Another gorgeous spring skiing day! After a morning crust cruise on adjacent lakes, sloughs and fields, we hopped on the skate trails and found the texture and base holding out great. A few thinning areas but full coverage all the way through. Sweet spot skiing on silky creamy corn snow. Afternoon classic trail grooming into sunset today on Sap Run, Twin Lakes, easy loop of JibFly and touch up on Kamikaze hill segment on Skaters Waltz. Also put a skate lane on the Sap Run connector between Skaters Waltz for those wanting to bypass the Kamikaze hill segment. Shoveled on the thin areas on the connector to the western trails (Twin Lakes) Use extreme caution on this downhill. Rest of Twin Lakes in good shape, more thin areas than northern trails but should hold out fine next two days. Final grooming into the weekend planned tomorrow late afternoon on North Loup, Skaters Waltz and Sukkerbusk.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We've entered full on spring conditions enjoying skiing on 100% pure natural corn snow. Skiing has been best during the transition or "sweet spot" from 10-1. Outside of this time frame, hard and fast in the morning than soft and damp in the afternoon before freezing down again. Grooming for us during spring conditions occurs late afternoon into the evening. The snow is easier to manage and sets up hard overnight and provides longer transition skiing the next day. Today we groomed all the skate trails including North Loup which now has a skate lane again. We also reset the tracks on Sap Run, Sukkerbusk and Mother North Star. There are a few thin areas/small bare spots that have opened up warranting B skis for caution. We will continue grooming daily select trails until Friday evening. We plan to be open through the weekend and most likely closing the trails Sunday at dusk. Spring skiing can be some of the best skiing of the year with proper timing. Feel free to explore the lakes that are intertwined among the ski trails. There is some fantastic crust skiing in the mornings! The fat bike trail is riding great, just a couple icy spots to be aware of. To preserve the deck for the next day, please ride before noon.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Great spring skiing. The trails were groomed and tracked yesterday for HS Sectionals. A few bare spots by the lakes.

(Mel Duncan)

Yet another enjoyable full day on the trails. It only became a bit slow in the afternoon when the sun came out, overall fast and fun, Two laps of fine skating, then for the rest of the day classic in the middle, then Wavy Gravy, Twin Lakes, and Roy‘s Run: total of 33 K. At Eagle‘s View, as you can guess, I saw two bald eagles. You will have a great weekend at Maplelag, enjoy!

(István Gombocz)

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)