An inch of new snow overnight. Single digit air temps at 9am. 22 km fresh groomed this morning. Started the day skiing in the fresh snow on one track on JibFly and Sukkerbusk and checking coverage etc. on other trails. The new snow made for real nice skiing on the trails I skied. After skiing, groomed the track I did not ski in with the 5'Ginzu groomer, "squeegee" grooming with very good results. This grooming method follows the exact setting of the previous track, pressing the new snow into the well formed and defined track. With double track classic trails, there is now a option to ski either side of the trail. 15 km of skate only trail was also combed this morning after four passes the day before renovating and tenderizing. The new snow bonded nicely to the renovated snow. We also groomed 25km of fat bike trail. Grooming plans: With wind today, we will plan to touch up the same trails we groomed today either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning and will also comb out additional trail previously groomed last week.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Classic skied Sukkerbusk and skaited most of Skaters Waltz at sunrise this morning after a hard freeze last night. Brilliant sunshine felt good but it didn't warm up enough to soften the deck... fast and icy conditions. Still a good crowd out skiing, call it a skills day. On average, the rock solid compacted base has good coverage with 3-4" after just 10" of snowfall to date. We have also groomed 12 km of fat bike trail and have the skate only loops open as well, providing 25km of riding options. Grooming and operating plans: We will keep the Sukkerbusk and Skaters Waltz trails open through the week, working on Skaters building up the base on thin areas and trying to tenderize the base. No grooming planned on the classic trails. 5 km additional fat bike singletrack will be groomed this week as well.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

A busy day on the trails as folks enjoyed beautiful spring like skiing in November! We did get out for another grooming on Skaters Waltz at dusk, patching some thin spots along the way. The trails remain open for Sunday skiing, skating on Skaters Waltz and classic on Sukkerbusk. Other trails not recommended. With cooler temps moving in and forecasted sub freezing temps all day tomorrow, expect faster skiing with some icy spots.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Skied Maplelag on Friday morning for about two hours. Coverage is good overall on the classic tracks, and easy to navigate the couple of remaining small patches of leaves on the trail (from the deer). Good skiing!

(Glenn Gifford)

Skated late afternoon today and was pleasantly surprised to see how good conditions were given the recent warmer temps in our area. Definitely shows how the trail crew at Maplelag work so hard and prepare the trails. Did encounter a couple rocks poking through the surface from the sun but totally avoidable if you're paying attention. Southern facing hills were soft but firming back up as the sun started getting lower in the sky. Bumped into Jay heading out with the groomer to freshen up the trails as I was making my way back to the parking lot. FWIW: I drove a little over an hour to ski and was definitely worth it. Likely heading back again this weekend to hit the freshened up trails.

Photos:

(Lance Strum)

Despite another day above freezing. the trails and base are holding out well. We remain open and people are skiing. This evening we renovated the skate only trail Skaters Waltz and the "big hill", running the teeth down on the YTS Ginzu groomer, to pull up drier colder snow and re-structure the texture with corduroy and level the crown to the edges of the trail. We also reset the classic only trail, cutting a new track on JibFly and both tracks on Sukkerbusk. We shoveled on the thin areas and blew off leave where the deer have been digging in acorns. The 10km of trail groomed this evening are the the recommended trails to ski. We are keeping the other 25km of trail groomed this past week open but extreme caution must be used as bare and thin areas exist.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

I skied the Skaters Waltz loop, the trail was in very good condition. There were a few spots with some leaves peeking through and a few crusty spots but I always felt "in control", very adequate snow coverage. The classic trails that I saw looked excellent, with a track set. I drove about an hour and a half from Bemidji to Maplelag it was well worth the drive and trail fee, I thoughtfully enjoyed my self. Maplelag always does an excellent job grooming.

(Lisa Boulay)

Happy Thanksgiving! Beautiful morning to enjoy some of the best conditions I've seen on Skaters Waltz on Thanksgiving. A light dusting of snow transformed to a silky sugar on top of a firm and mostly level base made for really nice skiing. Checked out North Loup as well. That was a bit more rough with some bumpy spots but still nice skiing with rock skis. Crossed the tracks on Sukkerbusk a few times and they were looking good. Grooming plans: Skate trails will be touched up Friday morning than probably groomed again late afternoon. Track to be reset on Sukkerbusk and JibFly in the afternoon.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

Got a bit warmer than we expected today but the snow held out just fine. Went out for a classic ski late afternoon/early evening checking out most of the 20km of set tracked classic trails as the trails were glazing over. Skin skis worked perfectly and was a lovely ski at dusk. Found the best skiing and coverage on Sap Run, JibFly, Sukkerbusk and Poke Loki. These trails recommend to ski for classic. I did ski Twin lakes and found nice skiing in the beginning and end, middle had a lot of thin spots but easily to avoid to still ski the full loop of this beautiful trail, use caution on the downhills. The skate deck on Skaters Waltz where I crossed it looked great and still has the coating of the last dusting of snow to work with. Should be nice skating in the morning which I plan to check out. Operating plans: Trails remain open and are open Thanksgiving day. Grooming plans: We will plan to groom on Friday at some point, depends on temps tomorrow and Friday. We will most likely condition Skaters Waltz and set new track on Sukkerbusk and JibFly.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)

We woke up to a fresh dusting of snow which was great for working into the base and allowed us to set track on a few more trails. We now have 35km open and groomed. 20km groomed classic only and 15km groomed skate only. We also have been grooming on the northern skate loops the past two days. Went out for a late afternoon classic ski on all the trails groomed with tracks. Found best conditions on Sap Run, JibFly and Sukkerbusk. B skis can be used. Other classic trails have some rough and thin spots, can be easily avoided but recommend rock skis. Skaters Waltz and the extension loops best trails for skiing with B skis. North Loop, Kristins Kutoff and Single Green best to play safe with rock skis. We've been double tracking the better trails using a rotation method so we can reset tracks again probably on Friday after any warming. The deer have been very active where there are acorns and kicking leaves on to the trail. Deer hunting season is over in our area. No does were allowed to be harvested so we have a lot of deer in the area! Grooming plans: Tomorrow we will pack and clear the remaining singletrack classic trails to the west.

Photos:

(Jay Richards, Maplelag Resort)