Not much new to report, other than that you should have been up here this week! We’ve had the kind of weather that Minnesotans always imagine when we think of an idyllic winter.  Glistening snow, bright sun, blue skies, warm winter temps, and almost no wind.

For the past week, we’ve mostly just been doing occasional touch-up grooming.  We’ve been surrounded by extremely happy guests, as conditions have been nearly perfect. (Oh, OK, everyone is griping that they need to strip down to a minimal number of ski clothing layers  because of the warm sun — this is a good complaint to have!)

It snowed on and off all day Tuesday.  New snow amounted to less than an inch in most places, although (as usual) Bear Cub Trail seemed to have more.  Groomers were out last night and early this morning on both sides of the trail system.  Tracks set up nicely and the skate base is very firm.  Temps cooled off a bit last night, but the long range forecast is for typical late February highs and lows

The Gunflint Trail’s Winter Tracks Festival is being held this weekend, offering fun activities all along the trail.   The Bearskin Wilderness Pursuit Race, which was part of Winter Tracks, has been cancelled.  There were no registrations as of last weekend, probably due to date conflicts with the Birkie race.  At this point, we didn’t think it would be fair to let participants register now, only to discover when they arrived that nobody really signed up to race — so we officially cancelled it.   We plan to hold a race next year again and will be sure the date doesn’t coincide with the Birkie event.

Warning! Bear Cub ahead.

Skiers are having a fantastic time skiing our trails right now.  Several skiers reported that today was one of the best ski days ever–sunny skies, pleasant temps, and newly groomed trails. 

We get many calls  lately asking if we actually have snow.  A large percentage of them are from people staying along the North Shore, who are dismayed to find that the snow conditions are not what they had hoped for.  When we received all the snow last week, many other areas received rain.  Our snow was dense, wet, and heavy.  It caused thousands of trees to bend and break along the trails.  Bearskin Lodge and Golden Eagle Lodge employees are still stiff and sore from the many days of trail clearing that followed this heavy snow.  The clean up job was huge; not every trail system is finished yet. 

Our trail system groomed up surprisingly well, especially given the difficulty of grooming that particular snow.  Most of the trails have been groomed one to two times since the snowfall.  

There’ve been scattered reports of a few soft areas or ruts in the heavy snow on the sunny, exposed hilltops but overall, skiers are saying  the trails have been fabulous.  Today was one of the busier days we’ve seen on the trails. Skiers were very pleased with conditions. 

We are expecting some snow in the next few days, although nothing like the snowsfall that pummeled the East coast.  At this point we don’t need lots more snow, but we’ll happily make the most of it. 

Kathy Welsh and Mary Anne Warner under the new Poplar Creek Arch. Photo by Ron Warner.