Winter conditions continue with cold temps and another dusting of snow Sunday evening. We packed a few trails on Monday to prepare the base for the next snowfalls and hope to be able to open the trails after another 3-4″ of snow.
Winter operating plans include to operate for day skiing on the the ski, snowshoe and fat bike trails. Similar to the COVID season, there will be no services available. Parking in the far lot with portable bathrooms.No lodging or meal service.
Ski trail season passes can be purchased on our website. (scroll down to bottom of page) Purchasing season pass now helps with operating and maintenance costs to prepare the trails, equipment repairs to the grooming equipment and property taxes.
First grooming of the year on Sukkerbusk, November 14th, 2022.Heading down the hill towards Bullhead Lake, November 14th, 2022.Single green trail with a fresh coating of white, November 11th, 2022.Mother North Star trail, November 11th, 2022.Final fall grooming on Sap Run, November 9th, 2022.Sukkebusk ski trail, October 9th, 2022.Ice on the edge of Island Lake, November Second time around for this beaver!Ice foam on Island, November 5th, 2022.November Nature scene, November 5th, 2022.Ice on the edge of Twin Lakes, November 5th, 2022.Looking down towards Bullhead lake, November 5th, 2022.Frosty scene on edge of Bullhead lake, November 5th, 2022.Frosty North Loup ski trail, November 5th, 2022. Ready for snow! Skiff of snow on the forest floor, November 4th, 2022.Sunrise over Island Lake, November 4th, 2022.Sunrise through the forest as seen on Twin Lakes ski trail, November 4th, 2022.Moon rise at the Twin Lakes crossing, November 1st, 2022.Clearing deadfall on Island Lake trail, November 2nd, 2022.Fresh bear track on Twin Lakes ski trail, November 2nd, 2022.Fall grooming on Island Lake trail, November 1st, 2022.Beaver cut near Island Lake, November 1st, 2022.Wavy Gravy trail, November 1st, 2022.View towards Island Lake, November 1st, 2022.Spectacular sunset to cap off the last day of October 2022.
Winter arrived overnight with a dusting of fresh snow and temps in the upper teens. Around 2″ accumulating on the trails. This comes after nearly an inch of rain before the snow. The precipitation was welcomed considering how dry it had been this fall. Cold weather looks to stay in place for a week or so which will start to send frost down into the ground. No grooming planned with insignificant snowfall to pack and the non frozen ground underneath. Always great to see snow and a good start to get excited for the upcoming winter season.
Tuesday and Wednesday we were able to get on the trails to sneak in one more final grooming and clear much of the deadfall that came down in strong winds Sunday and Tuesday.
With MN firearm season through the weekend, the trails are closed to day use until Thanksgiving weekend, weather permitting.
Winter operating plans include to operate for day skiing on the the ski, snowshoe and fat bike trails. Similar to the COVID season, there will be no services available. Parking in the far lot with portable bathrooms.No lodging or meal service.
Ski trail season passes can be purchased on our website. (scroll down to bottom of page) Purchasing season pass now helps with operating and maintenance costs to prepare the trails, equipment repairs to the grooming equipment and property taxes.
Single green trail with a fresh coating of white, November 11th, 2022.Mother North Star trail, November 11th, 2022.Final fall grooming on Sap Run, November 9th, 2022.Sukkebusk ski trail, October 9th, 2022.Ice on the edge of Island Lake, November Second time around for this beaver!Ice foam on Island, November 5th, 2022.November Nature scene, November 5th, 2022.Ice on the edge of Twin Lakes, November 5th, 2022.Looking down towards Bullhead lake, November 5th, 2022.Frosty scene on edge of Bullhead lake, November 5th, 2022.Frosty North Loup ski trail, November 5th, 2022. Ready for snow! Skiff of snow on the forest floor, November 4th, 2022.Sunrise over Island Lake, November 4th, 2022.Sunrise through the forest as seen on Twin Lakes ski trail, November 4th, 2022.Moon rise at the Twin Lakes crossing, November 1st, 2022.Clearing deadfall on Island Lake trail, November 2nd, 2022.Fresh bear track on Twin Lakes ski trail, November 2nd, 2022.Fall grooming on Island Lake trail, November 1st, 2022.Beaver cut near Island Lake, November 1st, 2022.Wavy Gravy trail, November 1st, 2022.View towards Island Lake, November 1st, 2022.Spectacular sunset to cap off the last day of October 2022.Clearing on Rootin Tootin ski trail, October 26th, 2022.Rootin Tootin slough, October 26th, 2022.Morning sun lighting up the tamarack trees still holding color, October 26th, 2022.Touch of snow on a recently fallen maple leaf, October 25th, 2022.Afternoon hike on Skaters Waltz, October 22nd, 2022.Aging mushroom on a birch tree, October 22nd, 2022.Hiking on the singletrack, October 22nd, 2022.Tamarack trees hitting their peak of color this week, October 20th, 2022. Only coniferous tree to change color and loose needles. Fall grooming on Sap Run trail, October 20th, 2022.Final fall grooming in action, Skaters Waltz, October 19th, 2022.Sunrise over Island Lake, October 19th, 2022. Golden hour over the late fall color on Mother North Star ski trail, October 18th, 2022.Mountain bike singletrack after fresh clearing, October 18th, 2022. Mountain bike trails remain open until November 1st.Fall color scene along Skaters Waltz extension, October 15th, 2022.Snowy autumn scene near Twin Lakes crossing, October 14th, 2022.Sunset over Little Sugarbush, October 14th, 2022
Wintry weather on the move. Much welcomed precipitation starting on Wednesday…potential for accumulating snow today on through Friday. Around .3″ of rain overnight.
Tuesday and Wednesday we were able to get on the trails to sneak in one more final grooming and clear much of the deadfall that came down in strong winds Sunday and Tuesday.
With MN firearm season this week, the trails are closed to day use until Thanksgiving weekend, weather permitting.
Winter operating plans include to operate for day skiing on the the ski, snowshoe and fat bike trails. Similar to the COVID season, there will be no services available. Parking in the far lot with portable bathrooms.No lodging or meal service.
Ski trail season passes can be purchased on our website. (scroll down to bottom of page) Purchasing season pass now helps with operating and maintenance costs to prepare the trails, equipment repairs to the grooming equipment and property taxes.
Final fall grooming on Sap Run, November 9th, 2022.Sukkebusk ski trail, October 9th, 2022.Ice on the edge of Island Lake, November Second time around for this beaver!Ice foam on Island, November 5th, 2022.November Nature scene, November 5th, 2022.Ice on the edge of Twin Lakes, November 5th, 2022.Looking down towards Bullhead lake, November 5th, 2022.Frosty scene on edge of Bullhead lake, November 5th, 2022.Frosty North Loup ski trail, November 5th, 2022. Ready for snow! Skiff of snow on the forest floor, November 4th, 2022.Sunrise over Island Lake, November 4th, 2022.Sunrise through the forest as seen on Twin Lakes ski trail, November 4th, 2022.Moon rise at the Twin Lakes crossing, November 1st, 2022.Clearing deadfall on Island Lake trail, November 2nd, 2022.Fresh bear track on Twin Lakes ski trail, November 2nd, 2022.Fall grooming on Island Lake trail, November 1st, 2022.Beaver cut near Island Lake, November 1st, 2022.Wavy Gravy trail, November 1st, 2022.View towards Island Lake, November 1st, 2022.Spectacular sunset to cap off the last day of October 2022.Clearing on Rootin Tootin ski trail, October 26th, 2022.Rootin Tootin slough, October 26th, 2022.Morning sun lighting up the tamarack trees still holding color, October 26th, 2022.Touch of snow on a recently fallen maple leaf, October 25th, 2022.Afternoon hike on Skaters Waltz, October 22nd, 2022.Aging mushroom on a birch tree, October 22nd, 2022.Hiking on the singletrack, October 22nd, 2022.Tamarack trees hitting their peak of color this week, October 20th, 2022. Only coniferous tree to change color and loose needles. Fall grooming on Sap Run trail, October 20th, 2022.Final fall grooming in action, Skaters Waltz, October 19th, 2022.Sunrise over Island Lake, October 19th, 2022. Golden hour over the late fall color on Mother North Star ski trail, October 18th, 2022.Mountain bike singletrack after fresh clearing, October 18th, 2022. Mountain bike trails remain open until November 1st.Fall color scene along Skaters Waltz extension, October 15th, 2022.Snowy autumn scene near Twin Lakes crossing, October 14th, 2022.Sunset over Little Sugarbush, October 14th, 2022
Hard to believe it has been a month since the fire on October 10th. The days have blended together somewhat. Change is evident though as we are seeing colder nights resulting in frosty mornings and frozen ponds and lingering flakes of snow. There also has been plenty of wind, bringing down some deadfall but we were able to sneak in a few more fall grooming sessions before potential snow forecasted the next few days. Trails are in good shape going into winter and ready for snow!
Frosty morning scene at Bullhead Lake, November 5th, 2022.
We continue to process deposit refunds and thank everyone with their patience as we manage this task. With our computers being lost in the fire, we had to restore backups from external sources (thankfully we had our reservation system backed up) and are close to being up and running with our reservation program. Deposit refunds, if requested, will be processed as quickly as possible as time and space allows. (Full update on deposits and reservations on the October 24th update)
With that said, we want to thank Bruce Adelsman of Skinnyski.com for his incredible help getting our networks up and running. Bruce as done so much for Maplelag from webcams, weather station, upgrading the WiFi in the main lodge and so much behind the tech scenes. We could not be where we are without him. Our relationship goes back nearly 30 years and has helped us through with so much more than just tech support. Thank you again Bruce. If you are a Nordic skier and a visiter to his site, please consider becoming a member.
We also want to thank everyone who voted for Maplelag in the Star Tribune “Minnesota’s Best” contest. We are very humbled and always honored to serve our amazing guests. The award is really about or “Gold” level staff, guests and service people. We are sad that we will not be able to serve the guests that made new reservations based of this announcement.
Probably the most common question we have fielded these past weeks is if we are going to rebuild. As mentioned in the last posts are many complex factors to sort out before we make a decision on rebuilding. In all reality, it might not be decided until after the New Year. If we know more, we will certainly update. Making a decision will take some time and many factors, including ones beyond our control. We want to make sure it is the right decision for us, as we always want our guests to have the best experience possible. The first step is to have the site cleaned up. This will have to be done by a contracted professional company for the safety of everyone and insurance purposes.
We are still trying to select a date for the appreciation dinner for the first responders and firefighters. With deer hunting and Thanksgiving this month, finding a date is difficult but hope to before the next round of Holidays.
Thanks again for all the support of prayers, thoughts, good vibes, financial gifts and our amazing local community of various items. We are at a loss of words and deeply touched.
Hard to believe it has been a month since the fire on October 10th. The days have blended together somewhat. Change is evident though as we are seeing colder nights resulting in frosty mornings and frozen ponds and lingering flakes of snow. There also has been plenty of wind, bringing down some deadfall but we were able to sneak in a few more fall grooming sessions before potential snow forecasted the next few days. Trails are in good shape going into winter and ready for snow!
We continue to process deposit refunds and thank everyone with their patience as we manage this task. With our computers being lost in the fire, we had to restore backups from external sources (thankfully we had our reservation system backed up) and are close to being up and running with our reservation program. Deposit refunds, if requested, will be processed as quickly as possible as time and space allows. (Full update on deposits and reservations on the October 24th update)
