5" new snow by the time we finished grooming. 17 degrees, powder/packed powder on top of rock solid frozen and loose granular base. Comments: Just came in from grooming around 74km of trail while it was snowing the whole time. Pretty neat the moon popped out the last couple of hours grooming but was still snowing. Wanted to work the snow in before the temperature dropped and snow dried out. All the trails were groomed except the far outer west loop of Island Lake trail and the north extension loops of Skaters Waltz. The first few inches of new snow, was able to pull up the old base and mix with new when setting track but continued snowfall ended up just combing and setting track. The new snow has made for top notch mid winter conditions. Grooming plans: Touch up grooming later Sunday morning on trails with the most new snow on top.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Great fresh snow, on groomed trails! We skied Roy's Run, Mother Northstar, Mother Hen and Sap Run. Lots of fun, snow falling, great trails!

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(Tanya Jensen)

1.3" new snow past 24 hours. All trails open on 90km of ski and fat bike tracks. 50km groomed classic, 15km groomed skate and 25km groomed for fat biking. Powder snow on top of hard transformed frozen and loose granular produced from renovating grooming. Comments: A great week of skiing, fat biking and grooming at Maplelag! Temperatures have been ideal for winter play as we have enjoyed hosting ski camps, ski meets and long time guests back to experience our new lodging arrangements with fully equipped kitchens. We have been grooming daily the past few weeks and have only missed three days of grooming since we started on November 20th. Late afternoon Jonell and I classic skied on trails groomed today and yesterday that had fresh snow on top. The tracks are mostly full form and skiing a bit slower with the new snow but overall really nice skiing. This evening under the moon, reset track on Sap Run, Sukkerbusk and JibFly. This morning all skate trails were renovated and combed and the Twin Lakes singletrack loop was groomed for fat biking. Grooming plans: We plan to groom Saturday evening into the morning for Sunday skiing.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

On Wed night/Thursday morning at Maplelag, a light snow had fallen to coat the classic tracks, producing fresh skiing conditions. I skied Jibfly, Sukkerbusk and Roy's Run. All were in good shape and fun to ski. After driving to Rochester and back to Detroit Lakes early in the week and seeing little or no snow for much of the way, we are fortunate locally that Maplelag has good snow cover. If you're looking for natural snow and good skiing, you will find it at Maplelag.

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(Glenn Gifford)

Trails were in great shape! Skied Roy's Run and Mother Northstar, both trails skied really well and showed little sign of the weather in the last week and a half. Tracks have held together remarkably well. Would love to have skied more, but unfortunately had to get back to town. It was a great morning in the woods!

(Dylan Ramstad Skoyles)

Skied roughly 11k today consisting of both classic and skate. Given last week's warm temps and the minimal amount of snow our region has had I was not expecting the classic conditions to be as good as they were. We didn't venture off to the twin Lakes area or the north Loop but the areas we saw around the lodge were a hoot to ski on. The skate deck on skaters waltz was very firm and the dustings of recent snow helped slow it down a little bit. The groomer is definitely using his magic touch to keep things in shape and skiing well. Conditions might challenge you at times but that's how we get to be better skiers. Can't forget some Hot chocolate and a snack at the Hygge cabin for a cozy way to wrap up a great ski at the lag.

(Lance Strum)

A fantastic day on the trails! We woke up to another dusting of snow and brilliant sunshine that took the edge off the welcomed cooler temps. We wrapped up a two day grooming marathon renovating and combing the skate lanes once again which have been groomed daily the past two weeks. We also renovated and reset track on outer trails Roy's Run, Island Lake, Wavy Gravy and Bullhead Lake/Bootleg loops. Roy's groomed out the best as there was bit more air in the base making it easier to condition the snow. One of the benefits of having classic only trails, especially singletrack, is we can alternate sides and follow best line of snow to reset full depth tracks. Double tracks reset earlier in the week have a dusting of snow that has now been skied in on most of the inner trails by the Washburn team today. Conditions are the best of the week and cooler temps keeping everything intact... Sould be a great weekend of skiing on tap! Grooming plans: Touch up grooming as needed through the weekend.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Dusting of fresh powder/packed powder on top of frozen granulated base. 60km of trail open, 15km groomed skate, 45km groomed classic. We woke up to another dusting of very dry and fluffy snow. We worked the new snow into the skate deck on all the skate trails. We scrubbed out the double track on Twin Lakes and reset a singletrack best line where the coverage was best. The first and last third of the trail groomed out the best with the deepest track. We also reset the track on the first part of Island Lake trail and the return of Wavy Gravy trail. The rest of the classic trails we left alone as the tracks are decent and the new snow took off the hardness. Reports from the skiers today were good and best conditions of the week. Grooming plans: We will be back out in the morning grooming all the skate trails and resetting the track on Roy's Run. No plans to reset any other tracks that were reset earlier in the week.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

This morning I groomed all the skate trails and Eira Bikwadinaa hill working in the inch or so of new snow into the frozen/loose granular base. Did not do any classic trail grooming today. Instead met up with a college student on break training and we classic skied on Wavy Gravy, Island Lake, North Loup, Rootin Tootin, JibFly, Sap Run, Sukkerbusk and Mother Hen. Found the best conditions on North Loup, Rootin Tootin, Sukkebusk, the easy loop of JibFly and most of Sap Run. The dusting of snow had been skied in on most trails except the Western ones. Still a crunchy base but better classic skiing today compared to yesterday. We skated a little bit on the skate deck along the classic track on North Loup and was good. Grooming plans Thursday: Skate grooming on Skaters Waltz, track reset on Twin Lakes.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Another beautiful frosty day with scattered lingering flurries accumulating to .4". The new snow helping take off the edge of some of the iciness and slowing down the skiing just a tad. This morning all the skate trails were renovated and combed and classic trails Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, Rootin Tootin, easy loop of JibFly, and first half of Mother North Star renovated with new track set. We marked the cutovers on JibFly and Mother North Star to follow the better conditions. We also had the Pisten Bully out for the first time this year helping break up the icy sections in the open areas. Reports from skiers today were good despite the icy conditions. Grooming plans: The new snow changes the plans a little bit and depending on how much more snow falls tonight will determine what actually gets groomed but we do plan to be out in the morning and expect skiing to be a bit better for the first day of 2025... Happy New Year!

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)