Category Archives: News

Items for the News Archive — usually front page items go here, especially once no longer on front page

Blog, News

Fire Update December 15th Entry

It has been two months since a fire broke out in the main lodge at Maplelag, resulting in a complete loss of the building. It continues to be hard to believe as we adjust to the major change in our lives. Our thoughts and prayers go out to our staff and all those that grieve with us. This weekend would of been our opening weekend with our first ski camps. It is a big adjustment for our staff not to be servicing all our wonderful guests and we are keeping you in extra thought and prayer as well as our guests that are not able to come. Thank you for continued support of love, prayers, donations and contributions in so many ways. The act of giving during this Christmas time is putting us at loss of words and we are so grateful for the continued outpouring of support.

“Paris” building at the French Village.

Last week, Jay and Jonell took a trip to Bemidji, MN. to visit the Concordia Language Villages (CLV) permanent language learning sites or “villages”.

Norwegian log cabin Jay lived in the summer he was a head cook at Norwegian camp. Jonell might of visited once or twice.

CLV is recognized as one of the top language immersion programs in the country, with a mission of being “builders of globally minded communities and guides to world fluency”. We highly encourage parents of children to consider attending a summer camp. Each village gives a sense of the representing country. Maplelag has a long lasting relationship with CLV going back to the late 70’s when Jim and Mary visited with directors about building a lodge to host languages camps. These conversations would come to fruition and a big reason the first lodge, that was lost to a fire in 1999, came to be in the late 70’s.

French kitchen. Thanks Francois for the fresh bread!

Since the late 70’s, Maplelag has hosted many different “villages” including Russian, Swedish, French, Finnish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and most recently, Chinese. The Maplelag family, have not only attended villages but Jay and Mary were head cooks at numerous sites including Swedish, Russian, Norwegian, Chinese and Japanese. With these experiences and the hundreds, if not thousands of relationships forged, you can see how the Concordia Language Villages has been a huge part of our lives and we would not be where we are today without them. Their operations are very similar to Maplelag and we’ve had many conversations with them on how to deal with critters, septic tank, food service industry etc.

Thanks Warren and Pat for sharing plans and knowledge!

The trip to Bemidji saw us visiting all the villages, focusing on the main buildings that serve as dining rooms and looking at all the kitchens including the older facilities and the most recent ones. We want to thank Warren for taking the time showing us each facility as well as Patrick sharing his information.

Finnish main lodge.

Our thought process at the moment, if we are to rebuild, would be keeping CLV in mind, just like the first lodge was built, to continue the special partnership moving forward or into the future.

Russian main lodge.

Last week we also hosted our first Nordic Ski Meet of the year and possibly the first one on natural snow in the country! It was so good to see familiar faces and have the trails buzzing with the energy of the kids. It really was a magical day with fresh snow falling in the morning leading to sunshine in the afternoon. The growth in high school Nordic skiing is very encouraging with even more teams being added including Wadena/Deer Creek. Thanks Terry for the opportunity to work with the kids. We are always willing to volunteer our time to help out any youth, as time allows. Please reach out in advance. We are looking forward to hosting our next meet on January 3rd for JV and Jr High skiers, the long running DL Invite mid January and the Sectional meets in early February.

Girls Varsity, early season ski meet December 6th, 2022.

Finally we want to give a special shoutout to Krolls Zuckerwald and John and Susan for making a special delivery of multiple cases of their pure maple syrup. Maplelag serves pure maple syrup with many entrees but among the most loved was the Norwegian Pancakes. We have a few pints for sale if anyone is not able to find this delicacy in local markets.

News

December 4th Update

We welcomed the return of cooler weather and a couple fresh dustings of snow this past after a mild Thanksgiving weekend. The new snow and subsequent grooming made for nice skiing and fat biking this past weekend. As always, great to see everyone out skiing and riding and thanks again for the trail pass purchases. The snow has been a bright spot after the fire on October 10th.

Striding under the brilliant sunshine, December 4th, 2022.
Fat biking on “Global Fat Bike Day”, December 3rd, 2022. We have 25km of trail groomed/packed open for riding. Thanks to all the riders who were out this weekend helping pack in the dusting on top of the most recent grooming.
New Yellowstone groomer and tracksetter in action on Sap Run, December 3rd, 2022.

Late last spring we purchased a 5 foot Yellowstone Track groomer, replacing one we sold during the COVID recovery years. This groomer is especially nice for early season grooming, in particular track setting, and trail passes help fund this purchase. Thank you.

With the good early season conditions, we have made the decision to host a high school meet this coming Tuesday, December 6th. We always enjoy the energy and enthusiasm of the meets and appreciate the commitment of the coaches and support staff to make teams “glide”. Nordic skiing is such a complex sport from waxing, weather, equipment and two different techniques. We are fortunate to be able to host a meet so early, especially considering a classic course will be set! Please note to any spectators, we ask everyone to stay clear of the lodge site for everyone’s safety. Thank you. We will be hosting a few more meets this season concluding with the Section 8 Nordic Ski Championships early February. More information on the meets will be posted as it comes available.

Members of the Moorhead Nordic Ski team out for a training session over Thanksgiving weekend, November 27th, 2022.

On a family related news, Jim and Mary were able to visit their new great grandson Casper who was born on November 20th to their grandson Marco and his wife Rachel who live in International Falls. This is Jim and Mary’s second great grandchild with grandson Jake having a girl Eira on March 14th 2022 with his wife Anna whom live in Duluth.

Jim and Mary with their new great grandson Casper.

We’ve had people inquiry if the trails will be open over the Holidays. Yes, we will be open every day for day skiing every day there is skiable snow until the Spring. The Brant cabin remains open for day users to use restrooms, have a BYOL etc. Its been nice seeing some of our long time guests use this service. We have talked about the possibility of opening up some of the cabins later this winter (mid January to mid February) for lodging only, no meal service, and will post in future updates when we make a decision.

Long time guests Paul and Judy on the trails Thanksgiving weekend.

Last week Bruce and Bjorn Adelsman of skinnyski.com was here to resurrect a new “grounds” cam that was fastened to the lodge that was lost in the fire. Obviously it is not in the same location but does give a nice view of the existing cabins and a great view of the trails including action on race meets. Click here to view the Maplelag public webcams We gave a shout out to Bruce in a previous report and thank him again for making a special trip to help dial in our computer network in our new office location on site.

Bruce and Bjorn Adelsman resurrecting the “grounds cam”.

Lastly and far from least, we want to thank everyone again for all the emails, messages, letters of support and encouragement and donations whether on GoFundMe, trail passes or other means. We are extremely grateful for the acts of kindness and all the prayers.

Lodge clean up has going been slow as far as removal due to the Goat Ranch rd being snow and ice covered making it not possible for certain equipment to come in. However, Jason Adams and crew have done an great job sorting through the rubble and separating material to eventually be hauled away while saving lumber, timbers and other items not burned such as signs, collectibles etc.

Recently we had a conversation with a friend that went through some rough times and suggested we read the A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. This book has been very helpful to us and recommend to anyone that is recovering from the pain of loss.

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.

Maplelag, News

Maplelag Fire Update November 9th

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.