Pristine conditions on the trails. The fresh snow has been worked in masterfully into the base wirth no sticky surfaces. I skied Sukkerbusk twice, also Mother North Star, Sap Run, North Loop, and my favorite: Roy’s Run, total of 24 K. Fast and fun skiing. Enjoy while it lasts!

(István Gombocz)

I skied the Lotvola Cup loop for my virtual Birkie. The classic tracks were well-groomed and in good shape, with double tracks set over the entire course. The trails were firm and fast in the morning, slightly softening in the early afternoon. Highly recommend Maplelag if looking for a site to do a virtual Birkie this week. Great venue!

(Glenn Gifford)

Skaters Waltz and the Extension was about as good as it gets. Skating on a solid, clean level deck with silky waves on top at 20+F ; can Saturdays get much better? Kudos to the groomers!

(Denny Barry)

Early morning low not as cold as yesterday morning but the day time high the lowest of the season. Unreal for February 14th. Went out for a ski mid morning, first on the Section Classic course than switched skis and did the Section Skate Course. Classic tracks were snappy and fun. Bumped into a good number of skiers all moving along quite nicely. Was expecting super slow conditions skating but surprisingly was much faster than expected. (Think that is the coldest snow I have ever skate skied on at -20). Deck is rock solid, structured and textured with fast transformed snow.
Operating/grooming plans: 100km of trails open for winter recreating. 10km of skate only, 40km double tracked, 15km singletrack classic, 25km of fat bike trail, 7km of non groomed skier made track adventure trail and 5km of snowshoe trail. We will be closing for lodging this Mon-Wednesday than opening again Thursday to Sunday nights, Feb. 18-21 for the last available lodging dates of the season. Still taking last minute skinnyski.com specials. Trails will remain open for day skiing daily until the snow is no longer skiable. We will be hosting a high school meet on February 22nd all day and also Sections all day on March 2nd. Grooming after the 21st will focus on the Section course (Mother North Star, Sap Run and Skaters Waltz) Lotvola Cup virtual classic only course and also the skate only trails.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

The coldest temperature reading of the season this morning didn't stop a good crowd from hitting the trails today. Main takeaways among the skiers were no wind in the morning, sunshine, faster tracks than expected and the groomer would add very low humidity, gap between temperature and dew point key elements to provide a invigorating ski experience even with the frigid temps. Also, more skiers today helped ski in the skiff of frontal passage snow improving the glide on the more used trails. Skate deck had seen a few skiers and glide seemed good when checking. Skied an assortment of outer trails early afternoon with Peder and found best skiing on Wavy Gravy and Roy's Run. Roy's is a commitment but the deep woods feeling on a crisp winter day can't be beat. Tracks were solid everywhere on a rock firm base and the ski confirmed no need to groom anything....just ski!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Morning low checked in at -33 but absolutely gorgeous morning with mid February sunshine glaring strong. Decided to hold off on grooming for a bit so went for a ski to check the trails. The very light skiff of snow slowed down the tracks but still great skiing. Despite the "frigid" temps, it actually felt warmer than the day before when it was -10. The air was much drier, no wind and the sunshine had heartening warmth. Was great to see skiers out that felt the same way! Afternoon groomed the skate only trails, pulling up the older transformed snow to improve the glided. Checked out the not groomed adventure trail Lucky's Loype. The light skiff slowing the skiing down but another good option for this cold weather skiing. Even with the coolness in place, should be a very nice long weekend of skiing! Just Ski!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Today's grooming focused on the inner trail system and tuning loops and segments recommended to ski during the cold weather. Sap Run, Mother Hen, JibFly and a condensed loop of Mother North Star using Sukkerbusk start and finish are great options for the cooler weather. Folks prepared and keen to ski the longer loops, everything is in great shape and folks out skiing today reporting excellent conditions. A ride on the Twin Lakes fat bike trail at dusk found excellent conditions as well. 100km of trails open for winter recreating. 10km of skate only, 40km double tracked, 15km singletrack classic, 25km of fat bike trail, 7km of non groomed skier made track adventure trail and 5km of snowshoe trail.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Classic skied the trails groomed yesterday. Conditions were much faster than expected. The old transformed snow pulled up made for really nice glide actually. Although the air temp was -10 when I went out, the sun was glorious and made for a beautiful afternoon on the trails. A nice size timber wolf was on Wavy Gravy for about a third of the trail than decided to leave its mark! Just a few very minor areas where drifted in the open but not as bad as expected. Bullhead has a bit more drifting otherwise all the other outer classic trails are in fantastic shape. It was nice having the double track back on North Loup for that best line experience. A check of the skate deck found a bit tighter surface and considering the temps, the glide isn't too bad. After skiing determined a grooming plan for tomorrow to clean up a few areas on the inner double track. Overall things are in great shape going into the weekend. 100km of trails open for winter recreating. 10km of skate only, 40km double tracked, 15km singletrack classic, 25km of fat bike trail, 7km of non groomed skier made track adventure trail and 5km of snowshoe trail.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Another full day of grooming despite cooler temps. Completed the grooming of all the singletrack classic trails today and touched up the double track on Twin Lakes. Also set double track on North Loup so there is no longer a skate lane there. The snow has "freeze dried" after being subject to air temps down to -34 making it a bit more tricky to reset tracks but end result is a meaningful groom as faster older snow is being pulled up. Skaters Waltz has been groomed daily the past three days and a skate ski at dusk found conditions faster than expected and surprisingly faster than the classic tracks. Most of the fat bike trail was groomed, focusing on the areas that had drifted over the weekend. With light skier traffic on the trails this week, the wildlife have really been on the move and there are tracks galore. Even got close to one of the porcupines while grooming on Roy's Run today! All told, we have sighted 6 porcupines in various locations scattered across the entire trail system. Going into the weekend we will have over 100km of trails open for winter recreating. 10km of skate only, 40km double tracked, 15km singletrack classic, 25km of fat bike trail, 7km of non groomed skier made track adventure trail and 5km of snowshoe trail. If you are keen to ski in cooler temps, we now have lots of lodging openings this weekend due to an abundant of cancellations because of the forecasted cold weather.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

With morning low checking in at -23F, it was a great day to gear down and ski one of the two "adventure" trails at Maplelag, Bullhead Lake trail. This trail offers a different experience than the other trails on the Maplelag system with a feeling of being very close to nature with some panoramic views over Bullhead lake. It is popular among the ski camp kids as a "last ski" trail, providing natural skill work with the unpredictability of the ungroomed segment. There are tons of tracks including an active water opening for the local otters as well as beaver lodges along the shoreline. Got out with Jake just after sunrise. Brilliant sunshine and no wind to speak of made for a really nice ski despite the cooler temps. The first part of the trail after Suicide hill is not groomed with a nice skier made track. No one had skied the trail since Friday so the light dusting on top made for slower conditions. This was a good thing as we had to work a bit harder to maintain glide and generated a bit more heat. The last 2/3rds of the trail is groomed, most recently on Friday, and found a solid deck with well defined tracks. A few areas of wind blown snow in the tracks from the recent blowing snow. Coming back on the double track Sukkerbusk was very nice after the skier traffic yesterday. Looks like Tuesday will be the best day for grooming this coming week and we plan to clean up all the singletrack trails and refresh the skate deck. The double track trails are skiing the best, a few minor areas of blown over snow. Select dates open for lodging until we closed on the 21st. Trails will remain open for day skiing until the snow is not skiable with focus on the virtual Lotvola Cup course.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)