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.