Excellent mid winter conditions. Trace of new snow overnight. High temperature struggled to get near zero but brilliant sunshine and light winds made for a great day of grooming and skiing. Comments: This morning all skate trails were combed. Took a few extra passes to level everything out but the deck is in good shape now. The afternoon back out track setting on remainder of outer trails. Ran the Ginzu teeth low to pull up the transformed frozen and loose granular snow deep in the base. The result was track setting up firm and skiing much faster than the tracks set yesterday that had the fine grained dusting on top. This evening Jonell and I were back out to enjoy the beautiful full moon again, skiing on some of the trails that had a fresh set today. I know it sounds cliche but it was some of the best classic at Maplelag in years. This season is unique in that we had the rain event very early December that turned the November snow to concrete. A 5" snow event after that went through a mini warm up before settling in to more desirable winter weather. Not grooming right after the rain and warm up event and timing the resume of grooming has paid off along with this new snow. Grooming plans: We will be back out in the morning combing the skate decks and cutting new track on the side of North Loup which is the only trail groomed skate and classic. 10km of fat bike trail was groomed today and remainder of 25km of trail will be groomed tomorrow.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Excellent mid winter conditions. All trails open. Grooming on 90km of trail past 24 hours. Storm total past 24 hours checking in at 6". After an early morning high of 17F we slowly dropped to -8F by evening. Comments: Just finished up a classic ski with Jonell under an incredible moon and "moon dogs" after another full day of grooming. The tracks we skied on three different trails were all a bit different but set up bit more firm than expected and grooming pulling up the transformed snow made for better glide than expected. Groomed all the inner classic trails today as well as Twin Lakes to the west. More skiers out today than we expected and the outer trails got skied in after the additional snow last night that fell after grooming. Nice job to the Holy Family Nordic team skiing across Bullhead lake in the wind and navigating the Bullhead Bootleg loop during an adventure ski. Skaters had a tough go today but glide reported better than expected and kudos to those skiers. Grooming plans: We will be back out in the morning rolling and combing all the skate trails and hope to track the remaining classic trails.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

It snowed, and again it was a great day in the woods! Jay had groomed last night. It continued to snow throughout the night which resulted in skiing through a layer of powder on top of a fresh groom. Overall trails were firm and conditions were great.

(Dylan Ramstad Skoyles)

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)