All posts by Jay Richards

Ski Trail

Ski Trail Report

Trails remain open. A beautiful day on the trails Saturday, great seeing so many people out and nice to see folks out this Thanksgiving weekend enjoying the pleasant weather. Bit warm for hanging on to snow but the base is holding out, especially on the early season trails.

This evening we groomed Skaters Waltz. No other grooming planned until more snow. Looks to be much cooler on Sunday. Trails will be skiing faster and probably won’t soften up much with temps forecasted to below freezing.

Best skiing is on Sukkerbusk for classic and Skaters Waltz for skating. Best to avoid other trails until it freezes down and more snow follows.

Has been a nice start to the ski season with good early season conditions. Great seeing so many people out the past a week, thanks for the reports and purchase of season passes. 

Total snowfall this season at 10″. Compacted base on trail 1-4″.

Winter operating plans include to operate for day skiing on the the ski, snowshoe and fat bike trails. (Trail maps posted here) Similar to the COVID season, there will be no services available. Parking in the far lot with portable bathrooms.No lodging or meal service. Starting Thanksgiving weekend we will have the Brant cabin available as a warming area with restrooms and sitting area and tables. There are no ski rentals available. 

Ski trail season passes can be purchased on our website. (scroll down to bottom of page) Purchasing season pass helps with operating and maintenance costs to prepare the trails, equipment repairs to the grooming equipment and property taxes. Thank you. 

Select fat bike trails have been groomed and are now open.

Members of the Moorhead Nordic ski team on trail today, November 26th, 2022.
Afternoon ski for Paul and Judy! November 26th, 2022. Great seeing long time guests on the trail this weekend.
Spring skiing in November! November 26th, 2022.
Charlie and Dylan getting in the local laps! November 26th, 2022.
Late afternoon grooming on Skaters Waltz, November 26th, 2022. Kamikaze hill usually first area to melt out but hanging on with skiable coverage.
Skaters Waltz extension, November 26th, 2022. Lot of tracks crossing the ski trails.

Tracks on Sukkerbusk still holding out well, early afternoon November 26th, 2022.
Renovating Skaters Waltz at dusk, November 25th, 2022.
Setting new track at dusk on Sukkerbusk, November 25th, 2022.
Afternoon skier, November 25th, 2022.
Cutting new track on JibFly late afternoon, November 25th, 2022.
Blowing leaves off Skaters Waltz, November 25th, 2022.
Shoveling exposed rock on Skaters Waltz, November 25th, 2022.
Cutting new track on JibFly, November 25th, 2022.
Nice conditions for skating on Skaters Waltz Thanksgiving morning, November 24th, 2022.
Tracks looking good on most of Sukkerbusk, November 24th, 2022. Along with JibFly, best trails to ski for groomed classic skiing.
North Loup, November 24th, 2022. Bit more rough and bumpy,some thin areas but very skiable with caution.
Thin section on Twin Lakes, November 23rd, 2022.
Dotz enjoying the early season conditions, November 23rd, 2022.
*Front Page

Novmeber 25th Fire Update

Brant cabin at dusk, November 22nd, 2022.

Starting this weekend, November 26th, we will have the Brant cabin for a warming area for day us. There are bathrooms, a living area with table to have snacks and the bedroom on the main level can be used for changing in addition to the bathrooms. Limited parking across from the Brant is available with immediate trail access. There is also parking in the first parking lot with porta potties.

This past week we also started going through the remains of the fire that destroyed the main lodge on October 10th, 2022. We hope to have the site cleared by the New Year. Full update on the News page.

News

November 25th Fire Update

The past week has been significant as we were able to open the trails on November 18th after a week of daily snowfall that resulted in nearly a foot of snow. Subsequent grooming and probably the most track set we’ve had going into Thanksgiving made for one of the best early seasons ever. It’s been great seeing everyone out on the trails and appreciate all the season passes that have been purchased. This past week we also started going through the remains of the fire that destroyed the main lodge on October 10th, 2022.

Brant cabin at dusk, November 22nd, 2022.

Starting this weekend, November 26th, we will have the Brant cabin for a warming area for day us. There are bathrooms, a living area with table to have snacks and the bedroom on the main level can be used for changing in addition to the bathrooms. Limited parking across from the Brant is available with immediate trail access. There is also parking in the first parking lot with porta potties.

Grooming at dusk renovating the deck on Skaters Waltz, November 25th, 2022.

Despite consecutive days of above freezing temps, the trails have remained open. Best skiing conditions found on Sukkerbusk for classic skiing and Skaters Waltz for skate skiing. Full and daily trail reports on the trail report page.

Sorting through the debris, salvaging lumber that was harvested on the Maplelag property. November 23rd, 2022.

This past week we started cleaning up the lodge site after the fire on October 10th, 2022. One of the builders of the lodge along with his crew, is sorting through the rubble, pulling out any lumber and timbers that did not burn that we had in inventory and also discovering a few signs that are salvageable.

Sign pulled out from the debris. We’ve pulled out handful of signs so far.
Timbers and planks pulled from the debris to be used for future projects.

We hope to clear all the debris before the New Year. Once we clear the site, we anticipate better vision for the future.

Ski Trail

Ski Trail Report

Trails remain open. Nice to see folks out today enjoying the lovely day. Bit warm for holding on to snow but the base is holding out well, especially on the early season trails. This evening we renovated Skaters Waltz and the “big hill” for skating and also reset one track on JibFly and both tracks on Sukkerbusk. No other grooming on other trails as the base is thin and not enough snow to work with. Deck and tracks might be fast to start the day on Saturday before forecasted warmer temps soften things up.

Best skiing is on Sukkerbusk for classic and Skaters Waltz for skating. Much of JibFly is in good condition, bit rough on the far side which can be bypassed using the hill bypass. We are keeping the other trails open but extreme caution must be used as there are thin and bare spots.

Has been a nice start to the ski season with good early season conditions. Great seeing so many people out the past a week, thanks for the reports and purchase of season passes. 

Total snowfall this season at 10″. Compacted base on trail 1-4″.

Winter operating plans include to operate for day skiing on the the ski, snowshoe and fat bike trails. (Trail maps posted here) Similar to the COVID season, there will be no services available. Parking in the far lot with portable bathrooms.No lodging or meal service. Starting Thanksgiving weekend we will have the Brant cabin available as a warming area with restrooms and sitting area and tables. There are no ski rentals available. 

Ski trail season passes can be purchased on our website. (scroll down to bottom of page) Purchasing season pass helps with operating and maintenance costs to prepare the trails, equipment repairs to the grooming equipment and property taxes. Thank you. 

Select fat bike trails have been groomed and are now open. 

Renovating Skaters Waltz at dusk, November 25th, 2022.
Setting new track at dusk on Sukkerbusk, November 25th, 2022.
Cutting new track on JibFly late afternoon, November 25th, 2022.
Blowing leaves off Skaters Waltz, November 25th, 2022.
Shoveling exposed rock on Skaters Waltz, November 25th, 2022.
Cutting new track on JibFly, November 25th, 2022.
Nice conditions for skating on Skaters Waltz Thanksgiving morning, November 24th, 2022.
Tracks looking good on most of Sukkerbusk, November 24th, 2022. Along with JibFly, best trails to ski for groomed classic skiing.
North Loup, November 24th, 2022. Bit more rough and bumpy,some thin areas but very skiable with caution.
Thin section on Twin Lakes, November 23rd, 2022.
Dotz enjoying the early season conditions, November 23rd, 2022.
Bike Trail

Fat Bike Trail Report

Wednesday we groomed out a small loop consisting of SukkerWest, Winter Bjorps, North Star Extension, the first part of Twin Lakes ski trail than Hudson’s Hula loop on the Twin Lakes singletrack. This loop is open for riding in the mornings while still frozen. We will groom additional trail after more snow. This loop is not marked but easy to follow by following the grooming. Best way to pick up the grooming is to head down the driveway and ride SukkerWest than follow the grooming back across the road to access Winter Bjorps than follow the grooming for the rest of the groomed trail. Part of the grooming follows along the ski trail.

Morning riding on the groomed singletrack, November 25th, 2022.
Better segment of the groomed singletrack on “Hudson’s Hula”, November 24th, 2022.