Here’s a quintessential winter photo from our webcam Thursday, a shot of two campers heading out for a weekend of winter camping.  We’d like to claim we just noticed the moment, but actually NOAA  (the weather service) in Duluth called our attention to it — yes, apparently they get their weather forecasts by watching the Bearskin Lodge webcam.  🙂

NOAA says that Friday and Sunday are going to be perfect ski days. Saturday could get a tad warm, so plan to ski early and maybe spend your afternoon snowshoeing, or perhaps relaxing with a glass of wine or cup of hot cocoa by the fireplace.  Last weekend we also experienced some warm temps, but they were accompanied by wet snow and even a little rain.  There’s nothing like that in this weekend’s forecast, so that’s good news.

The warmth and moisture from last Saturday had a negligible effect on our snow. Good grooming during the past week, plus another 4.5 inches of fresh snow, left the trails in great shape. So far this season we’ve had almost 75 inches of snow, with 20 new inches just in February. Rumor has it that the rest of you around the state don’t have much snow, but that’s not going to be our memory of the winter of 2016.

All trails in the system are freshly groomed. For the most up-to-date grooming information, as well as specific trail conditions, please contact Golden Eagle Lodge (1-800-346-2203) or Bearskin Lodge (1-800-338-4170).

What you do with your time when it’s 34 degrees and too wet to have any fun skiing.

Yes, the past weekend was not fabulous for the snow conditions.  But no, here’s good news, there aren’t any residual problems on the trails.

The temps rose into the mid-30’s on Friday and Saturday.  We had a constant downpour of wet, soggy snow, and even small bursts of rain, although nothing like the quantities of sleet and rain they were receiving along the North Shore. On Saturday night, after the temps started dropping, guests reported icy trails for night-time skiing.

This morning all of those problems disappeared.  Good grooming in somewhat colder temperatures erased all the problems left after the wet weekend. Skiers report excellent conditions again today.  Perhaps we lost a little snow over the last two days, but  we are happy to see some snow go!  At this point we have more snow than we know what to do with, so it’s going to take a lot more than two 34 degree days to affect our ski trails.

Here are the latest snow totals, as measured by Golden Eagle:

Snow Totals

November Total 2015 – 7.25 inches 

December 2015

• Dec 1 – Dec 6:  2.55 inches
• Dec 7 – Dec 13:  2.53 inches
• Dec 14 – Dec 20: 18.0 inches
• Dec 21 – Dec 27:  7.62 inches
• Dec 28 – Dec 31:  1.25 inches
• December Total 2015 – 31.95 inches

January 2016

• Jan 1 – Jan 3:  0.5 inches
• Jan 4 – Jan 10:  2.5 inches
• Jan 11 – Jan 17:  4.25 inches
• Jan 18 – Jan 24:  0.75 inches
• Jan 25 – Jan 31:  8.2 inches
• January Total 2016 – 16.20 inches 

February 2016

• Feb 1 – Feb 7:  9.80 inches
• Feb 8 – Feb 14:  1.63 inches
•  Feb 15:  2.0 inches
•  Feb 18:  0.25 inches
• February Total 2016 – 13.68 inches 

Total Snowfall 2015-2016 – 69.08 inches

The trails are beautiful right now.  Skiers are thrilled with the conditions.  We still get almost daily calls asking if we have enough snow.  We’ve actually reached the point where we are running out of places to put more snow, so “enough” snow is not our issue. We are very fortunate to once again have some of the best snow in the state.

Conditions for the next few days are forecast to be a bit unsettled.  Maybe we will get snow, maybe rain, maybe a mix — we will soon see.  Whatever happens, both Bearskin and Golden Eagle will be out grooming before the weekend.  We have the equipment to cope with any of these weather situations so we can create great skiing for you on the trails.

If you are driving up for the weekend, give yourself lots of time if the weather is inclement and don’t worry if you will be coming in late.  Call us and we will make arrangements for your late arrival, no matter what time you show up.  We would rather have you arrive safely, even if that means slowly!

We’ve been in one of those endless cycles, where all it does every day is snow. Groomers have been out almost daily, going over trails they just did the day before. We’ve had a couple days of sunny, high pressure now, resulting in the first two days in a long time when we didn’t get more snow. It was a nice reprieve from the perpetual grooming cycle.

What we did have today was wind, so no doubt there will need to be more grooming on Saturday morning.

The weekend looks like it will be sunny but chilly, followed by very warm weather in the coming week.  What a roller coaster of temperatures!

Bearskin will be serving soup and chili in the Main Lodge all weekend, as well as hot chocolate, wine by the glass or bottle, and Minnesota beers.  Warm up in front of our Lodge fireplace and enjoy any or all of these Bearskin treats.

Local day skiers, please note:  we hope you will enjoy a great ski experience this weekend on the Central Gunflint Trails.  We have the best trail conditions in the area right now with outstanding grooming, so you’ll have a fabulous ski day.  We do encourage you to arrive early, as our parking lot on this 3-day weekend often fills up crazily before noon.

We also respectfully request that if you plan to to have a meal during your ski experience that you patronize our restaurant over the holiday weekend rather than spread out for a picnic in the lodge. We usually turn a blind eye to lodge “picnickers,”  but over the busy holiday, when we are very full with guests and dozens of day skiers, picnickers in large sections of the lodge are tough on us. Our lodge is a restaurant area, where lunch and beverages are served at a very reasonable price. We encourage you to eat here, or else please use a very minimal amount of space for your “picnic” over a short period of time, and then move your items out of the way. We do get day skiing picnickers who spread out all over the lodge for the day, with children, toys, non-skiing family members, lunch bags, and multiple picnic baskets. Much as we like to be gracious, it makes it very hard to serve our guests and customers, especially on such a busy weekend. Thanks!

Current snow totals as of 2/11/2016:

• New Snow Last 24 hours:  0.0”
• New Snow Last 7 days:  9 1/8”
• Trail Base, Staked:  Average 12 – 16 inches
• Snow in Woods, Staked:  Low 20” / High 24”
• Groomed with classic track:  70 K
• Groomed with skate lane:  56 K
• Surface Conditions:  Fresh packed snow
• Last grooming day:  2-10-16
• Total snowfall since Nov. 1:  66.83”

Here’s a fun ski video you may find entertaining, taken on our ski trails last Wednesday.  Enjoy!   Ski moose.