As most Minnesotans heard on the news and internet, the North Shore experienced a heavy-duty snowstorm this week. The biggest factor in this storm wasn’t truly the amount of snow (although there was plenty!), but it was the high winds. Not one flake of snow stayed where it originally landed. It was brutal if you had to be outside in the weather, but also fascinating to see how the snow piled up in unusual places. Bob found immense drifts clearly created by winds coming from the east, the south, and the north — whatever that indicates.

Even though it was still snowing heavily on Thursday, the clean-up had to begin. It was one of “those” days. Lately we’ve been re-reading 15-year-old blog and Facebook posts in preparation for the eventual Bearskin book; a constant theme in those old posts was the daily “Man vs Machine” struggle of keeping ancient garbage equipment running. We’re so pleased that we don’t have old clinker machinery anymore these days, but you wouldn’t have known it by the way things went on Thursday. A cylinder went out on the plow truck, the back-up plow truck got stuck and the tow-strap broke when staff tried to pull it out. The Pisten Bully had an error code indicating a low fluid, so Quinn showed up at the door of NAPA the moment they opened — but the low fluid was (of course) because a part broke. So Quinn ordered a new part and meanwhile tried a magic repair that maybe worked. And on and on and on. It was just one of those days. Winter storms always put extra pressure on everything, people and equipment. It’s a reminder that the opportunity to enjoy this wilderness ski paradise is entirely made possible by hard work and functional big machines!

The ski trails all have huge drifts, so grooming has been a slow process. The first round of grooming on trails left good tracks but a fairly soft skate deck. It typically takes a few passes to firm it up again after so much fresh snow. We’ll keep at it each day.

Skiing should be fabulous for the weekend. We will have soup and chili available in the lodge for lunches, as well as hot chocolate and cider, cookies, wine, beer, and treats.

The upcoming weather forecast for the week does not, thankfully, include much more snow. Temperatures will be relatively mild so that you can get out to enjoy the bounty of our fresh snow.

For those of you who are hoping to catch the northern lights, the coming week has slight possibilities on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 25. Of course, the aurora is dependent on magnetic storms on the sun’s surface so there’s always a chance of surprise northern lights. We try to post on Facebook whenever we hear local reports of visible lights.

Do you still wish you had a ski trip planned for this winter? Our February was the most jam-packed that it’s ever been but March, on the other hand, still has openings. There’s nothing about this winter that looks like an “early spring” winter, so March should be a fairly safe bet this year. You can check for availability here or call (218)388-2292 or e-mail stay@bearskin.com. And hey, you can use the same link to check for openings in winter 2027. Almost everyone is rebooking for February 2027, but January 2027 still has options. Booking now only requires a $50 deposit, and it guarantees that you will have a spot.

See you on the trails.

We’re in a warm streak for a few days up here, but it’s nothing like the warm temps that the Twin Cities is experiencing. Our trails are good. We expect some freeze/thaw cycles over the next few days, so it’s wise to time your skiing for mid-morning. Expect some variable snow speed between shady spots and sunny sections. We’ll till and break up the ice if the trails get too icy.

We are headed back into more typical February temperatures during this coming week. We also have some snow in the forecast, perfect for offsetting any iciness from this weekend’s warmer temperatures,

If Northern Lights are one of your passions, then you’ll love this coming aurora forecast. The rest of February looks fairly promising. This should be fun. Bring your camera and tripod.

We’re serving soup and chili in the Main Lodge every afternoon. We also have hot chocolate, hot apple cider, wine, beer, cookies and treats. Stop in to warm up and dry off. We’ll see you on the Trails.

Kudos to all of our guests who survived our past week of brutally cold weather with subzero highs. We are always impressed at the way groups still manage to have a great time at Bearskin in spite of the temperatures. After a week like that we are always pleasantly surprised when everyone rebooks for next year — you folks know how to have fun in every temperature!

It’s warming up again, hurray! We’re headed for enjoyable winter temperatures again for the coming weekend. Warm enough to love being out there, not so warm that it messes with our great snow. Winter like it ought to be.

The trails continue to be in excellent condition. It’s that time of winter when not much happens that changes the conditions, other than more snow. Both Bearskin and Golden Eagle have been grooming regularly to keep the trails fresh. Slightly warmer weather and ample snow should create ideal ski conditions in the week to come. Our pine trees continue to have the beautiful snowy icing on the branches that makes this winter particularly photogenic.

We’ve had a run of fairly fantastic northern lights forecasts in January, but the aurora potential has slowed down a bit now. If you’ll be here in the next week we do have possibilities for lights on Wednesday and Thursday next week. Of course, the conditions on the sun that create our northern lights can change suddenly, so on a clear night there’s always a surprise chance for a little aurora action. Bring your camera.

The Main Lodge will be serving soup, chili, hot chocolate and apple cider, as well as beer and wine this weekend, so stop in to the lodge to warm up. See you on the ski trails!

Our one inch of predicted snow Thursday night turned into 4” or even 5” in a few places. Pleasant surprise! We received another inch or so on Saturday. The groomers have done the system twice in two days, so the trails are in great condition.

Our forecast for the week ahead includes a few warm days, a one-day cold snap, and then fairly mild winter temperatures with continuing snow. We don’t have any openings for next weekend in either the regular cabins or the ski-in cabins, but we do have limited availability both before and after the weekend. Our winter dates from here on are heavily booked for January and February, but consider looking at March. March always fills a little later because people like to see how winter plays out, but it’s filling up now. Come up and join us on the ski trails!

What a winter! Thank you to everyone who made this one of Bearskin’s busiest winters ever. We didn’t admit it, but we were worried when the winter of 2023-24 had little snow and ended abruptly early. We made the best of that time, but we didn’t want it to be our future. Luckily, this winter has been awesome and we are going out on a high note. This last weekend in March was wildly busy, with everyone trying to get one last ski day in before the season ends.

After our last guests check out Monday, Bearskin will close for April. We have SO MUCH cleaning and repairing to do before summer season starts. Thank you all for being here to make memories. It was a fun ski season, and we will do it all again next year! (We are almost full for next winter, 2025-2026, but March — which has proven itself again — has quite a bit of availability. Plus there are still a few scattered January and February, 2025, openings to grab.)

The 15 inches of new snow that we are getting on April 2 will probably wipe out what remains of the grooming for this season. Season pass holders are welcome to continue to ski, whatever the trail conditions, but expect back-country conditions and a closed Main Lodge. Will we groom again this April? Officially, the grooming season has now concluded. (Have we groomed again after we’ve closed in the past? Yes, it’s happened. If you see a groomed trail and you are a season pass-holder with a signed waiver on file, feel free to ski on it.)

Quick grooming update, no pictures. Skiing is still good. Bob groomed the main trails on our south side of the system this morning and thought the results were great. We are about to get hit with snow/sleet/ mystery weather this afternoon, although much of the predicted snow moved north of us. Pretty decent skiing for the last open weekend of the year!

The fresh snow groomed up beautifully.