Fantastic conditions. The woods are still flocked beautifully with snow and the trails are taking shaping nicely after steady grooming on 80km of trail. Temp dropped down to -25 yesterday morning but the air was dry and the groomers were still out. Today we completed the eastern part of the trail system, packing and setting track on Bullhead/Bootleg. All double track were reset again as well as Roy's Run to the north. All the skate lanes were combed. The adventure trails have been skied in nicely and seeing a lot of traffic. We also started grooming the fat bike trails and will finish the west side tomorrow. The far east fat bike loop will be a few days yet as we need to freeze down the slush on the lake crossing. Grooming plans: We will be structuring the skate lanes in the morning and resetting most of the singletrack. Touch up grooming as needed through the weekend. We groom regardless of the temperature and trails will be open.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Another 8-10" of snow today bringing the total new snowfall the past 3 days around 2 feet.The adventure trails have been fun skiing with all the fresh powder. Lucky's Loype always a favorite with the ski teams, old school skiing with tight turns and quick up and downs for natural agility training! Grooming plans: Groomers have been logging 12 hour shifts focusing on 45km. We will continue working on the trails groomed the past few days and start working on trails to the north.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

The 4" of new snow yesterday and overnight groomed in really nice. We pulled up snow from the old base mixing it with the new when setting track. We cut new track on all the classic only trails and rolled and combed all the skate only trails. Reports from track skiers who were expecting slow conditions with the fresh cold snow reported "much better gliding than expected" We also had comments of how much snow in the woods and trails. We don't normally post snow totals but we have been very fortunate to have received 31" of snowfall this season, currently a compacted base on trail of 4-6". The snow depth in the woods ranges from 10-18". Snow started falling after we finished grooming today. Grooming plan: groomers are set to head out early in the morning. With wind and snow fall anticipated, we will be rolling to begin with and setting track mid morning.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A great day of Christmas skiing! Morning skiing found faster conditions on the slightly transformed snow before snow moved in with around 4" falling today. Afternoon skiing was definitely slower but lovely to be skiing in the new snow. Groomers are set to go out in the morning and work on the entire trail system. Mid winter conditions!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Snow held out great today. Out for a family ski around lunch time on Wavy Gravy and Sukkebusk trails. The temp was in the low 30's and falling after a very early morning high of 37 degrees. The snow condition when we skied was silky and creamy and made for really nice skiing. The glide was great thanks to the transformed snow being worked into the recent grooming.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

All singletrack outer trails on the north and west part of the trail system groomed this morning. We are digging into the old base mixing the transformed snow with the recent new snow. if the temps warm up, this will keep the snow skiing better and longer. Tracks set well for the most part, not perfect, but overall good. The snow has transformed to silky like feel and skiing really nice. At lunch we skied on Rootin Tootin and Bullhead/Bootleg for the first time since being tracked. Bootleg is such a different experience than the other trails at Maplelag with some great vistas of Bullhead Lake. The north end is a bit rough still but passable. I skied across the lake to make a loop and makes for even more special experience. Grooming and operating plans: With the trails in overall very good condition, the groomer's will be off on the 24th and 25th and resume grooming on the 26th.Since November 12th, when we started grooming, we have only missed a handful of days and most of those days were spent shoveling. The trails are open on the 24th and 25th, lodge is closed with no services. Purchase day pass online like usual. Merry Christmas from Maplelag!

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

I skied Sukkerbusk, Sap Run and Twin Lakes. I found that a warmer wax for kick worked well with the rock solid base. Twin Lakes had well defined tracks the entire way around (photo).

Photos:

(Tom Dooher)

All skate only trails were renovated and combed this morning and all double track classic track trails reset with full depth tracks. After a morning low of -8, warmed up to low 20's today and skiing was fantastic. Skated all the skate only trails at dusk and found conditions the best of the year. The snow was gliding much faster than I expected. Level and firm deck, good skis confirmed. Grooming plans: Tomorrow we will groom the singletrack classic only trails cutting new tracks. Everything else in great shape. Best skiing of the year right now.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Got on the skinnys a little after noon with the goal of just skiing and enjoying the perfect post card snowscape with sunshine warmed temps. Headed out on SukkerBusk then over to the Roy’s Run. Sunshine and a tinge of remote back country skiing in fresh snow velvet tracks fulfilled that goal. Roy’s isn’t real hilly nor is it twisty tight and challenging. Roy’s is a great blend of a few climbs with some long gradual downhill glides. It circles a pond that looks like a gray whale with a mutated fluke that has a resident beaver. A beaver was chomping on late lunch on top of it’s hut: always a treat to see wildlife. After Roy’s, we hopped back on SukkerBusk, completing it getting back to the parking lot and hydration. Wavy Gravy was calling us, and we answered, finding it to be another great choice to meet our goal. The track cuts were solid enough to negotiate the downs, get a fair amount of carefree glide with no concerns about what’s underneath. Goals were met!

(Denny Barry)

Trails received 4-5" of new snow overnight. We groomed 72km of trail today from 6a-2p, 50km classic only, both single and double track and 15km of skate only and 7km of fat bike singletrack. New snow bringing conditions to closer to pretty much mid winter standards. We also tracked the singletrack classic trail Bullhead/Bootleg for the first time this year. Still a few rough spots on the marsh crossing but skiable throughout. After grooming I skied with John Munger and we classic skied two trails on the west side and a few on the inner system. Dry cold powder, some tracks firmer than others and well used from the happy skier campers and overall a fantastic outing. Grooming plans: All skate trails will be combed in the morning and most of the classic tracks will be reset. We will also finish grooming the remainder of the fat bike singletrack.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)