Fresh snow lightly blanketed the trees and trails at Maplelag. Conditions were excellent Saturday afternoon. Classic tracks were in very fine shape on North Loup, Roy’s Run, Sukkerbusk, and the Twin Lake trail.

(Glenn Gifford)

Awesome day for winter play! Incredible snow bubble conditions today for not only skiing but fat biking, snowshoeing, sledding and aprÉs ski! This morning we groomed all the skate trails, catching a glimpse of the sun before snow moved in the afternoon. As of 6pm, 3-4" of new fluff snow. We will be out in the morning grooming in the new snow. Fantastic conditions!

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A great day on the trails! The base snow came out hiding today and was much more agreeable in the grooming process. With fresh fluffy snow falling in the afternoon combined with the recent grooming, conditions are excellent. The remainder of the trail system was groomed today and we also groomed the Bullhead Bootleg extension loop for the first time this year and also the return of Bullhead lake trail. The north end is rough and probably best to take skis off and walk through. The first part of Bullhead remains an adventure trail. To access the Bootleg loop without skiing the adventure part, one can ski the last part of Bullhead to the extension, ski the extension loop than back out on Bullhead trail. Suicide Hill freshened up today as well. Snow was falling this afternoon and a check of the trails after a ski lesson found really nice conditions. Tomorrow morning will be out touching up the skate trails working in the new snow from this afternoon into the frozen granulated base that is providing some fantastic conditions. The tracks should set up nicely overnight and with the new snow provide fantastic skiing this weekend.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Worked on the singletrack classic trails today, renovating and resetting tracks as temp fell from 25 degrees to 5 degrees! Also reset a few double track trails. The snow has gone through multiple 30-40 degree temp swings but just enough new snow on the deck to work into the existing base and make for nice skiing. Able to reset full depth track 80% of the time. The grooming is cleaning up the trails that have been subject to wind including gusts up to 50mph on Wednesday. There are some random sticks, acorns etc. that warrant the B ski rating. Tomorrow morning will be resetting more double track. Skate trails groomed yesterday, will be touched up as needed. Fat bike trail groomed last night, riding is best of the season!

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Excellent conditions. Continuous occasional scattering lingering flurries has accumulated nicely making for a gentle refresh on the recent track grooming. Early morning grooming on all skate trails. Skied a few classic trails later morning with Jake to check the tracks and found incredible conditions. The fluff was so fun to ski through on firm defined tracks and solid base. At dusk back out to groom the skate course for the Moorhead Invitational Nordic Ski meet tomorrow. With COVID protocols to accommodate 6 teams, racing will be occurring all day on Skaters Waltz, Single Green and Suicide Hill. A portion of Sap Run will be used for the JR High race. All other trails are open, if crossing the race course, simply look both ways. Grooming plans: Depending on possible new snow tomorrow will determine how much grooming we do Wednesday morning but for sure the skate trails will be renovated and combed and select classic trails will be reset.

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Maplelag’s trails were well-groomed and in good shape on Saturday. I had been anticipating icy conditions around Detroit Lakes based on our recent snow/ice/wind which had passed through on Thurs evening/Friday. I checked Maplelag’s trail report Saturday morning which said trails had been freshly groomed Friday, which convinced me to make the trip for day skiing, and I was not disappointed. Look no further than Maplelag this MLK weekend.

(Glenn Gifford)

Phenomenal day on the trails. Everything set up nicely overnight and the weather sorted itself out. Yet another frosty day added to the winter charm making for incredible skiing. Skate skied right away in the morning with Jake, conditions by far the best this year, IMO, and one of the best skate ski sessions in a long time. The unusual combination of snow types making for silky sugary texture on top of firm base. Doesn't get much better. Classic skied on Roy's Run and found track in great shape. Pole plants were a bit soft on lesser skied and groomed access trails but overall excellent striding on Roy's. Heading out now to reset tracks on select classic trails and will also comb and structure Skaters Waltz. Friendly reminder that lodge is closed to day use. We have essential staff, including our family, with underlying health conditions and are doing our best to keep everyone safe and healthy so we can remain open the duration of this winter season in these unusual times.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Fresh snow and grooming! 90 km of trail open along with 5km of snowshoe trail. 21 degrees as of 6pm. Excellent conditions. Grooming: Today we Ginzu groomed the entire groomed trail system, mixing the freshly fallen dry snow, a little sleet/crust with the old snow underneath. The new snow combined with mixing the old snow has made for excellent conditions. New double track set on 45km of trail, 23km of singletrack reset and 15km of skate trail renovated and combed. We also groomed the 25km of fat bike trail. Yesterday I skied in the track on one of the adventure trails, Lucky's Loype, and the new snow today should make for good backcountry adventure like skiing (we highly encourage younger skiers to get off the groomed trail and ski these adventure trails for natural skill building). Touch up grooming planned as needed through the MLK weekend. We are open again for lodging over the weekends and Midweek until the end of February. Always ask for the exclusive Skinnyski special when inquiring about reservations.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Despite lack of new snow, skiing has been fantastic. The daily frost has been falling to the trail surface adding a nice refresh. Sunshine most days has been glorious. There has been almost no wind so there is minimal debris on the trails. The tracks and skate deck are holding out great since most recent grooming. The coverage is excellent. Just a few very minor thin spots here and there that represent less than .005% over 70km of trail and the squirrels have been busy, naturally, on the side of some trails where acorns are buried. The adventure trails still have plenty of powdered sugar stashes, (always use extra caution on these trails). We have been skiing daily keeping pulse on the conditions and don't feel a need to groom at this time as we enjoy, personally, the best conditions possible. We will be grooming tomorrow afternoon on Skaters Waltz and end of Sap Run for planned all day high school race on Thursday. It is possible this meet might be postponed to next Tuesday however. Regardless if no new snow or not, we plan to regroom the entire trail system on Friday morning.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

The ski tracks are firm and fine at Maplelag. A classic track is now set on North Loup. Maplelag is doing a great job accommodating day skiers during this wacky winter of covid.

(Glenn Gifford)