beautiful spring like skiing in November! We did get out for another grooming on Skaters Waltz at dusk, patching some thin spots along the way. The trails remain open for Sunday skiing, skating on Skaters Waltz and classic on Sukkerbusk. Other trails not recommended. With cooler temps moving in and forecasted sub freezing temps all day tomorrow, expect faster skiing with some icy spots.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Skied Maplelag on Friday morning for about two hours. Coverage is good overall on the classic tracks, and easy to navigate the couple of remaining small patches of leaves on the trail (from the deer). Good skiing!

(Glenn Gifford)