We are wrapping up our fantastic 2026 ski season this weekend and still have tons of snow. Bearskin closes on April 1 for a month of deep cleaning, cabin repairs, pre-summer projects (a new diving raft!), and of course, staff vacations to fabulous destinations. Most of your favorite staff members will be back for spring and summer, when we become an entirely different resort than you experience during the winter season. Docks, canoes, boats, hiking, crafts — but still as far away from real life as you can get!

We were non-stop busy this winter and our small staff truly rose to the occasion. We thank all of you, our loyal guests, for making this such a pleasant place to work even when the job is hard. There are many resorts where the tough part of the job is the customers — but that’s never how it is here. We are grateful for all of you. Thanks!

The Gunflint Trail still has a ridiculous amount of snow for late March. We had warm temps this week, then a bit of rain and even several inches of giant flakes Wednesday. Grooming on Wednesday was a complete bust on both sides — you know you’re done grooming when it’s raining on the Pisten Bully. But we have two days ahead of solid cold temperatures again. The groomers will be tilling and should be able to turn the icy spots back into the best snow.

We have a good chance of northern lights this weekend. Originally the weekly aurora forecast did not look promising, but conditions changed on March 25 when a major solar storm occurred on the sun. Now there’s excellent potential this weekend for northern lights. If the skies are clear, you might expect the red bar on this graph to expand to Friday and Saturday.

The Main Lodge building will close as of April 1, as will most of the businesses on the Gunflint Trail. April is vacation/clean-up/repair time for most Gunflint Trail businesses. However, if you have a season pass and a signed waiver on file with us then you may continue to ski as long as conditions allow it.

We’ll be opening again in May. We are almost fully booked for summer, but since we ask for deposits due April 10 there are always a few people whose plans changed when they saw their actual summer schedules. This is a good time to squeeze into Bearskin’s summer calendar. There seems to be higher interest in escaping cities, airports, and reality this summer, and we’re about as far from any of those as you can possibly get! Let us help you plan a summer escape to the deep north woods. www.bearskin.com or e-mail stay@bearskin.com.

We’re still skiing at Bearskin and conditions are outstanding. The resort remains open until March 31, so if you’d love to get one last ski trip in for this season we still have great trails and a few open cabins.

We received 12″-14″ of snow at the end of last week, with a smattering of more snow numerous times since then. Some days have been warmish, but no temperatures were extreme enough to have much impact on our snow. There’s absolutely no sign of impending spring on our ski trails so far this March.

The week ahead looks quite moderate, maybe even a bit cool for these dates in March. We still have good winter conditions. On warmer days, we recommend doing most of your skiing during the first half of the day before the March sun gets too intense. But as you can see by this forecast, we’re not expecting many high temperature days in the coming week. We have the right equipment to maintain good skiing in these conditions.

An added bonus for visiting now is the excellent northern lights forecast ahead. Look at the number of red bars in this week’s aurora forecast graph! There are astronomical/geophysical reasons for good northern lights shows at this time of year, so if we have clear nights you can expect a good chance of an aurora this week.

This weekend we will have soup and chili available in the lodge, so stop in for luch and say hi! See you on the trails.

We never know if a forecast for massive amounts of new snow is all hype and drama, or if it’s going to be the real thing. Historically it seems like there’s about a 50/50 chance of these big snow forecasts being correct. On the latest prediction maps, we were right on the line between “inundated” and “a few inches.” “Inundated” won. We woke up to over a foot of new snow this morning and it just kept coming.

The system has all been groomed for round #1. Groomers will continue to be out there for the next few days, firming up the trails. This previous week we had good skiing but fairly warm temperatures, which means that under all this fluffy new snow there is a layer of undesirable ice. Drive as if your tires might make it down to an icy under-layer! A word to the wise from Bob, whose truck is currently stuck at the bottom of an icy hill in our driveway.

The week ahead looks like we’ll have relatively mild March weather. It warms up later in the week, so as is typical for March we recommend morning ski trips for the best conditions on those warmer days.

If you’re a Northern Lights aficionado, you’ll love the aurora forecast for the week ahead. Due to an anomaly caused by the earth’s tilt in mid-March, this is often an excellent time to observe a northern lights display. If we have clear nights, you are very likely to see the lights dance if you’re here in March. On this KP forecast graph, we get excited if we see a few red bars — so obviously there’s lots of aurora potential in the coming weeks.

We’ll see you on the ski trails!

We had unexpectedly warm temperatures this week, but the groomers were able to keep the trails in fine condition this week by regularly tilling and grooming. We actually didn’t lose much snow. Today was the first day in quite a while when temperatures stayed below freezing all day, so everything was groomed again.

The trees are coated in hoar frost today, making our winter scenes exceptionally lovely. The drive on the Gunflint Trail is absolutely stunning this afternoon with hoar frost — perhaps it will remain this gorgeous for you too.

The forecast for the next week has a few more warm days, a little more snow, and a few more typical days. Typical March conditions. Skiers were super happy with ski conditions this past week. The longer, sunnier days offset the warmer temperatures. We have a great deal of snow, so a few warm days don’t worry us much.

If you’re an aurora aficionado, this could be an interesting week ahead. Mid-March always offers better-than-average potential for northern lights, and the upcoming week is no exception. Watch for them in our skies on any clear night this week.

We will have soup and chili in the Main Lodge this weekend, so come in to warm up with us. We will see you on the trails!