Incredible day on the trails for day 2 of the Section 8 Nordic Ski championships. Another inch or so of new snow and falling temps throughout the day provided a fitting backdrop for the races. Grooming at 33 degrees early this morning was a bit tricky but everything sorted out nicely and the skate deck was really the best of the year. Nice job to all the racers and thanks everyone that helped make it a most memorable day. More snow falling this evening which is bringing us to close to 6 feet of total snowfall on the season. Late afternoon we touched up the start area and set new tracks on Sap Run. Grooming plans: Groomers are set to groom the entire trail system Thursday and Friday for weekend skiing.

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A epic first day for the Section 8 Nordic Ski Championships classic races. Morning was clear with brilliant sunshine with the temperature quickly rising to 36 degrees. Snow softened and glazed making for fast tracks during testing. Clouded over, temperature dropped and held steady right at freezing. Snow started to fall as the boys begin their race. Snow continued throughout the day, intensifying for the girls race. Total new accumulation was around 2". A tricky day for waxing adding to the fun day of racing. After the races we started packing and grooming the damp snow on the Skate and Sprint courses. Snow started again at 8pm with another inch likely. We will be grooming this evening a little than early morning on the courses. Other trails not part of the courses are open tomorrow with 1-3" of new snow on top of the most recent grooming. Grooming plans: We plan to groom the entire trail system on Thursday and Friday.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Postcard day on the trails! Days we dream about in the dead heat of summer when doing trail work being attacked by mosquitos, flies, ticks....We reset double track on select trails than worked on the Section courses. Everything groomed out really nice and looking forward to a fun day tomorrow! Note: Trails not used in tomorrow's Section classic race will be open for skiing. Best options is taking Sukkerbusk to the west to access the western or northern trails for 38km of classic skiing options. Although there will be no skate race tomorrow, skate trail is closed until 3pm. Fat bike inner trails closed tomorrow and Wednesday. Twin Lake and Sukkerwest open for riding. Grooming plans: We will be grooming the Section Skate and Sprint courses in the evening and early morning on Wednesday.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We woke up to an unexpected inch or so of very dry fluffy snow this morning bringing 24 hour total of new snow 3-4". We groomed all the Section courses to start than hit up some singletrack classic trails. Sun popped out around noon and was a beautiful day on the trails skiing in the fresh snow. Forgot to mention in previous reports we groomed 25km of fat bike trail on Friday morning. Very rideable even with recent snow on top, next grooming on the fat bike trails most likely Thursday or Friday. Ski trail grooming plans: Tomorrow we will be focusing on the Section courses most of the day, setting the final tracks mid to late afternoon. The classic course will be closed at 3pm until Tuesday morning.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

2-3" new snow today. Beautiful day on the trails with the fresh snow and moderating temps. This morning we starting out grooming the separate Skate, Classic and Sprint Courses. We than completed the remaining double track trails than cut new track on the singletrack trails Rootin Tootin and Roy's Run. This evening we were back out setting new track on Sap Run, Sukkebusk and combed out the Section Skate course. Tomorrow morning we will be grooming select singletrack classic trails.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Ski trails were excellent again today at Maplelag. More fresh snow and more fresh grooming. Jay has the tracks in great shape!

(Glenn Gifford)

Dusting of new snow overnight. The Ginzu groomers had their way today, mixing the new and the transformed snow the Pisten Bully worked up the other day, cutting new double track on all the two tracked trails. We also placed a new track on North Loup and all skate only lanes were groomed multiple passes going wide. Temp was -8 all day but felt much warmer with the sun and just a few gasps of wind. Fantastic February day to ski! We also set signs out for the Section course for inspection tomorrow. Separate courses for Skate, Classic and Sprint. Note: JibFly will be skied two way until Tuesday. Grooming plans: Groomers are set to go out in the morning if forecasted snow occurs, hitting the Section courses and other trails as the groom vibe dictates.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Morning low was a bit cooler than we expected with the thermometer bottoming out around dash 40. We held off on grooming until the air temp climbed to -15. All the singletrack classic trails were cut with new tracks except Bullhead/Bootleg loop. Was a beautiful day with sunshine, no wind to speak of and great action from the tracks. I classic skied at night on the Section Classic course and the solar lit trail Sap Run. Found classic conditions the best of the year, personally. Snow was starting to fall when I finished skiing. Tomorrow morning we are ready to regroom the entire trail system if more than a half inch of new snow. Either way we will be touching up the skate lanes, grooming Bullhead/Bootleg and refreshing any trails that need a new look.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Today we ran the Pisten Bully groomer with the front end renovator on all the double track trails. We used the renovator to widen, level, smooth out drifts, and bring up transformed fine grained granulated snow deep within the base. A few extra passes on the Section classic courses than we set tracks on all those trails. We also packed and leveled drifts on the remaining single track classic trails. We also worked on the east Bootleg fat bike trail and getting closer to completing that full loop. Tomorrow we will cut track on all singletrack trails and touch up the skate lanes.

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(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

2" new snow past 24 hours with blizzard like conditions at times as peak wind gusts in the areas were reported near 50 mph. We groomed (packing and roll combing) over 100km today, working on 40km of trail. The Section race courses for next week saw a few extra passes today. With over 5 feet of total snowfall so far this season, the ponds and sloughs are filled with snow and any wind the snow drifts on to the trails. Grooming during the wind events makes it easier for the next grooming run. We have groomed every day the past 6 weeks on at least some portion of the trail system. Wednesday we will set track on select trails and plan a total regroom of the entire trail system Thursday and Friday. We have been staying on top of 18km of fat bike trail the "InnerWest" loop and this week started on the Bootleg loop to the east, hoping to have 30km of groomed fat bike trail by the weekend.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)