We’re in that January cycle of snow, groom, snow, groom, with no significant changes in the trail status.  The intense melting that took place along the North Shore over the past few days was not a big thing on the Gunflint Trail. We had some slightly warmer temps, but we also received more snow, so we’d call it a wash.

We haven’t had excessive snow this year (we’re okay with that!), but we have the right amount for great skiing conditions.  We’ve had about 44 inches of snow so far this season. Trail bases average 7 – 9 inches, with 12 – 16 inches or more of snow in the woods.  We have more snow and cooler temperatures in the forecast for the coming week.

Quinn and Bob were both out skiing late Saturday afternoon, and reported trail conditions to be excellent. Quinn will be out in the morning to groom the system again after today’s fresh snowfall.

It snowed again mid-trail on Monday afternoon.  This morning, in the bright sun, the bright white fresh snow crystals made our world sparkly.  Temps are warming up over the next few days, so the skiing for this weekend should be ideal.

Everything was groomed again over the last 24 hours, with the exception of Poplar Creek and the short BWCAW Logging Camp section. Those will be done on Wednesday morning.  It’s stunningly beautiful on the trails.

We’re often asked about how we get such a perfect ski surface on our trails.  Bearskin has owned various versions of a Kassbohrer Pisten Bully snow groomer for more than 3 decades. Dave Tuttle was an early believer in the quality of this grooming equipment. He even went to Germany to watch the assembly of one of his first Pisten Bullies.

Our old PB did a great job, but after purchasing the new machine, we’ve been amazed by how perfect it leaves the trails. Many grooming technology improvements have been made in 29 years!  We love how our trails are wider and firmer than they’ve ever been before.

PIsten Bully taking a break by the Lodge.

We also appreciate the greatly diminished number of stories from Quinn and Bob that start with “and then the (fill in the blank with something huge and terrible) broke when I was 10 miles away.”  It’s nice to know that when they go out to groom on a cold day, they probably won’t be limping back with a broken PB. The novelty of a machine that works well will never wear off.  🙂

Come and ski with us this weekend. We have a few cabin openings.  If you come to day-ski, there will be soup, chili, and hot chocolate in the Lodge when you need to warm up. Loon Lake Cafe will be open Saturday night, with Derek Hofeldt cooking favorites from Loon Lake Lodge’s summer menu. More info here.

The folks at Golden Eagle have been out with their ruler on the Central Gunflint Trail trail system.   Here are the stats:

Central Gunflint Ski Trail Conditions on January 13, 2018

New Snow Last 7 days:  6.25”
Trail Base, Staked:  Average 6.5 – 8”
Snow in Woods, Staked:  Average 13 – 14”
Groomed with classic track:  70 km
Groomed with skate lane:  54 km
Surface Conditions:  Fresh groomed snow
Total season snowfall:  41.50”

Comments:  The Central Gunflint Ski Trail System received a healthy dumping of 5 inches of new snow on Thursday, January 11^th. Both groomers were out there right away and got to work; all trails have been re-groomed. A large dumping of snow like that is extra helpful in leveling out some of the more uneven trails. The skiing is awesome! If you thought it was great before, you should see it now!

It snowed like crazy here on Thursday, dumping 5 – 6 new inches of new, powdery snow on the Central Gunflint Ski Trail System.  The pines have a picturesque coating of white on the boughs, and our snow is brilliantly white and crystalline again. We’ve had ample snow for skiing for a long time now, of course, but this additional snowfall really made the trails fresh and beautiful again.

Both sides of the system were groomed Friday, so the trails are perfect. Our weekend forecast is cold again, although nowhere near as cold as it was on those brutally cold days shortly after Christmas. This forecast is cold, but better. Sunday is predicted to be a bit warmer, with a little snow.

We’ll have soup and chili available all weekend, as well as hot chocolate.  Or warm up with a glass of wine or beer. We also have Loon Lake Cafe here Saturday night, with Derek Hofeldt cooking.  We’ll be taking reservations until about noon on Saturday. Call 388-2292, or email stay@bearskin.com.

Trail passes for the entire 70+ K system are $18/day or $12/after 1 PM. As this is a three-day weekend, we encourage you to arrive early. Parking in our lot can become quite problematic by about noon, so an early arrival gets you a parking place!  Make a day of it and eat lunch with us. Another option to simplify parking is to drive a little farther up the road and start your skiing at Golden Eagle. They tend to have fewer cars in their lot. It’s the same ski trail system, you’re just starting on a different side. Ski over to see us, have a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of wine while you warm up, and skip the parking dilemma entirely.

Latest trail numbers from Golden Eagle’s measuring guys:

New Snow Last 24 hours:  1.25”
New Snow Last 7 days:  2.0”
Trail Base, Staked:  Average 5”
Snow in Woods, Staked:  Average 10.5” – 13”
Groomed with classic track:  70 km
Groomed with skate lane:  54 km
Surface Conditions:  Fresh groomed snow
Last grooming day:  1-3-18
Total season snowfall:  35.25”

Comments:  All trails are open – great conditions all around! Ski trails are freshly groomed again with the recent snowfall, which totaled a little over an inch of accumulation. The weather has been cold, though it does look like temperatures will be rising for this weekend! The trail base is firm and is averaging a solid 5 inches in depth in most places. We’ve now received over 35 inches of snow on the year and are looking forward to a season of great skiing! The Gunflint Mail Run is this weekend as well! Come up for a weekend of skiing and dog sled watching!

Banadad Trail info: For those of you who enjoy also skiing from the Poplar Creek trail to the Banadad, the Banadad was groomed and re-tracked on January 2.  Lace Lake, Tall Pines and Knapp trail were re-tracked January 3.

Happy New Year from all of us at Bearskin Lodge and the Central Gunflint Trail Ski System.

It’s been a while since our last update. The days before Christmas and then the post-Christmas week keep us wildly busy at the lodge. Normally we’re not only jam-packed full in the cabins, but we’re also mobbed with day skiers from Grand Marais and Lutsen.  As usual we were full with guests, but the -20 degree temps slowed down the day skiing.

Our guests know how to have fun in this weather. They ski a bit, come back to sit in front of the fireplace, ski a bit more, come back to take a sauna or soak in the hot tub, and then finish the evening with a prolonged family board game or a glass of wine by the fireplace. It is a bit harder to be a day-skier having fun in sub-zero temps when there isn’t a cozy cabin retreat nearby, so we weren’t surprised by the lower numbers of skiers from other resorts and town. Wise choice!  It’s unusual to have such cold weather during this particular week, so if you didn’t brave the cold temps this time, next year will probably be much better.

We do have lots of snow.  All of the Central Gunflint trails are open and everyone braving the frigid conditions reported good skiing. Poplar Creek, always the last trail to open because of sections that freeze late, has been groomed with the Pisten Bully groomer several times now. Conditions there are quite good. The Logging Camp Trail section around the east end of Flour Lake, which has to be groomed differently because of BWCAW regulations, was finally ready to go a few days ago.  Lake crossing trails are all open.

We have a gradual warming trend this week, and the temps for the weekend look excellent — more like a normal winter ought to be at this time of year.  We have openings this weekend. Our restaurant is opening for the season on Saturday night and as an added interesting activity for the weekend, the Gunflint Mail Run dog sled race will be going on at Trail Center, just 3 minutes away.  Click here for more info on this fun event.

Ski trail photo by Travis Novitsky.

We’ve been getting snow every day, even on days when no snow was forecast. We’re continuing to groom trails every day, preparing for the busy post-Christmas week.  We consistently have snow over the holiday break, but some years have been better than others.  This year is looking good!

Local photographer Travis Novitsky was here to ski a few days and posted this report:

“Cross Country Ski Heaven”

Ski conditions along the Gunflint Trail are heavenly right now! This past week we made it up to Bearskin Lodge for a couple of days of skiing and not only were the trails in prime condition but we had them almost completely to ourselves. We only saw a few other people out there. There is plenty of snow on the ground for the majority of the trails to be groomed and most of the trees have a thick blanket of snow on them which makes for a winter wonderland!

Couldn’t have said it better.  Check out Travis’s work on his Facebook page here.  He specializes in North Shore photography and gets some stunning pictures.

Current snow statistics from Golden Eagle’s Measuring Guys:

Central Gunflint Ski Trail Conditions on December 18, 2017

New Snow Last 7 days:  5 3/4”
Trail Base, Staked:  Average 3” – 4”
Snow in Woods, Staked:  Average 7” – 10”
Groomed with classic track:  ~49 km
Groomed with skate lane:  ~43 km
Surface Conditions:  Fresh groomed snow
Total snowfall since snow stayed:  30.00”

Comments:  We have 49km of ski trails groomed. This includes all trails except Moose Ridge, West end Logging Camp, Poplar Creek, BWCA Logging Camp, and North-South Link. Groomed trails are in good shape with plenty of snow for skiing. The remaining trails are snowmobile packed. Lakes are safe to cross, but have not been groomed or packed

Pisten Bully groomer going over the “bump” for the first time this year on the Bear Cub Trail

We’re back in that cycle of new snow falling every day, which is what makes Bearskin such a predictably reliable cross country ski center.  Quinn groomed Summer Home, Campground, Lit Loop, Upper and Lower Beaver Dam, and Ridge Run again today with the Pisten Bully.  Quinn and Kate have skied the trails several times over the past few days and they’re pretty happy with the results of the early grooming.  Summer Home and Camprgound have been groomed many times now since our first snow in late October, so they are by far the best trails at this point.  But the other trails on the above list are coming along nicely.  This evidently will not be a Christmas season with low snow conditions on the trails.

Two other trails, Bear Cub and Oxcart have been Pisten Bully groomed once. Quinn will continue to go out on those whenever it snows.  Poplar Creek Trail has been packed and in amazing news, the wet areas that always cause problems on that trail finally might be frozen.  It shouldn’t be too long before that trail is also groomed and ready to enjoy.

Lake trails are not open yet.  All other trails are in the process of being packed and prepared.  We will keep you updated on progress.

After an amazingly early start to the ski season, a few days of warmer temps and blowing snow created very icy conditions.  We didn’t lose much snow, but the snow that remained had more in common with ice cubes than with snow flakes.  It was possible to ski, but the trails weren’t great.

Lots of fresh snow this week made a huge difference!  Quinn took the Pisten Bully groomer out on Summer Home, Campground, the Lit Loop, Upper and Lower Beaver Dam, Ridge Run, Oxcart, and Bear Cub trails.  Summer Home and Campground are the best of course, as they already had a very firm base from several weeks of previous grooming. The other trails all have a few spots of stubble and in places the tracks are a bit on the soft side, as usual for a first round of grooming; but everyone who has skied on the newly opened trails has been very pleased with the conditions.

All other trails are being packed and prepared. More trails should open soon.

The trees are coated in snow, so all the trails are very photogenic now. Bring your camera!

Ski passes for the Central Gunflint Trail system are available at Bearskin Lodge and Golden Eagle Lodge. All pass fees go towards the grooming and never-ending maintenance of trails through the deep woods.

The Central Gunflint Trail system is the only area ski system groomed and maintained by long-time, experienced groomers. We own some of the best and newest grooming equipment in Minnesota. The groomers at both Bearskin and Golden Eagle are good skiers, both classic and skate, and they often head out after a grooming session to test the trails themselves. Their expectations for the quality of our trails is very high.

Come on up and enjoy the experience of skiing on our beautiful, north woods trail system. We’ve done a lot of work to make your ski experience here one of the best you’ll ever have.

Our ski season got off to a great start.  We groomed Summer Home and Campground on November 3rd, possibly the earliest grooming date ever.  By November 15, Quinn and Kate had already skied 100 k on natural snow. Conditions were surprisingly good. And then the warm temps of November 24 arrived.

Kate skiing on the trails before the warm temps created ice on Friday. With a little fresh snow we should return to these conditions. We didn’t lose base, but it’s rock solid snow.

We did not get the hard rain that most of the North Shore experienced, but we had periodic bouts of light rain during a 38 degree day.  Then, during the night, the temperatures plummeted.  Our world today is covered in a sheet of ice.

This resultant icy block of snow on the trails needs to be tilled, but we simply don’t have enough snow to safely do that.  Bob went out and groomed, but reported that conditions didn’t recover super well.  Now we need more snow.

The post grooming ski report from Bob:

Classic track:  Solid ice.  Not possible to set new track with our limited base.  Fast and fun for experienced skiers.  No fun at all for beginners.

Skate deck:  OK, once you get to Campground and Summer home.  Still icy and challenging.  Summer Home hill is dangerously icy.

Best choice today might be skied in tracks on ungroomed trails through the woods .