A crisp and cool January morning. Feels great out there after the mild winter so far. A dusting of snow yesterday afternoon was worked in on portions of the trails with the classic tracks left alone. Skiing is the “slowest” it has been all season with the fine grained snow and cold temps. A nice change of pace after the faster conditions. We will reset and set new tracks on the classic trails Friday morning and comb the skating lanes.

The base is hard with a few thin and  bare spots but some good sections throughout the trail system and good skiing to be had with careful skiing. We have tracks set throughout the trail system on the classic trails and best skating has been on skaters waltz with North Loup also open for skating with a few more rough spots.All 64km are open and like we say, a few areas rough that either require skis being taken off careful navigation.  Generally the reports have been fair to good and please feel free to share a report. Folks also snowshoeing on the snow shoe trail and also hiking on the trail with the hardpack conditions. The ice skating rink is in good condition and we have been flooding each day with the awesome cold temps.

Despite the low snow conditions, a nice MLK weekend with the North Star Ski touring club, ski teams from Mound/Westonka and Benilde St Margaret and long time Maplelag guests. Thanks to everyone for your visit.

Photos below from today and the weekend, more photos on our Facebook page. (yes, this is the current snow we have)

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January19thTrailReportPhotos02

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January15thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January13thTrailReportPhotos03

As of 2pm Wednesday afternoon, around an inch of fresh snow has fallen. A little bit of light snow continues to fall as we will be packing this new snow out on the skate trails and trailhead areas before the wind and cooler temps move in. This new snow will improve the skiing and fill in nicely where existing tracks are set and we should be able to reset tracks in select places on other trails, most likely Friday morning.

Cooler temps moving in the start of the week with single digit highs and below 0 for lows. Nice January weather!  The woods are protected and  fine once you get moving.  Looks like a few chances of snow the next 5-7 days and we are ready to groom any new snow and improve the conditions. With the solid base that we have, it won’t take much to have really nice skiing. The base is hard with thin and a few bare spots but some good sections throughout the trail system and good skiing to be had with careful skiing. We have tracks set throughout the trail system on the classic trails and best skating has been on skaters waltz with North Loup also open for skating with a few more rough spots. Generally the reports have been fair to good and please feel free to share a report. Folks also snowshoeing on the snow shoe trail and also hiking on the trail with the hardpack conditions.

Despite the low snow conditions, a nice MLK weekend with the North Star Ski touring club, ski teams from Mound/Westonka and Benilde St Margaret and long time Maplelag guests. Thanks to everyone for your visit.

Photos below from the weekend, more photos on our Facebook page. (yes, this is the current snow we have)

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January15thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January13thTrailReportPhotos03

A nice weekend for the Martin Luther King Holiday. Temps near freezing Saturday with sunshine but the snow hanging on strong and good reports from the trails despite the low snow conditions.

A gorgeous January day on Friday to start out the long Martin Luther King weekend. A dusting of snow the past 24 hours groomed in about 35km of trail with new tracks set on about 25km of trail The coverage on the trails is mostly good with a icy/crusty base and areas of thin cover and a few bare spots. The best skiing for skating is on Skaters Waltz and track skiing best on Sukkerbusk, Rootin Tootin, Mother Hen and Twin lakes. There are also good sections of tracks on other trails with thin spots in between. With some creative skiing, positive attitude, there is some great skiing on tap! All other trails packed with this dusting of snow on top. Older or rock skis best to use.

A beautiful day for the Detroit Lakes invitational ski meet on Tuesday. Teams from Little Falls, Brainerd, Trek North, Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Deer River and Bemidji competed in the first meet in Minnesota held on natural snow this season! The course included skaters waltz and also Suicide Hill. It was a skate race. The Jr high skiers competed on the lake over a 3.5km loop. The races were early enough in the day the snow was still frozen and fast but breaking down to a silky feel making for nice skiing. We closed the trails just after noon to preserve the snow and thanks to the 100’s of skiers that observed this. Skiing on the lake was great and provided training for teams that skied in to the afternoon. Click here for a video recapping the races.

We are enjoying the snow we do have and doing everything possible to make for better conditions. All the trails are open but caution must be used on downhills and areas where it is rough and be aware of bare spots on certain trails.

To preserve the snow, we ask that people do not hike on the trails.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January15thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January13thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January10thTrailReportPhotos

Quite a change in the weather today with temps falling to the single digits by late afternoon and winds from the nw making it feel even cooler! A welcome change after mild temps the past few days.  A dusting of snow to wave the flag about that filled in nicely in the tracks where present. The new snow was groomed in on Skaters Waltz and Suicide Hill. Rootin Tootin was also groomed with tracks set where snow depth was deeper. A track was also set on the side of Suicide Hill. The coverage on the trails is mostly good with a icy/crusty base and areas of thin cover and a few bare spots. The best skiing for skating is on Skaters Waltz and track skiing best on Sukkerbusk and sections of Twin lakes. All other trails packed with this dusting of snow on top. Older or rock skis best to use.

A beautiful day for the Detroit Lakes invitational ski meet on Tuesday. Teams from Little Falls, Brainerd, Trek North, Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Deer River and Bemidji competed in the first meet in Minnesota held on natural snow this season! The course included skaters waltz and also Suicide Hill. It was a skate race. The Jr high skiers competed on the lake over a 3.5km loop. The races were early enough in the day the snow was still frozen and fast but breaking down to a silky feel making for nice skiing. We closed the trails just after noon to preserve the snow and thanks to the 100’s of skiers that observed this. Skiing on the lake was great and provided training for teams that skied in to the afternoon. Click here for a video recapping the races.

We are enjoying the snow we do have and doing everything possible to make for better conditions. All the trails are open but caution must be used on downhills and areas where it is rough and be aware of bare spots on certain trails.

To preserve the snow, we ask that people do not hike on the trails.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January11thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January10thTrailReportPhotos

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January9thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January8thTrailReportPhotos03

A beautiful day for the Detroit Lakes invitational ski meet. Teams from Little Falls, Brainerd, Trek North, Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Deer River and Bemidji competed in the first meet in Minnesota held on natural snow this season! The course included skaters waltz and also Suicide Hill. It was a skate race. The Jr high skiers competed on the lake over a 3.5km loop. The races were early enough in the day the snow was still frozen and fast but breaking down to a silky feel making for nice skiing. We closed the trails just after noon to preserve the snow and thanks to the 100’s of skiers that observed this. Skiing on the lake was great and provided training for teams that skied in to the afternoon. A check of the trails mid afternoon found the coverage hanging on just fine.

The  best trails for  classic skiing are Twin Lakes, Sukkerbusk with Sap Run and Mother Hen but icy with a few more bare spots after today’s warmth. If we get an inch or two the next few days, conditions should improve and we are ready to groom when appropriate.

We are enjoying the snow we do have and doing everything possible to make for better conditions. All the trails are open but caution must be used on downhills and areas where it is rough and be aware of bare spots on certain trails.

To preserve the snow, we ask that people do not hike on the trails.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January10thTrailReportPhotos

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January9thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January8thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January7thTrailReportPhotos02

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January6thTrailReportPhotos03

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/January5thTrailReportPhotos02