Skied Friday and Saturday afternoon. Jay dragged me out in -18 Saturday; no regrets. Excellent tracks, beautiful snow.

(Ralph Schwartz)

Brilliant sunshine, protection in the woods from just light winds and low dew points took off the edge from temps that had a hard time getting above -20 today. Folks were skiing all day. Went out for a afternoon classic ski with a long time guest, skiing the main trails Sukkerbusk and Sap Run and the small loop of North Loup. Stayed plenty warm the entire hour and tracks were in great shape other than a few minor areas washed out. We will leave everything as is from a grooming perspective until it warms up a bit and makes the snow easier to work with. Regardless, skiing is very good to excellent on a firm base.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

An inch or two of new snow today. Around 90km logged in grooming today. All trails that have been groomed this season, groomed 1-2 times today. Almost 400 people on the trails today skiing and reports very good with conditions generally being faster than expected despite the cold conditions. We have been mixing old granulated sugar snow to keep things snappy as best as possible. Ski conditions rated very good to excellent for early season. Just a couple small rough spots in the marshy areas. Around 11" of new snow the past 8 days. The trails will remain open during cold weather. We will continue grooming if temp -10 or warmer.
Fat bike trail groomed again this evening. Thanks to Ben Olson for grooming the fat bike trail.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Good to excellent mid winter like conditions. 45km of trail tracked, 15km groomed skate. Snow globe in full effect this morning. Dusting of light fluffy snow overnight bringing week total of new snow to almost 12". Snow depth in woods 8-16". New track set on 35km of trail in the evening, including on the singletrack northern trails Roy's Run and North Loup. Roy's Run has a few spots I would't use good skis but dusting of snow this morning helping out with coverage. This morning all skate trails were groomed. Christmas Eve skate ski with the boys found fantastic conditions. We will continue grooming through the cold weather. Merry Christmas!

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Good to excellent conditions. 2" of light fluffy snow past 24hours bringing week total of new snow to 10". We set new track on 15km of trail last night, using the Ginzu blades as much as we dared to bring up the transformed snow to mix with new and help set the tracks up harder. We left the remaining tracked trails as the track was firm, well defined and good to have the dusting to cover up a few thin areas. The skate decks are firm and skate skiers have been enjoying "busting through the fluff" on the surface. Went out for ski this morning to check the tracks with good skis and found mostly excellent conditions. Few spots the tracks less defined but overall fantastic skiing. We are excited for the holiday weekend and weather ideal for classic skiing. Almost 45km groomed classic only with tracks, 15km groomed skate only. We will mostly likely drop a track on the side of North Loup as well tomorrow morning after combing the skate lanes in anticipation of the cold weather and focus on classic skiing next week.
The fat bike trail is in excellent condition, firming up nicely from grooming Friday night and riders helping pack it down as well.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

4" of dry fluffy snow last night groomed on 55km of trail today. Gorgeous day with sunshine and no wind. Snow depth 6-10".
Classic only trails: We set double track on all the double track trails and set single track on half of the single track trails for a total of 40km. Skate only trails: All skate trails combed including Suicide Hill for a total of 15km. Very good to excellent early season conditions. Just a few minor rough spots keeping good skis from being used but personally I would use them. Singletrack classic trails not groomed today scheduled to be packed/cleared the next few days. Still open for skiing, use caution if enjoying these trails for a old school bushwhacking experience.
The Twin Lakes Fat Bike singletrack will be groomed this evening. We will be adding two new segments to make close to 10km of groomed trails for fat biking.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Good to very good early season conditions. 1.5" of dense wet snow past 12 hours. Grooming on 20km this afternoon, 13km new track set. Daily grooming past 12 days. Total km groomed/packed 55km. Additional 10km not groomed/packed open for old school type skiing. (Use extra caution on these trails) Snow depth 3-7". Total snowfall to date at 11" as of November 1st. With a great crust powder combo on top of the lakes and area forest roads combined with 10km of fat bike trail, we have been recreating on nearly 100km making for great early season training. Nice to see the kids for the ski camps venture off the groom, explore while building skill set and endurance. Daily grooming continues tomorrow with skate lanes on tap for combing and more packing and track setting on trails not groomed today.
Fat Bike trail on Twin Lakes singletrack has been groomed up to 5 times and is in excellent condition.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Trails even better than described on the web site. I did Sukkerbusk twice + Twin Lakes + Island Lake. Firmly packed snow cover, fast and fun classic style. Also, I was happy to see the high school skiers having so much fun. Well behaved, polite young athletes, please tell that the principal(s). Go out and enjoy! I just started my 10th, maybe 11th season at this world-class resort. Lucky those who live close to it.

(Istvan Gombocz)

Had the Highland team skiing in the woods. We did multiple laps on Skater's Waltz and classic skied on Sukkerbusk. B Skis are just fine. The trails are rolled but not tracked. The trails are in better condition than we anticipated. The lake has perfect crust for skate skiing.

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(Brad Moening)

We groomed most of the day, pressing the dusting of new snow from last night into the existing base. We had a moment of rain early this morning so the snow was very damp initially but the temp dropped from 32 degrees this morning to single digits this evening setting everything up nicely. A ski at dusk was pretty darn nice, all things considered. We will open 10km tomorrow for early season rock skiing on the Skaters Waltz and Sukkebusk trails. Skating on Skaters Waltz, classic skiing on Sukkerbusk (no tracks set). The base is very thin in the open and exposed areas but a crusty glaze from the hardening of the wet snow and skiable throughout. We will run the Ginzus on the trails tomorrow. We have been packing around 45km of trail and will continue working on the trails daily. It has been fun watching a group of turkeys the past few days nomad throughout the trail system.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)