Conditions: Postcardlike.
Another nicely frosted day. Can't remember the last time such good conditions the last week of December. Perfect temps, no wind, little bit of fresh snow today...humidity is dropping this evening. Tracksetting in a few hours here should produce good results. Skate lanes have been fast, firm and the right amount of loose on top. Classic has been great too.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Excellent.
Another frosty day with absolutely no wind making for a great day on the trails. Early afternoon I ski checked the skate only trails and caught up to the Highland Park and Eden Prairie teams that were out on North Loup having fun. Daily grooming on skate trails has firmed things up nicely but still some silk on top making for ideal conditions. Tracks not setting up quite so hard on some trails with the high humidity and what not but still some fantastic skiing. Trails being groomed daily where needed.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Powder/Packed Powder, areas of drifting. Calm, 7 degrees at 11am. 40km groomed this morning. 15km skate only and 25km tracks only set. All 64km open and groomed past 48 hours. 1-2" new snow past 24 hours.
Ideal grooming conditions this morning in the early hours with the full moon and clear skies and then sunrise to follow. Tracks are setting up nicely and skate lanes relatively hard and faster today. Grooming during the wind yesterday didn't make much sense as everything seemed to blow over but it payed off today. Trails groomed yesterday are skiing nice with a few areas of drifts and dusting of snow on top. Trails will be groomed daily this week as needed. Pisten Bully joining forces with the Ginzus yesterday and ready to do the job when needed. Merry Christmas!!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Excellent!! Powder/Packed Powder. Clear, light winds, temp at dusk around 0F. 45km of 64km of trail groomed today.
The snow stopped mid morning after the morning grooming was completed. Total new accumulation around 3". No rain or thawing temps before. This was the perfect amount of new snow to work into the base and really enhance the conditions. All skate only trails (15km) groomed today. Skating was bit soft and slow but better with afternoon pass. Tracks set on about 30km of trail today. Excellent classic skiing reported today. The remaining trails will be tracked early Sun am bringing total trackset only trails to around 50km. Some trails tracked today will be touched up tomorrow to tighten things up and skate lanes will be refreshed as well. Full moon skiing should be fantastic tonight with clear skies on skis!!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Snow and 15 degrees. 2" fresh snow.
After a light coating of freezing fog yesterday afternoon that made for some fast and fun skiing, it started snowing last night around 10pm. Woke up to a couple of inches this morning and looks like maybe another inch. The new snow will be worked in this morning with the older sugar snow and should be some great skiing once the wind settles down a bit. The plan is to have all the trails groomed by Christmas eve.

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Perfect!
Beautiful early season conditions! Emma and I enjoyed classic skiing for an hour before the highschool races. Later we hooked up with the Roberts family for some fast, fun, conditions on Skaters Waltz.

(Anne Ellefson)

Conditions: Fantastic! I skied the western trails late this afternoon and the tracks were in much better shape then I expected. The frost from Sunday had fallen in the tracks and the particulate matter in the liquid droplet form at the snow surface made for a nice surface which to ski upon. Tracks were deep, firm, and pole plants solid. Sunset and moon rise was bonus.
After skiing almost the entire trail system the past few days, have found the conditions very good to excellent, both skate and classic. Grooming on Skaters Waltz, Mother North Star and Suicide Hill tomorrow afternoon for ski meet on Thursday. Remaining trails will be touched up as needed Thursday night and Friday for the weekend. Thanks to skinnyskiers Bruce and Margaret Adelsman, Josie, Dave and Grant Nelson and John Munger for their assistance this past weekend with the ski camp. And thanks to the headlamp skier Saturday night who was enjoying a "skiing behind the groomer" experience but graciously switched to classic so the skate lanes could set up level, firm with no ruts for skiers on Sunday.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Wow - storybook conditions on Sunday! Skate and classic trails perfect.
Woke up Sunday morning to a fresh hoar frost covering the trees and brush, just gorgeous. Around 11 am the sun started to break through the clouds and it became stunning. The trails were fast with a light dusting of snow overnight making everything look brand-new. Skate trail had been regroomed overnight and set up nicely. Classic tracks were great, especially considering all the skier traffic. Good skis, no problem at all. Great weekend for all of us!

Photos:

(Bruce Adelsman)

Conditions: Perfect!!
Skating lanes are firm and fast! Classic tracks are set up great.
Overall beautiful skiing!

(Jack Ellefson)

Conditions: Light snow/blowing snow less than an inch new accumulation. Sunrise temp at 30 falling to 0 at sunset. Ski conditions rated good to excellent. Snow blowing into tracks with some scattered organic material from trees and critters.
Tracks set on 35km of trail today. Total km trackset now up to 40km. Skate only trails (16km) groomed yesterday and will be touched up tomorrow as well as new tracks set on about 8km of trail and tracks reset on 12km of trail bringing total classic only trails to 46km. Bullhead lake trail only trail not tracked and will try to groom that tomorrow. Otherwise entire trail system will have been groomed before the weekend. Some trails are skiing better than others and this information will be listed on the trail report board in the main lodge. Should be a great weekend of skiing.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)