Temps in the mid 20's, no wind and high humidity made for a cozy day on the trails. At dusk went out on Skaters Waltz beefing up a few southern facing slopes with some shoveling and covered the three flat facing exposed rocks. Used the melted snow from the hi fax which works great to cover the rocks or thin areas, freezes down than cover with snow. Been using the studded track snowmobile which acts like a mini surface tiller, conditioning the surface snow instead of having the stress of running ginzu teeth on the thin base. Also set a new track on Bullhead lake and combed a skate lane for those making a straight run down the hill. Continued shoveling into the evening as a light dense snow was falling. Wasn't much to write home about but should be a nice little refresh for the tracks and make for silky skating tomorrow.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Classic conditions were surprisingly good given the reduced amount of snow our area has received so far this winter. There were far fewer thin spots in the set tracks than what was expected. Wished I would of made the trip sooner. Fun to see so many folks out enjoying the trails. Definitely worth the trip and looking forward to going back with the family next weekend.

(Lance Strum)

A busy day on the trails, great seeing everyone out and we appreciate the season pass purchases this "late" into the season...but hopeful the season will run late! No grooming today but skied most of the outer trails and bits and pieces of the inner trails and also a little bushwhacking through the fields of pines we have planted (we use a portion of trail passes to plant over a thousand of trees each spring). The snow skied fast and fun. The tracks are well used but are holding out. A few more thin areas being exposed but still very skiable with good coverage. Best classic trails I found, and recommend, are Rootin Tootin Mother Hen and North Loup.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

While I found this year's snow depth to be less than what is normally enjoyed at Maplelag, having a wise and seasoned groomer is making all the difference this season. Classic tracks are set everywhere possible and ski conditions are good... well-worth a reservation and a weekend stay at Maplelag. The trails are fun to ski, watching out for the occasional thin spot and use some extra caution.

(Glenn Gifford)

Fully covered and either double tracked or single tracked. Deck is hard and fully covered. Occasional thin spots, but no rocks or gravel. Skate deck looked good also, but I have no personal experience with that. Snow is fully set up so tracks are durable. OK, Nordic skiers, the excuses are gone. Yes, snow cover is thin in the woods but Jay and crew have done a remarkable job getting fully open. Skiing is not just passable, but very good. Get out and ski, and by the way be good to Jay and Jonell and buy your season pass first.

(Charles Ramstad)

We had a great day on the trails hosting a High School race with Section 8 teams. A morning low of -23 delayed the start but the sun and gentle south wind quickly warmed the air and the racers were off after a 30 minute delay. Fun day on ski patrol watching the races and flicking sticks off the trail and pushing leaves off from the deer eat eating acorns on the edges. After the race the teams hit the classic tracks enjoying the nearly 50km of classic trail (tracked and non tracked) The trails saw good use but held out well. At dusk combed out Skaters Walz under a beautiful sunset.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Skiing is good at Maplelag! For skating, everything except the Skater's Waltz Extension was groomed, North Loup is in good nick, Skater's Waltz in great condition. Classic trails seem mostly groomed and well covered. Snow is faster than it has been. Overall a great day of skiing.

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(Markus Allgaier)

90km of trail open. 34km tracked for classic, 15km groomed skate, 15km packed for no track classic skiing, 4km open with bushwhack skier made track. 25km of fat bike trail open and groomed multiple times this week. Today's grooming including setting a double track on Mother North Star and resetting one of the tracks on Sukkerbusk. Also, Skaters Waltz was gently renovated, knocking off the high points and combed and prepping for HS race tomorrow. Did not ski today but finally rode part of the "FatLagChilada" fat bike course and found mostly firm deck, nice conditions under a beautiful January day. Talked to a few classic skiers and they reported good to great conditions.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

64km of trail open. 34km tracked for classic, 15km groomed skate 15km packed for no track classic skiing 4km open with bushwhack skier made track. Grooming today included combing out Skaters Waltz and packing Bullhead Lake/Bootleg extension on the east part of the trail system. It is the first time we have groomed Bootleg since before Covid restrictions. Changing things up a bit on Bullhead/Bootleg which includes bypassing the north beaver dam crossing and instead grooming across the lake to pick up the trail. Option to come back on the lake or navigate the north end of the lake to pick up the return on the north side. Next grooming we will groom around the lake for additional km on the lake. Late afternoon classic skied after grooming. Skied Sukkerbusk and Rootin Tootin. Rootin Tootin in really good shape for classic and would be my top pick for classic skiing after skiing all the other trails that are tracked. Scheduling/operating plans: Saturday we will have a low key skate race on Skaters Waltz from 10am-11am. All trails will remain open. The Brant lodge is open for day use area/warming/changing area. We also have lodging openings in the two cabooses for the weekend.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Conditions reported good to very good. All 64km of trail open. 30km tracked for classic, 15km groomed skate 10km packed for no track classic skiing 9km open with bushwhack skier made track.
Continue to work on the outer trails, first tracking Rootin Tootin trail at sunrise en route to the longest trail on the system Roy's Run. Attempted to set tracks on Roy's but determined best to comb out instead. After Roy's headed west via Loon Return and tracked 75% of Wavy Gravy and packed and combed Island lake trail which is open for no track classic skiing. After tracking combed out the 15km of skate trail. The remainder of the 25km fat bike loop was also groomed today. At dusk I skated all the skate trails. Was nice having the track on North Loup for the downhills which is groomer's choice for both skate and classic.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)