We opened up more trails this week including the singletracked Roy's Run on the north part of the trail system as well as portions of Bullhead lake and Lucky's Loype. We have also been resetting new tracks on select trails daily. Warm temps making for great skiing and pleasant conditions the second High School ski camp this week. Note: Skaters Waltz, North Star and Sap Run will be closed Wednesday afternoon for grooming in preparation of the DL Nordic Ski Meet Invitational on Thursday.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

The Highland Park nordic ski team joined the high school camp up at Maplelag to ski on the near pristine trails in Calloway, MN. Most skiers skied around 9 hours, and everyone was very excited to have so much snow on the ground.

(Erin Moening)

Despite the cooler temps this weekend, we had one of the best ski camps ever this past weekend. Very proud of all the skiers that put in some massive kilometers over the weekend in negative double digits temps. We did not groom this morning with early morning temp checking in at -30F but the grooming from Friday and Saturday held up fine and all the kids I talked to were positive with great attitudes which I appreciate very much. We will be grooming daily this week, touching up the current groomed trails and also plan on opening the single tracked Roy's Run and Bullhead/Bootleg extension trails. We also started flooding the ice rink over the weekend and hope to have hockey player approved by Christmas.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Good skating deck. Classic tracks were good in many places. Skied almost every trail. North Loop and Skaters Waltz were well groomed for skating. Twin Lakes, Sukkerbusk, Wavy Gravy and Rootin Tootin all had good tracks set. Overall, great skiing for -20F below.

(Joe Temali)

Total km groomed around 48km. Great day for setting tracks with morning low at -22 rising to about 0 with ample sunshine. Four new trails set with tracks today. All double track trails are tracked. The single track trails have a softer platform for polling but the tracks are actually a bit faster. With the single track trails not being packed until a few days later, the saturated soils have emitted moisture into the bottom part of the base at the bottom of the tracks. Although there was some minor melting from underneath as a result of the think blanket of snow acting as a insulator, the end result is fast and firm tracks, discovered on a late afternoon ski. The compacted base is now freezing down solid and 3-5" on average. All skate trails are recently groomed and skiing nicely. The Twin Lakes fat bike singletrack trail is firming up and riding better each day. Touch up grooming Friday morning and on through the weekend as needed and if any new snow.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We continue to pack, comb and set track and open up more trails. Cold weather setting up the trail well and the slough areas starting to freeze down. Great classic skiing this evening as the moon was rising. We will continue daily grooming up until the weekend and thereafter as needed.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Awesome full day of Nordic! We were out mid morning after the snow stopped falling to set track on the trails opened and comb out the skate deck. Started snowing again while grooming. We continued grooming the entire day, packing out new trails as well as the new skate loop on the extension of skaters waltz. Total new snowfall just over two inches. Good dense snow. Late afternoon Ben Olson packed out the Twin Lakes singletrack with his trail groomer ( thank you Ben!) for fat biking. It should set up tonight and will need a bit polishing before good conditions for fat biking but a great start. Went out for a ski on Skaters Waltz under the full moon and the deck was level, smooth and setting up perfectly. We will continue packing with plans to have the entire trail system ready by next weekend.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

First day out today at Maplelag. Tracks set on Sukkerbusk, Twin Lakes and Sap Run. Conditions good! Base is hard, no debris on the trail and the tracks held up well. All in all, and excellent day. Skaters Waltz and the extension are packed for skating. The weather is perfect for keeping the snow, with a forecast of more snow later in the week. Ski season is here!

(Charlie Ramstad)

12 degress, no wind, snow flurries, sun coming though clouds, just right. Jay has done an excellent job grooming, base is good and tracks set on several trails and he was contiuning to pack and track more of the trails. We met another skier on the Twin Lakes trail and I said a great day to be skiing in the woods, he answered "Wow just about perfect". That sums up the day.

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(Les Gunderson)

Despite cooler temps that saw a morning low of -17F, a busy day on the trails. Light wind and sunshine and excellent mid winter conditions making for a great day of skiing at high temps around 0. Afternoon ski found firm and fast tracks and a solid skate deck on Skaters from local NW MN high school teams making multiple laps. If new snow overnight, we will set new track on the trails that have tracks, JibFly, Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, Twin Lakes and will also comb out Skaters Waltz for skating in the morning.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)