All posts by Jay Richards

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open. A beautiful morning on the trails, albeit a bit windy. After an early morning high of 25, temp falling to 2 degrees at 8am. Considering the weather roller coaster the past week, skiing is good. Skate trails being groomed this morning, touch up on select classic trails.

Classic trail grooming Friday morning on Sukkerbusk, Mother Hen, Sap Run, Rootin Tootin, Twin Lakes, Wavy Gravy and JibFly. Groomer mixing old crusty snow with new snow and being able to set mostly full depth track. Skate trail grooming on Skaters Waltz, North Loup and Eira Bikwadinaa hill. North Loup groomed up very nice and best trail to skate on. An inch or so of new snow on Thursday.

Despite the blustery conditions Thursday we worked the new snow on the skate trails and select classic trails. Base is rock solid hard after Tuesday warm up, cool down and warm up, and cool down again. Use extra caution walking in the parking lots and start area which is icy. Once a short ways in the trails, conditions improve. Best classic skiing on Twin Lake, Wavy Gravy, Rootin Tootin and Sukkerbusk skiing well after multiple grooming passes. Best skating on North Loup and Skaters Extension loops. 

A great day hosting the 29th DL Invitational Nordic Ski meet on Tuesday. Over 400 skiers representing teams from the central and nw part of the state. (click here for results) Got very warm with high temperature at 46 before cooling down in the evening and freezing down hard. 

Skating on Skaters Waltz, the extension loops, North Loup, Single Green, Kristin’s Kutoff and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill. All other trails are tracked for classic skiing. (Please no skating on classic trails) Sukkerbusk is a great starter trail for classic which feeds the outer trails and crosses most of the inner trails providing a good “lay of the land”.  

17″ of snow so far this season. We have been grooming daily on the entire trail system the past two weeks. 

Thank you to everyone that comes to ski and supports the trails with season pass purchases. Day passes can be purchased hereA MN State trail pass is NOT required to ski at Maplelag. The Maplelag trails are self funded by operations with no grants or state funding. 

 Fat bike trails are not groomed yet. Click here for fat bike trail report.

We had a great Autumn of Fall grooming clearing leaves and debris off the trails and the new snow is packing in well with the clean deck before the snow. 

We cleared over 600 trees since the Solstice 2025 storm. Big thanks to everyone that has helped!

Compacted base on trail 2-5″. Total snowfall in December: 11″. Snowfall in November: 7″. Snowfall YTD at 18″. October precipitation (rain) at 2.7″ and around 1″ in September. Total precipitation ytd (rain) at Maplelag is at 25.12″.

Late afternoon ski on JibFly, December 19th, 2025. Groomer’s choice!
Moorhead Nordic ski team members on North Loup, day 1 training camp, December 19th, 2025.
Skaters Waltz skating, December 19th, 2025.
Using the “Ginzu” groomer on Rootin Tootin trail to set new track, December 19th, 2025. The blades mix and old new snow together to provide material to set new track. 
Grooming skate deck on North Loup, December 19th, 2025.
Resetting track on Sukkerbusk, December 18th, 2025. Any track not set is improved with the fresh snow, albeit a bit slower until skied in. 
Grooming on Skaters Waltz extension mixing new snow with the frozen granulated base, December 18th, 2025. Best skating will be on the skater extension loops and North Loup. 
Ski at dusk on Sukkerbusk, nice conditions and skiing in the woods, December 18th, 2025.
Skiing past the “Maplelag Moose”, December 18th, 2025.
Afternoon skate ski, December 17th, 2025. Icy in the morning, much better in afternoon after grooming. 
Beaver off track?
Building up the base in the start area, December 17th, 2025.
Start of the girls varsity race, DL Invite, December 16th, 2025. 
Start of the girls junior varsity race, DL Invite December 16th, 2025.
Boys Varsity start DL Invite, December 16th, 2025.
Final day of ski camp for St Paul Highland Park Nordic ski team, December 14th, 2025. Nice job skiing in the cold this weekend!
Roy’s Run, December 14th, 2025.
Rootin Tootin trail, December 14th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
Saturday smiles. Great day on the trails, December 13th, 2025.
Magical afternoon on the trails, December 12th, 2025.
Afternoon sun dogs, December 12th, 2025.
Hill repeats on Eira Bikwadinaa hill, St Paul Highland Park skiers , December 12th, 2025.

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open. Considering the weather roller coaster the past week, skiing is good. An inch or so of new snow the past 24 hours. Classic trail grooming this morning on Sukkerbusk, Mother Hen, Sap Run, Rootin Tootin, Twin Lakes, Wavy Gravy and JibFly. Groomer mixing old crusty snow with new snow and being able to set mostly full depth track. Skate trail grooming on Skaters Waltz, North Loup and Eira Bikwadinaa hill. North Loup groomed up very nice and best trail to skate on.

Despite the blustery conditions yesterday we worked the new snow on the skate trails and select classic trails. Base is rock solid hard after Tuesday warm up, cool down and warm up, and cool down again. Use extra caution walking in the parking lots and start area which is icy. Once a short ways in the trails, conditions improve. Best classic skiing on Twin Lake, Wavy Gravy, Rootin Tootin and Sukkerbusk skiing well after multiple grooming passes. Best skating on North Loup and Skaters Extension loops.

A great day hosting the 29th DL Invitational Nordic Ski meet on Tuesday. Over 400 skiers representing teams from the central and nw part of the state. (click here for results) Got very warm with high temperature at 46 before cooling down in the evening and freezing down hard. 

Skating on Skaters Waltz, the extension loops, North Loup, Single Green, Kristin’s Kutoff and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill. All other trails are tracked for classic skiing. (Please no skating on classic trails) Sukkerbusk is a great starter trail for classic which feeds the outer trails and crosses most of the inner trails providing a good “lay of the land”.  

17″ of snow so far this season. We have been grooming daily on the entire trail system the past two weeks. 

Thank you to everyone that comes to ski and supports the trails with season pass purchases. Day passes can be purchased hereA MN State trail pass is NOT required to ski at Maplelag. The Maplelag trails are self funded by operations with no grants or state funding. 

 Fat bike trails are not groomed yet. Click here for fat bike trail report.

We had a great Autumn of Fall grooming clearing leaves and debris off the trails and the new snow is packing in well with the clean deck before the snow. 

We cleared over 600 trees since the Solstice 2025 storm. Big thanks to everyone that has helped!

Compacted base on trail 2-5″. Total snowfall in December: 11″. Snowfall in November: 7″. Snowfall YTD at 18″. October precipitation (rain) at 2.7″ and around 1″ in September. Total precipitation ytd (rain) at Maplelag is at 25.12″.

Late afternoon ski on JibFly, December 19th, 2025. Groomer’s choice!
Moorhead Nordic ski team members on North Loup, day 1 training camp, December 19th, 2025.
Skaters Waltz skating, December 19th, 2025.
Using the “Ginzu” groomer on Rootin Tootin trail to set new track, December 19th, 2025. The blades mix and old new snow together to provide material to set new track.
Grooming skate deck on North Loup, December 19th, 2025.
Resetting track on Sukkerbusk, December 18th, 2025. Any track not set is improved with the fresh snow, albeit a bit slower until skied in. 
Grooming on Skaters Waltz extension mixing new snow with the frozen granulated base, December 18th, 2025. Best skating will be on the skater extension loops and North Loup. 
Ski at dusk on Sukkerbusk, nice conditions and skiing in the woods, December 18th, 2025.
Skiing past the “Maplelag Moose”, December 18th, 2025.
Resetting one track on Mother North Star, December 18th, 2025. We will be resetting one track on the double track today and tomorrow and leaving the other set track (which remains well formed) with dusting of snow on top to be skied in. 
Afternoon skate ski, December 17th, 2025. Icy in the morning, much better in afternoon after grooming. 
Beaver off track?
Building up the base in the start area, December 17th, 2025.
Start of the girls varsity race, DL Invite, December 16th, 2025. 
Start of the girls junior varsity race, DL Invite December 16th, 2025.
Boys Varsity start DL Invite, December 16th, 2025.
Final day of ski camp for St Paul Highland Park Nordic ski team, December 14th, 2025. Nice job skiing in the cold this weekend!
Roy’s Run, December 14th, 2025.
Rootin Tootin trail, December 14th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
Saturday smiles. Great day on the trails, December 13th, 2025.
Magical afternoon on the trails, December 12th, 2025.
Afternoon sun dogs, December 12th, 2025.
Hill repeats on Eira Bikwadinaa hill, St Paul Highland Park skiers , December 12th, 2025.

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open. A full day of grooming mixing in the new snow that fell today, around an inch or so. Groomed mostly on the skate trails and reset track on a few trails including Sukkerbusk. A ski after grooming was very nice, even with the blustery conditions. Not as noticeable deep in the woods. The little bit of new snow improving the classic skiing even where not reset today on previous set tracks which are still holding good definition. We will continue grooming Friday to have the best conditions for the weekend. Consider the roller coast weather this past week, should be a great weekend to ski. Use extra caution walking in the parking lots which are icy.

A great day hosting the 29th DL Invitational Nordic Ski meet on Tuesday. Over 400 skiers representing teams from the central and nw part of the state. (click here for results) Got very warm with high temperature at 46 before cooling down in the evening and freezing down hard. 

Skating on Skaters Waltz, the extension loops, North Loup, Single Green, Kristin’s Kutoff and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill. All other trails are tracked for classic skiing. (Please no skating on classic trails) Sukkerbusk is a great starter trail for classic which feeds the outer trails and crosses most of the inner trails providing a good “lay of the land”.  

17″ of snow so far this season. We have been grooming daily on the entire trail system the past two weeks. 

Thank you to everyone that comes to ski and supports the trails with season pass purchases. Day passes can be purchased hereA MN State trail pass is NOT required to ski at Maplelag. The Maplelag trails are self funded by operations with no grants or state funding. 

 Fat bike trails are not groomed yet. Click here for fat bike trail report.

We had a great Autumn of Fall grooming clearing leaves and debris off the trails and the new snow is packing in well with the clean deck before the snow. 

We cleared over 600 trees since the Solstice 2025 storm. Big thanks to everyone that has helped!

Compacted base on trail 2-5″. Total snowfall in December: 10″. Snowfall in November: 7″. Snowfall YTD at 17″. October precipitation (rain) at 2.7″ and around 1″ in September. Total precipitation ytd (rain) at Maplelag is at 25.12″.

Resetting track on Sukkerbusk, December 18th, 2025. Any track not set is improved with the fresh snow, albeit a bit slower until skied in.
Grooming on Skaters Waltz extension mixing new snow with the frozen granulated base, December 18th, 2025. Best skating will be on the skater extension loops and North Loup.
Ski at dusk on Sukkerbusk, nice conditions and skiing in the woods, December 18th, 2025.
Skiing past the “Maplelag Moose”, December 18th, 2025.
Resetting one track on Mother North Star, December 18th, 2025. We will be resetting one track on the double track today and tomorrow and leaving the other set track (which remains well formed) with dusting of snow on top to be skied in.
Afternoon skate ski, December 17th, 2025. Icy in the morning, much better in afternoon after grooming. 
Beaver off track?
Building up the base in the start area, December 17th, 2025.
Start of the girls varsity race, DL Invite, December 16th, 2025. 
Start of the girls junior varsity race, DL Invite December 16th, 2025.
Boys Varsity start DL Invite, December 16th, 2025.
Final day of ski camp for St Paul Highland Park Nordic ski team, December 14th, 2025. Nice job skiing in the cold this weekend!
Roy’s Run, December 14th, 2025.
Rootin Tootin trail, December 14th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
Saturday smiles. Great day on the trails, December 13th, 2025.
Magical afternoon on the trails, December 12th, 2025.
Afternoon sun dogs, December 12th, 2025.
Hill repeats on Eira Bikwadinaa hill, St Paul Highland Park skiers , December 12th, 2025.

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open. A challenging day of skiing and grooming after yesterday’s warmth and following drop in temperatures. We spent most of the day grooming on the skate trails and also farming snow to the start area that got very icy after yesterday. We did not do any classic trail grooming, waiting to see if snow this evening. Overall a very good day of trail work and skate skiing was much improved after grooming and snow farming. We plan to be back out most of the day Thursday hopefully working in new snow. Just an inch will greatly improve conditions but regardless we will be grooming hard Thursday and Friday to have best skiing rest of the week and weekend.

A great day hosting the 29th DL Invitational Nordic Ski meet. Over 400 skiers representing teams from the central and nw part of the state. (click here for results) Got very warm with high temperature at 46 before cooling down in the evening and freezing down hard.

Skating on Skaters Waltz, the extension loops, North Loup, Single Green, Kristin’s Kutoff and Eira Bikwadinaa Hill. All other trails are tracked for classic skiing. (Please no skating on classic trails) Sukkerbusk is a great starter trail for classic which feeds the outer trails and crosses most of the inner trails providing a good “lay of the land”. 

17″ of snow so far this season. We have been grooming daily on the entire trail system the past two weeks. 

Thank you to everyone that comes to ski and supports the trails with season pass purchases. Day passes can be purchased hereA MN State trail pass is NOT required to ski at Maplelag. The Maplelag trails are self funded by operations with no grants or state funding. 

 Fat bike trails are not groomed yet. Click here for fat bike trail report.

We had a great Autumn of Fall grooming clearing leaves and debris off the trails and the new snow is packing in well with the clean deck before the snow. 

We cleared over 600 trees since the Solstice 2025 storm. Big thanks to everyone that has helped!

Compacted base on trail 2-5″. Total snowfall in December: 10″. Snowfall in November: 7″. Snowfall YTD at 16″. October precipitation (rain) at 2.7″ and around 1″ in September. Total precipitation ytd (rain) at Maplelag is at 25.12″.

Afternoon skate ski, December 17th, 2025. Icy in the morning, much better in afternoon after grooming.
Beaver off track?
Building up the base in the start area, December 17th, 2025.
Start of the girls varsity race, DL Invite, December 16th, 2025.
Start of the girls junior varsity race, DL Invite December 16th, 2025.
Boys Varsity start DL Invite, December 16th, 2025.
Final day of ski camp for St Paul Highland Park Nordic ski team, December 14th, 2025. Nice job skiing in the cold this weekend!
Roy’s Run, December 14th, 2025.
Rootin Tootin trail, December 14th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
SP Highland Park skiers putting in a full day of skiing despite the cool temps, December 13th, 2025.
Saturday smiles. Great day on the trails, December 13th, 2025.
Magical afternoon on the trails, December 12th, 2025.
Afternoon sun dogs, December 12th, 2025.
Hill repeats on Eira Bikwadinaa hill, St Paul Highland Park skiers , December 12th, 2025.

Maplelag Trails

Start of Girls Varsity race, DL Invite Nordic ski meet, December 16th, 2025.

A great day hosting the 29th DL Invitational Nordic Ski meet. Over 400 skiers representing teams from the central and nw part of the state. (click here for results

Trail report on the trail report page. 

The ski trails are open and passes can be purchased here. We have been grooming daily working on all the trails

Cabins available to book now! Check the lodging and availability page to book a stay! Contact us at [email protected] for special early season pricing the next two weeks.