As most Minnesotans heard on the news and internet, the North Shore experienced a heavy-duty snowstorm this week. The biggest factor in this storm wasn’t truly the amount of snow (although there was plenty!), but it was the high winds. Not one flake of snow stayed where it originally landed. It was brutal if you had to be outside in the weather, but also fascinating to see how the snow piled up in unusual places. Bob found immense drifts clearly created by winds coming from the east, the south, and the north — whatever that indicates.

Even though it was still snowing heavily on Thursday, the clean-up had to begin. It was one of “those” days. Lately we’ve been re-reading 15-year-old blog and Facebook posts in preparation for the eventual Bearskin book; a constant theme in those old posts was the daily “Man vs Machine” struggle of keeping ancient garbage equipment running. We’re so pleased that we don’t have old clinker machinery anymore these days, but you wouldn’t have known it by the way things went on Thursday. A cylinder went out on the plow truck, the back-up plow truck got stuck and the tow-strap broke when staff tried to pull it out. The Pisten Bully had an error code indicating a low fluid, so Quinn showed up at the door of NAPA the moment they opened — but the low fluid was (of course) because a part broke. So Quinn ordered a new part and meanwhile tried a magic repair that maybe worked. And on and on and on. It was just one of those days. Winter storms always put extra pressure on everything, people and equipment. It’s a reminder that the opportunity to enjoy this wilderness ski paradise is entirely made possible by hard work and functional big machines!

The ski trails all have huge drifts, so grooming has been a slow process. The first round of grooming on trails left good tracks but a fairly soft skate deck. It typically takes a few passes to firm it up again after so much fresh snow. We’ll keep at it each day.

Skiing should be fabulous for the weekend. We will have soup and chili available in the lodge for lunches, as well as hot chocolate and cider, cookies, wine, beer, and treats.

The upcoming weather forecast for the week does not, thankfully, include much more snow. Temperatures will be relatively mild so that you can get out to enjoy the bounty of our fresh snow.

For those of you who are hoping to catch the northern lights, the coming week has slight possibilities on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 25. Of course, the aurora is dependent on magnetic storms on the sun’s surface so there’s always a chance of surprise northern lights. We try to post on Facebook whenever we hear local reports of visible lights.

Do you still wish you had a ski trip planned for this winter? Our February was the most jam-packed that it’s ever been but March, on the other hand, still has openings. There’s nothing about this winter that looks like an “early spring” winter, so March should be a fairly safe bet this year. You can check for availability here or call (218)388-2292 or e-mail stay@bearskin.com. And hey, you can use the same link to check for openings in winter 2027. Almost everyone is rebooking for February 2027, but January 2027 still has options. Booking now only requires a $50 deposit, and it guarantees that you will have a spot.

See you on the trails.