All posts by Jay Richards

Reports, Ski Trail

Trail Report

Dry weather and relatively warm temps drying out the trails nicely. We are able to get in the woods now and do light trail work. We also checked out portions of the mountain bike course today and now have them open for riding. Click here for latest mountain bike trail report and information on mountain biking at Maplelag. The woods are active with many species of waterfowl enjoying the open water on sloughs and ponds. The bigger lakes still frozen over with almost 2 feet of ice on Little Sugarbush still.

Thanks to everyone who came to Maplelag this season and patronized the trails. Despite the low snow year, we had fair to excellent skiing from November 13th-Decmeber 13th, melted out than skiing again from January 1st until March 10th. Counting the skiable days in November and December, we had a total of 100 days we skied this year. This does not include the days we skied on the lake which would of put the total at 108 days. Total number of skier visits were right around 10,000. Total snowfall this season was 25″. We started out with 8″ of snowfall in November and December before that melted out the December 14th-15th weekend than 17″ between January 1st and March 7th, the last day it snowed. We groomed over 75 times this year, with Suicide Hill, Skaters Waltz, Sukkerbusk and Twin Lakes seeing the most grooming action. For the record, we also hauled over 50 pick up loads of snow from the lake and surrounding fields etc, to build up the base mainly on skaters waltz and the start area.

We spend just as many hours if not more on the trails outside the winter season to be prepared for low snow years such as this one to be able to open the trails on as little as 3″ of dense snow. We thrive on grooming and having the trails open on as little snow as possible and prepare the trails in the off season with this mindset. As soon as the frost goes out, we will begin working on the trails for next season! Also on the agenda is tree planting with over 3000 trees on order to be planted in late April and the finishing and building of new mountain bike trail. Check back frequently for spring photos and new trail work photos.

https://plus.google.com/photos/117475008862763984699/albums/6125832123268347089

 

 

Pair of trumpeter swans on Little Sugarbush lake, March 12th, 2015.
Pair of trumpeter swans on Little Sugarbush lake, March 12th, 2015.

 

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/117475008862763984699/albums/6125056325739012241

Ski Trail

Trail Report

Big time melting this week and the snow is going fast! Boo! Despite the rapid warm off, we were able to ski all the way around North Loup late Wednesday morning. The coverage was good and a great spring ski hitting the transition time. Some thin areas but for the most part, good coverage.

Staying warm during the night and snow on the trails disappearing. Skiing is pretty much done for the year, just some protected areas for back and forth skiing for the diehards.

Froze down hard Tuesday night allowing for the last grooming run of the year on Suicide Hill, combing out the good coverage there. With warm temps forecasted through the week, the days are numbered.

A ski late morning on Tuesday found good coverage on Twin Lakes and Sukkerbusk, few more thin areas opening up from intense March sun but melting fast. We went from mid winter to spring conditions just like that! Typical for this time of year and a bit unusual to have no days above freezing in March until Sunday. The beginning of March was fantastic skiing, some of the best of the year. This past weekend was as good as it gets! Nice to see all the folks out and the large group of snowshoers as well.

Spring skiing typically finds hard, fast icy conditions in the morning getting softer as the day passes. “Sweet spot” skiing is the point where it transitions from hard to soft and is usually the best time for spring skiing. This also happens in the late afternoon when it cools down again, typically around sunset.For those familiar with spring skiing, it can be some of the best skiing of the year with the right timing.

March 11th Trail Report Photos