Road into Bearskin Lodge cabins this morning.

The phone is ringing every 20 minutes with skiers inquiring about what this February thaw has done to our trail system.  The predicted ice storm in the Arrowhead turned out to actually be something more akin to ongoing rain since Monday.  We saw temps pushing 40 degrees, creating a slushy, collapsing mush on the ski trails. 

Luckily, we’ve had a great deal of snow this year.  We’ve lost a few inches of base, but there’s still plenty more.  We received about 2 inches of snow overnight, which has made conditions much less slippery.  However, it is still above freezing here.  Bearskin and Golden Eagle agreed this morning that grooming equipment can’t go out yet until the temperature goes down.

The surprising news is that today the trails are somewhat skiable again.  Bob went out on Beaver Dam this morning and said the tracks were visible with an inch of fresh soft snow — on waxless skis it was just fine. (Waxing correctly, he thought, would be quite a challenge right now.)   After the rain, the trails are probably too soft for skating at this point.

The groomers are guessing that they will be able to go out tomorrow morning.  They fully expect to be able to renovate the trails for the long weekend, as there is a still a great base of snow.  Additional snow is also in the forecast. 

Every cross country ski resort in the Arrowhead region is dealing with the same problem now — we all just need a little weather cooperation.  It’s a rare winter when we’re hoping it gets colder, but right now a 5 – 10 degree temperature drop would be greatly appreciated.