A gorgeous day in the woods. We woke up to a fresh coating of snow and bright sunshine before giving way to cloudy skies. A few sections of trail were packed out including Suicide Hill. A couple folks out skiing but  we need 3-4″ of good snow to officially open the trails for skiing and provide safe conditions. Twin Lakes has the best consistent  coverage along with sections of Skaters Waltz and the skinny field which we have been skiing on for own personal enjoyment! The work we do in the summer and fall on the trails is evident with ribbons of white visible through the woods. It doesn’t take much to have skiable conditions but we just can’t get the white to fly this year!

The trails are open for hiking and trail running until we get more snow and currently the twin lakes mountain bike singletrack is open for hiking and mountain biking. Mountain biking was a bit tricky with the fresh snow on the singletrack but a few folks giving it a try.

Ice skating is fair to good on the lake and we are working on the ice skating rink on land, and hope to have ready in a few days but still skating on the lake in the mean time.

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https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/December22ndTrailReportPhoto

A beautiful day in the woods on the trails….missing snow!  There is a dusting of snow on the trails with some areas thicker coverage than others. We need 3-4″ of good snow to officially open the trails for skiing. Twin Lakes has the best consistent  coverage along with sections of Skaters Waltz and the skinny field which we have been skiing on for own personal enjoyment! The work we do in the summer and fall on the trails is evident with ribbons of white visible through the woods. It doesn’t take much to have skiable conditions but we just can’t get the white to fly this year!

The trails are open for hiking and trail running until we get more snow and currently the twin lakes mountain bike singletrack is open for hiking and mountain biking.

Ice skating is fair to good on the lake and we are working on the ice skating rink on land, and hope to have ready in a few days but still skating on the lake in the mean time.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/December22ndTrailReportPhotos03

Cooler temps moving back in, keeping the snow we have in place. There is a dusting of snow on the trails with some areas thicker coverage than others. We need 3-4″ of good snow to officially open the trails for skiing.

The trails are open for hiking and trail running until we get more snow and currently the twin lakes mountain bike singletrack is open for hiking and mountain biking.

Ice skating is fair to good on the lake and we are working on the ice skating rink on land, waiting for colder temps to complete the final touches.

Even with minimal snow coverage on the trails, a beautiful weekend on the lake, in the woods and on the trails. Members of the St Paul Highland Park ski team, at Maplelag for the weekend for a training camp, had a busy weekend mixing up the activities. Saturday morning started out with a double pole race on the lake, hill and technique work on Suicide Hill and trail running on the mountain bike singletrack in the afternoon. Sunday morning cross training activities included a scavenger hunt.

Click here for video of Saturday skiing.

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https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/December16thSkiingOnTheLakePhotos

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/LakeSkatingPhotosDecember15th

Beautiful day in the woods, just missing a few more inches of snow! We do have a dusting of snow on the trails with some areas holding better coverage than others. Suicide hill was packed out today to hopefully provide some skiing on Saturday.

The St Paul Highland Park ski team is here for the weekend for a training camp. Skiing on the lake, playing ultimate frisbee, singletrack trail running  all part of the weekend activities…plus eating, cookies and hot tub!

The lake is fair to good for ice skating and we have starting working on the ice rink on land in effort to have skating avail early next week.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/December16thSkiingOnTheLakePhotos

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/December15thTraiReportPhotos

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/LakeSkatingPhotosDecember15th

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The storm moving through the northern plains has provided misty, damp conditions. We have not received any new snow since the snow we received in November which is still evident here and there on the trail system. The trails are in great shape and won’t take much to have skiable conditions. The northeast facing sections of trail still holding sections of snow cover and just a few inches will be able to get these trails open. It has been a record dry fall and we are ready for it to change and start snowing!! Think Snow!! Above freezing temps overnight has melted off most of the snow on the lake, unfortunately, and not possible to ski on the lake now. Once it re freezes should be improved ice skating. We are waiting for next cold front to begin making ice in the ice skating rink.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117475008862763984699/December14thTrailReportPhotos03