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.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Went out for a ski at dusk to check the classic tracks that were set earlier in the morning. Awesome!! Mid winter classic skiing early December. No issues other than road crossing and on tiny thin spot the length of a ski. I checked the skate deck and it seemed bit firmer than yesterday but classic skiing is the way to go with sweet cooler temps on tap. Touch up grooming tonight and tomorrow morning. We have a wedding at the resort this weekend but the trails are open for day skiing and a good chance you will see the bride and groom out for a ski in the morning with friends! We also started packing segments of the fat bike short track loop that will be around 2 miles and hope to complete packing and final combing with Ginzu groomer early next week. We have fat bikes for rent including the new Swix fat bikes.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Up for business trip, couldn't pass up on a chance to sneak in a quick ski ... WOW! Skied just Skaters Waltz but it was like mid-winter conditions; could've sworn it was Feb 8th! The snow was just hanging off the branches, it was just beautiful. And plenty of snow on the trails - dare I say, almost too much?! Good skis were no problem on the loop I did. And protected in the woods, didn't notice any wind. Great ski, made even better by the time of year. Would have been nice to hit the classic trails, saw some great tracks, but had to rush back to the Cities...

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(Bruce Adelsman)

4-5" of very light and fluffy snow overnight bringing the three day storm total to around 15". Grooming and packing on 25km of trail. Ginzu groomers came out in the afternoon, setting a few test tracks and leveling out the skate deck on Skaters Waltz. Tracks will be set on Sap Run, JibFly, Sukkerbusk and Twin Lakes tomorrow morning for the weekend. Skaters Waltz open for skating. Rating put at B skis just for the very few open areas that were blown free of snow during the storm. Shoveling on these spots tomorrow.Overall great early season skiing and beautiful winter wonderland in the forest.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Snow continuing most of the day, bringing storm total close to 12". Beautiful winter wonderland conditions in the low lying pockets. We packed on 25km of trail and will be back out tomorrow packing same trails and a few new ones. Good to see a few folks on the trail today enjoying the fresh snow. A post groom ski found firmer conditions than yesterday and surprisingly bright conditions from the moon even though it was still snowing. We plan to set track Friday morning on 20km of trail and have 8km additional (separate) for skating. Trails are open for day skiing, no lodging or guest services due to the resort being reserved for the weekend (through Sunday).

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We received around 4" of snow today as of 7pm (along with Blizzard like conditions),and still coming down. We focused on 15-20km, grooming after each half inch on the two main trails, Sukkerbusk and Skaters Waltz as well as multiple passes on Suicide Hill. A ski after grooming found soft but nice conditions and enjoyed the peacefulness in the woods as the tops of the trees swayed from the strong winds. There were migrating geese flying above making for a memorable outing. I was comfortable using B skis but put the rating at rock skis to be safe for now. Skaters Waltz, Sukkerbusk and JibFly will be open for skiing, no tracks set. No services available in the lodge this week. Park in the lot and just ski. We will be back out in the morning combing the same trails and packing a few new ones.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We were out grooming select trails this morning, pressing the dusting of new snow into the base and facilitating the penetration of frost. Good to see the sun for a while to under beautiful frosty conditions. Snow starting to fall this afternoon and we plan to be back out in the morning, grooming any new snow if over an inch or more. We hope to have 10-15km of trail open for skiing this weekend. The smaller lakes froze over last night and the larger lakes partially froze over. Big thanks to the Moorhead Nordic ski team for coming out this weekend and helping clear the trails.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions: Trails closed. Light dusting of snow, 31 degrees.
We woke up to winter wonderland conditions yesterday thanks to calm conditions and light fluffy snow clinging to everything. Warm ground and the nature of the snow resulted in most of the snow melting off. This morning we were on the trails clearing sticks and found just thin coverage. The temp is dropping which will be good to freeze down the trails before the next snowfall. It won't take much to get skiing again with the deck flat and compacted.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)