As expected, groomers at both Bearskin and Golden Eagle headed out on the trails early this morning.  We received about 4-5 inches of snow over the past two days, which gave the trails a winter wonderland look — it is exceptionally beautiful here right now.

Most of the trails groomed up pretty well, especially considering the warm, wet conditions earlier this week.  Edges are still a bit soft in places.  There are a  few areas on the trails where the pisten bully had some trouble in the collapsing, wet snow.  Some spots on lake trails, such as on Aspen, developed slush again.  The hill down to Aspen, which is often the source of  “how I got stuck” grooming stories, yielded another “stuck” story today, so there’s a spot on the hill that will need to be redone.  Bear Cub Trail was not possible to groom today with either the pisten bully or the G2.  But overall, the trails are remarkably good again.  The spectacular white, snowy trees right now more than make up for the few soft spots on the trails.

It is supposed to get colder tonight, and it continued to snow on and off all day today.  We expect to go over a lot of areas again with the groomer on Saturday.  Bob plans to get up on Bear Cub early in the morning, hoping to find that the snow has hardened up a bit so the pisten bully can maneuver on the hills.  It should be a great weekend for skiing on the Central Gunflint Trail.

Snow depth of packed base on a trail -- still at 11 - 12"