All posts by Jay Richards

Maplelag Trails

Grooming fresh snow on Sukkerbusk ski trail, December 10th, 2025.

7-8″ of new snow this week, 17″ YTD. 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 The trails will be open this weekend. We do not close because of cold weather.

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.

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open. Excellent early season conditions. A beautiful day of skiing with pleasant temps and no wind. All the classic trails are now tracked! Has been 4-5 years since everything was tracked this early in the year. Only thing not groomed is the lake segment of Bullhead lake trail. Bottom of Eira hill go straight across to pick up grooming. We hope to ski a track in tomorrow. Today we set track on all the singletrack classic trails and reset select tracks on the double track. Skate trails are combed, and will touch up again Friday morning. Also on tap will be touch up on a few double track trails. Weather this weekend will be ideal for classic skiing!

We are open daily and do not close because of cold weather etc. Around 7-8″ of new snow this week. We have been grooming daily on the entire trail system.

Thank you to everyone that comes to ski and supports the trails with season pass purchases. Day passes can be purchased here

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”. 

 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!

Total snowfall in December: 9″. 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″.

Cutting fresh track on Sukkerbusk, December 11th, 2025.
Striding on Twin Lakes double track, December 11th, 2025 (P.Arneson photo)
Heading to the trail, December 11th, 2025. (P.Arenson photo)
Blue hour ski on Wavy Gravy ski trail, December 11th, 2025.
Skied in track in between Twin Lakes on Island Lake and Wavy Gravy trails, December 11th, 2025.

A couple rough spots but plenty of snow and skiable throughout, December 11th, 2025
Cutting double track on Sukkerbusk along the “skinny” field, December 10th, 2025.
Setting track on the return from Twin Lakes, December 10th, 2025.
Grooming on Loon Return, December 9th, 2025. 
Grooming on JibFly, December 9th, 2025.
Setting new track on Sap Run Monday evening, December 8th, 2025. The new snow on Monday greatly improving the conditions. 
North end of Bullhead lake trail, December 7th, 2025. Marsh crossing a little rough but passable throughout and new snow only improving the coverage. 
Moorhead Nordic ski team out for early Saturday morning practice, December 6th, 2025.

Fat Bike Trail Report

More snow! Around 7″ of snow the past 24 hours. The new snow will delay fat bike grooming for a week or so.

We have not been able to groom the course yet as unfortunately both groomers are waiting for parts. We hope to have the groomers ready later this week and groom the trail by next weekend. 

Global Fat Bike Day ride! Breaking trail on Twin Lakes singletrack, December 6th, 2025.
Bullhead Bootleg bridge section, December 6th, 2025.
Bullhead Lake crossing, December 6th, 2025. A solid 6-7″ of ice.

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open. Around 7″ of new snow the past 24 hours. A few lingering flakes this morning. We plan to work on the entire  trail system today, packing, combing and setting track on all the double track classic trails. Yesterday we worked on 40km while it was snowing to get the most out of the snow. The new snow had good moisture content and bringing the ski conditions to mid winter!

Thank you to everyone that comes to ski and supports the trails with season pass purchases. Day passes can be purchased here

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”.

 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!

Total snowfall in December: 9″. Snowfall in November: 7″. October precipitation (rain) at 2.7″ and around 1″ in September. Total precipitation ytd (rain) at Maplelag is at 25.12″.

Grooming on Loon Return, December 9th, 2025. 
Grooming on JibFly, December 9th, 2025.
Setting new track on Sap Run Monday evening, December 8th, 2025. The new snow on Monday greatly improving the conditions. 
North end of Bullhead lake trail, December 7th, 2025. Marsh crossing a little rough but passable throughout and new snow only improving the coverage. 
Moorhead Nordic ski team out for early Saturday morning practice, December 6th, 2025.

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open. 6-7″ of new snow today as of 7:00pm. We worked on 40km of trail today and will be back out tomorrow working on the entire trail system. The new snow has good moisture content and greatly improving the conditions….mid winter! We will be setting track on all the trails that are typically groomed for classic Wednesday and Thursday.

Thank you to everyone that comes to ski and supports the trails with season pass purchases. Day passes can be purchased here

 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!

Total snowfall in December: 9″. Snowfall in November: 7″. October precipitation (rain) at 2.7″ and around 1″ in September. Total precipitation ytd (rain) at Maplelag is at 25.12″.

Grooming on Loon Return, December 9th, 2025.
Grooming on JibFly, December 9th, 2025.
Setting new track on Sap Run Monday evening, December 8th, 2025. The new snow on Monday greatly improving the conditions.
North end of Bullhead lake trail, December 7th, 2025. Marsh crossing a little rough but passable throughout and new snow only improving the coverage.
Moorhead Nordic ski team out for early Saturday morning practice, December 6th, 2025.